Fertilizing...

I'm a little confused about fertilizing my tomatoes. I had a soil test and everything was optimal, but nitrogen is very, very low. pH is between 6.5 and 7.0. I've read nitrogen is not a great thing to add to the soil for tomatoes when they are flowering and setting fruit. They'd get leaf and that is really when they need P&K. Both of those are optimal according to the test. I am not sure if I should add nitrogen. Please tell me, how do you care for your tomatoes generally?

I meant they'd get leafy.

Sounds like you've got a great pH! You're right the P & K help with fruiting and flowering a lot more than the nitrogen.

Before that, in the vegetative stage, nitrogen is key. It's the primary element plants need, so it should make a big difference in your garden if you can increase the nitrogen 🌱

You can get coffee grounds for free from local coffee shops usually, that has some good nitrogen in it.

I've had good success mulching with alfalfa hay, you can get a big bale of that pretty cheap from feed stores.

What's been working well for me and my tomatoes is to grow a lot of nitrogen-fixers (mostly legumes) and then chop and drop those as mulch.

It takes a while, more of a long-term approach, but every season I grow as many legumes as I can just for the nitrogen. Over time, that's really ramped up the nitrogen in my soil. And because it's slow release, I haven't had any issues with too much nitrogen. It's hard to overdo it when you use organic sources that break down slow.

In the short term, I've had success with alfalfa meal, blood meal, bat guano, and homemade compost tea to boost the nitrogon that season.

I'd personally rather go overboard on the nitrogen then underdo it, because everything needs so much of it to grow leaves.

Hope that helps! 😃🍅

Whoa! That helps an amazing lot! Thank you. I did plant some bush beans right next to my tomatoes, so that's a plus!

Ooh yeah that will help, when you harvest the beans, you can mulch with what's left of the bush.

My whole world has become beans, peas, chickpeas, hairy vetch, alfalfa, all the legumes! I've gone nitrogen-crazy 🤪😂