1 day Ago By Chanelle Georgina
Growing your own vegetables can feel so joyful; not only are you reconnecting with nature, but you are eating fresh fruit grown straight from the ground. Whether you have a garden vegetable patch, or go to an allotment, growing tomatoes can feel rewarding. Whether you're a novice gardener or a green-thumbed enthusiast, TikTok influencer Andre The Farmer revealed his go-to tip for growing tomatoes .
Sharing his gardening knowledge that he's "learned over the years", he said that tomato plants , when still small, need to be pruned . Andre said: "One of the things I've learned over the years is when you have plants , like tomatoes, or cucumbers, or peppers, or squash – and they start flowering, and they're really small, the best thing you can do is cut those flowers off." Showcasing the small tomato plant on the video, Andre made clear that the plant "is not ready to produce fruit".
Instead of letting the plant flower too soon, his recommendation is to let the plant focus on becoming bigger first. "You're going to get a much larger harvest and a better yield," he promised. "And a healthier plant in the long run.
" Andre emphasised the requirement to "sacrifice those early fruits for long-term success". Gathering more than 2,000 comments on the video, one keen gardener quipped: "Do you know how sad it made me to cut that tomato off?" A lot of commentators shared their thanks for the informative video, but a recurring question surfaced. One curious vegetable patch fan asked: "How do you know when the tomato plant is big enough? I just noticed flowers on mine today and got excited.
" Andre replied: "I'd say, for tomatoes, 16 to 18 inches [tall before bearing tomato fruit]." One gardener questioned the benefit of cutting off young flowers, stating: "I was told I was supposed to leave them and, when harvested, those are the seeds you would replant next year." To this, Andre responded: "Not sure why.
You will get way more [seeds] off a bigger, healthier plant." But the commentator insisted: "I believe the idea was that the first set of fruits will be the best to keep the line viable." Then another commentator chimed in: "Seeds and plants are so cheap; unless it's a really special or rare type of tomato, I don't know why you'd plant those and decrease your harvest.
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