Learning How To Grow Tomatoes

This story is from Sue Parker, submitted as part of our Wisdom From Our Elders collection of self-sufficient tales from yesteryear.

One of the many things I learned from my grandmother was how to plant tomatoes for a maximum crop.  She would work the soil until it was nice and loose, mixing a generous scoop of well-aged manure into it.  She dug the hole a bit deeper than needed and added 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of well dried and crushed egg shell and a package of Knox plain gelatin.  Then she put a bit of the soil back into the hole and planted the tomato.  The one year that I forgot to add everything I had a very sorry crop, so I guess it really works!  Gram died at the age of 84 in 1992.

Photo Credit: Fotolia/ Marek