July 23, 2025 • 9 mins
Dive into the world of late‑season tomato growing with “Tomatoes Till the Frost: Keeping Your Crop Fruiting into October.” Join your host, garden enthusiast Emma Green, as she shares pro tips on selecting the best indeterminate varieties, mastering succession planting, and fine‑tuning soil nutrition to sustain blooms and ripening fruit well past the first chill. Each episode unpacks hands‑on strategies—from smart pruning and pest patrol to clever frost‑protection hacks and container mobility—so you can enjoy homegrown tomatoes even as autumn nights draw in. Whether you’re a backyard beginner or a seasoned grower, tune in and learn how to extend your harvest right up to that first frost.
\#TomatoesTillTheFrost, #LateSeasonTomatoes, #OctoberHarvest, #TomatoTips, #SeasonExtension, #GrowYourOwn, #HomeGrown, #GardenPodcast, #SuccessionPlanting, #FrostProtection, #ContainerGardening, #UrbanGardening, #OrganicGardening, #HeirloomTomatoes, #GreenThumb
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gardening-with-ben-garden-and-allotment-tips-and-advice-podcast--5150692/support.
\#TomatoesTillTheFrost, #LateSeasonTomatoes, #OctoberHarvest, #TomatoTips, #SeasonExtension, #GrowYourOwn, #HomeGrown, #GardenPodcast, #SuccessionPlanting, #FrostProtection, #ContainerGardening, #UrbanGardening, #OrganicGardening, #HeirloomTomatoes, #GreenThumb
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gardening-with-ben-garden-and-allotment-tips-and-advice-podcast--5150692/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Gardening with Ben, your go to podcast for
(00:03):
all things green and growing in twenty twenty five. Whether
you're a seasoned gardener, a budding enthusiast, or just curious
about cultivating your own slice of nature, you're in the
right place. Join me Ben as we explore practical tips,
inspiring stories, and the latest trends in gardening to make
(00:24):
your outdoor space bloom with life. From a lotment adventures
to wildlife friendly gardening. I'm here to help you grow
your passion and read the rewards. So grab your gloves,
roll up your sleeves, and let's get started on this
year's gardening journey. Hey everybody, and welcome to Gardening with
(00:47):
Ben for your Wednesday episode of the week. So today's episode,
we're going to talk about looking after those tomato plants
and trying to keep them alive until September two time,
as there's obviously ways and means of encouraging them to
keep growing and stay alive and keep fruiting as much
(01:10):
as possible, because that's what you want, you don't. You
want to get your money's worth from them plants, because yeah,
they're not cheap to set up. Obviously, all the compost
and the feed. They're quite expensive to run. Obviously, you
get your money's worth if you get a decent crop
off them, which is what you want. And obviously homegrown
tomatoes tastes as a load better than shop ball ond And obviously,
(01:34):
as you know, I've been looking after my tomatoes quite
a bit at the moment. I tend to give them
a look after every single week. Every single week, I
spend about ten to fifteen minutes on the plants, just
sorting them out, tidying them up and making sure they're
looking the best possible as themselves. And if you do
(01:55):
this on a weekly basis, you will keep on top
of it and it's easy to look after. And I
mean when you're looking after them, I mean tips like
I give them food once a week. I take off
any shoots what are growing in between the leaves called suckers.
(02:16):
I also take off any lower leaves towards a bottom
of the planet. I still keep some higher up, as
obviously they do need some leaves on them, but I
always take the lower leaf ones off that are growing,
and any odd part of the tomato plants that are growing.
Sometimes they can grow a bit out everywhere and from
(02:37):
the base, so take off any extra plants that are
growing from it. And yeah, I pick off any ripe tomatoes,
but I always leave a couple of red ones around
because obviously having the red ones there will help ripen
the other ones because when they start to go red,
that's when all the others start to go red as well.
(02:58):
So keeping some red ones on the plant helps produce
the scent what it sends out and ripens the other
ones off. Now, tips to help encourage the plants to
stay fruiting all the way up to September possibly October
is through the soil health and the nutrition. And this
(03:20):
is through maintain steady feeding with a balanced fertilizer and
then switch to a high potassium tomato booster from late summer,
a bit like tomato feed. And I always give mind
some chicken pellets or some fish blood and bone, and
that will help feed them because a lot of times
(03:41):
during the big growth of the plant, it will have
lost a lot of the food from the compost, so
you have to fill in that food and keep the
plants well fed. Some people often feed them about twice
a week to once a week, so doing that really
does help keep the plant hung less hungry than it
(04:03):
actually is, so that's one little tip for you. Also
top dress with well rotted compost or seaweed extract every
three to four weeks. Seaweed has been proven to be
a fantastic thing for feeding plants with. I've never tried
it myself, but if obviously you've got a beach nearby
(04:24):
and can get some seaweed, why not give it a
try and let me know how well you actually get
on using seaweed. I know it can produce really good plants,
so I can obviously say you can obviously buy the
liquid form of seaweed extract, which you can obviously add
as a food as well, and feed them that way.
(04:45):
So if you've got any seaweed lying around, have a
try and let me know how you get on. Watering
and mulching. Watering and mulching. Tips for tomatoes, water deep plate,
but infrequently to courage strong roots, aim too, about one
to five inches per week. So yeah, I tend to
(05:08):
watch mine every single day at the moment because they
are heavy drinkers and the compost does dry out pretty
fast in my polytomal. It obviously depends where you're actually
growing your tomatoes, whether you're growing them outside or inside.
And obviously if you're growing them indoors, water them on
a regular basis, pruning and training, remove the lower leaves
(05:29):
and yellow in foliage to improve air circulation. Now, that's
one thing I always keep an eyut for. I always
keep out an eye out for the yellow leaves. If
the yellow leaves set in, take them off and remove
them straight away. Again, pinch off any suckers that pop
off in the side of the planet. And when you
say the suckers, they look like a little tomato plant
(05:52):
what's growing from the side of the smart plant itself.
So just pinch them off and either try growing. You
can actually root them by putting them in some water
and they'll get some roots on them and plant them,
or you can just chuck them away. But yeah, it's
probably a bit too late to start mortmat plants off now,
so any suckers that arrive, I've just chuck them away.
(06:14):
To be honest. Pests and diseases. Keep an eye out
for pests and early signs of blight if it's or homeworms,
but keep an eye out and try and eradicate it
as soon as you see it. If obviously the sea
blight growing on them touch wood. I never seem to
have issues with blight on my martyrs. If it's starting
(06:38):
to get cooler, when it's starting to get to like
September October time, and you want to encourage them to
keep warm, look after them by draping light horticultural fleece
over the plants, and that will look after them and
keep them warmer at night. So yeah, and harvest on
(07:00):
a regular basis. Obviously, if there's a lot of red
ones on them, take them all off, take them home
and eat them. Obviously, when they're green and it's getting
towards the end of the season, it's a struggle to
get them to go ripen. Sometimes obviously you can use
banana skins which will help ripen them, or there's other
methods which I believe you can put them in brown
(07:21):
paper bags, but I've never seen if that actually works
or that. People will have to let me know if
that does work. But yeah, that is the ways of
keeping your smart plants going for the rest of the year.
And if you look after them, they will certainly look
after you because they are good providers and you can
get fantastic crops from them, and if they're struggling to
(07:45):
produce tomatoes, if you've got lots of flowers on them
and no smates of appearing, pollinate them yourself or make
sure that your greenhouse doors open so that the bees
can come in and pollinate them. And when I say
pollinate to yourself is getting like a child's paintbrush what
they use for a paint set, and just touch each
of the flowers to pollinate them themselves and hopefully get
(08:09):
lots more to martes growing. So that is our tips
and advice on keeping your smart plants going and producing
as many tomatoes on the planet as possible. I hope
that you found that useful. If you're new to this
podcast members, drop us a follow, and feel free to
leave a review if you're listening on fee on Spotify,
(08:30):
as reviews will help boost the podcast. So until next time, everyone,
remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Bet. Everyone.
Thanks for tuning in to today's episode of Gardening with Ben.
I hope you've enjoyed our chat and picked up some
(08:52):
tips to help your garden and allotment pride. Don't forget
to stay connected with me on all social media for
even more gardening inspiration, updates, and behind the scenes content.
You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just
search gardening with Ben. Hit that follow button or subscribe
(09:13):
button and join our growing community of garden lovers. Until
next time, everyone remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep
gardening with Ben.
Welcome to Gardening with Ben, your go to podcast for
(00:03):
all things green and growing in twenty twenty five. Whether
you're a seasoned gardener, a budding enthusiast, or just curious
about cultivating your own slice of nature, you're in the
right place. Join me Ben as we explore practical tips,
inspiring stories, and the latest trends in gardening to make
(00:24):
your outdoor space bloom with life. From a lotment adventures
to wildlife friendly gardening. I'm here to help you grow
your passion and read the rewards. So grab your gloves,
roll up your sleeves, and let's get started on this
year's gardening journey. Hey everybody, and welcome to Gardening with
(00:47):
Ben for your Wednesday episode of the week. So today's episode,
we're going to talk about looking after those tomato plants
and trying to keep them alive until September two time,
as there's obviously ways and means of encouraging them to
keep growing and stay alive and keep fruiting as much
(01:10):
as possible, because that's what you want, you don't. You
want to get your money's worth from them plants, because yeah,
they're not cheap to set up. Obviously, all the compost
and the feed. They're quite expensive to run. Obviously, you
get your money's worth if you get a decent crop
off them, which is what you want. And obviously homegrown
tomatoes tastes as a load better than shop ball ond And obviously,
(01:34):
as you know, I've been looking after my tomatoes quite
a bit at the moment. I tend to give them
a look after every single week. Every single week, I
spend about ten to fifteen minutes on the plants, just
sorting them out, tidying them up and making sure they're
looking the best possible as themselves. And if you do
(01:55):
this on a weekly basis, you will keep on top
of it and it's easy to look after. And I
mean when you're looking after them, I mean tips like
I give them food once a week. I take off
any shoots what are growing in between the leaves called suckers.
(02:16):
I also take off any lower leaves towards a bottom
of the planet. I still keep some higher up, as
obviously they do need some leaves on them, but I
always take the lower leaf ones off that are growing,
and any odd part of the tomato plants that are growing.
Sometimes they can grow a bit out everywhere and from
(02:37):
the base, so take off any extra plants that are
growing from it. And yeah, I pick off any ripe tomatoes,
but I always leave a couple of red ones around
because obviously having the red ones there will help ripen
the other ones because when they start to go red,
that's when all the others start to go red as well.
(02:58):
So keeping some red ones on the plant helps produce
the scent what it sends out and ripens the other
ones off. Now, tips to help encourage the plants to
stay fruiting all the way up to September possibly October
is through the soil health and the nutrition. And this
(03:20):
is through maintain steady feeding with a balanced fertilizer and
then switch to a high potassium tomato booster from late summer,
a bit like tomato feed. And I always give mind
some chicken pellets or some fish blood and bone, and
that will help feed them because a lot of times
(03:41):
during the big growth of the plant, it will have
lost a lot of the food from the compost, so
you have to fill in that food and keep the
plants well fed. Some people often feed them about twice
a week to once a week, so doing that really
does help keep the plant hung less hungry than it
(04:03):
actually is, so that's one little tip for you. Also
top dress with well rotted compost or seaweed extract every
three to four weeks. Seaweed has been proven to be
a fantastic thing for feeding plants with. I've never tried
it myself, but if obviously you've got a beach nearby
(04:24):
and can get some seaweed, why not give it a
try and let me know how well you actually get
on using seaweed. I know it can produce really good plants,
so I can obviously say you can obviously buy the
liquid form of seaweed extract, which you can obviously add
as a food as well, and feed them that way.
(04:45):
So if you've got any seaweed lying around, have a
try and let me know how you get on. Watering
and mulching. Watering and mulching. Tips for tomatoes, water deep plate,
but infrequently to courage strong roots, aim too, about one
to five inches per week. So yeah, I tend to
(05:08):
watch mine every single day at the moment because they
are heavy drinkers and the compost does dry out pretty
fast in my polytomal. It obviously depends where you're actually
growing your tomatoes, whether you're growing them outside or inside.
And obviously if you're growing them indoors, water them on
a regular basis, pruning and training, remove the lower leaves
(05:29):
and yellow in foliage to improve air circulation. Now, that's
one thing I always keep an eyut for. I always
keep out an eye out for the yellow leaves. If
the yellow leaves set in, take them off and remove
them straight away. Again, pinch off any suckers that pop
off in the side of the planet. And when you
say the suckers, they look like a little tomato plant
(05:52):
what's growing from the side of the smart plant itself.
So just pinch them off and either try growing. You
can actually root them by putting them in some water
and they'll get some roots on them and plant them,
or you can just chuck them away. But yeah, it's
probably a bit too late to start mortmat plants off now,
so any suckers that arrive, I've just chuck them away.
(06:14):
To be honest. Pests and diseases. Keep an eye out
for pests and early signs of blight if it's or homeworms,
but keep an eye out and try and eradicate it
as soon as you see it. If obviously the sea
blight growing on them touch wood. I never seem to
have issues with blight on my martyrs. If it's starting
(06:38):
to get cooler, when it's starting to get to like
September October time, and you want to encourage them to
keep warm, look after them by draping light horticultural fleece
over the plants, and that will look after them and
keep them warmer at night. So yeah, and harvest on
(07:00):
a regular basis. Obviously, if there's a lot of red
ones on them, take them all off, take them home
and eat them. Obviously, when they're green and it's getting
towards the end of the season, it's a struggle to
get them to go ripen. Sometimes obviously you can use
banana skins which will help ripen them, or there's other
methods which I believe you can put them in brown
(07:21):
paper bags, but I've never seen if that actually works
or that. People will have to let me know if
that does work. But yeah, that is the ways of
keeping your smart plants going for the rest of the year.
And if you look after them, they will certainly look
after you because they are good providers and you can
get fantastic crops from them, and if they're struggling to
(07:45):
produce tomatoes, if you've got lots of flowers on them
and no smates of appearing, pollinate them yourself or make
sure that your greenhouse doors open so that the bees
can come in and pollinate them. And when I say
pollinate to yourself is getting like a child's paintbrush what
they use for a paint set, and just touch each
of the flowers to pollinate them themselves and hopefully get
(08:09):
lots more to martes growing. So that is our tips
and advice on keeping your smart plants going and producing
as many tomatoes on the planet as possible. I hope
that you found that useful. If you're new to this
podcast members, drop us a follow, and feel free to
leave a review if you're listening on fee on Spotify,
(08:30):
as reviews will help boost the podcast. So until next time, everyone,
remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Bet. Everyone.
Thanks for tuning in to today's episode of Gardening with Ben.
I hope you've enjoyed our chat and picked up some
(08:52):
tips to help your garden and allotment pride. Don't forget
to stay connected with me on all social media for
even more gardening inspiration, updates, and behind the scenes content.
You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just
search gardening with Ben. Hit that follow button or subscribe
(09:13):
button and join our growing community of garden lovers. Until
next time, everyone remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep
gardening with Ben.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!