{"id":64118,"date":"2026-03-28T07:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T20:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=64118"},"modified":"2026-03-28T07:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T20:59:08","slug":"tomato-growing-made-simple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=64118","title":{"rendered":"Tomato Growing Made Simple"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-64119\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Tomato_Plant_Tips.jpg\" alt=\"Tomato Plant Tips\" width=\"500\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Tomato_Plant_Tips.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Tomato_Plant_Tips-250x300.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Tomatoes reward small, smart habits. A few simple steps can turn average plants into strong, productive ones.<\/p>\n<p>1 Feed the soil first<br \/>\nAdd compost or organic matter at the bottom of the planting hole. A little wood ash can also boost nutrients.<br \/>\nRelatable mistake &#8211; planting straight into poor soil and expecting miracles.<\/p>\n<p>2 Trim before planting<br \/>\nRemove the lower leaves a couple of days before transplanting. This encourages deeper rooting and helps reduce disease risk.<\/p>\n<p>3 Water wisely at the start<br \/>\nAvoid overwatering early on. Slightly drier conditions encourage roots to grow deeper and stronger.<\/p>\n<p>4 Pinch the suckers<br \/>\nRemove side shoots when they\u2019re about 5 cm long. This helps the plant focus its energy on fruit production instead of extra foliage.<\/p>\n<p>Simple, consistent care leads to healthier plants and a more generous harvest. Small actions, big tomato rewards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tomatoes reward small, smart habits. A few simple steps can turn average plants into strong, productive ones. 1 Feed the soil first Add compost or organic matter at the bottom of the planting hole. A little wood ash can also boost nutrients. Relatable mistake &#8211; planting straight into poor soil and expecting miracles. 2 Trim &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=64118\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Tomato Growing Made Simple&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening","category-general-interest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64120,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64118\/revisions\/64120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}