June is such a busy month in the garden, and tomatoes can easily get pushed to the back burner. But here’s the thing — skipping a few simple tasks this time of year can seriously hurt your harvest later on.
Most gardeners don’t even realize what they’re missing until it’s too late. So before you lose out on pounds of fruit, let’s talk about the five things you should be doing right now!
1.) Removing Suckers Weekly
Suckers are those little shoots that grow in the “V” between the main stem and a branch. Left alone, they turn into full branches that steal energy your plant could be using to grow actual fruit.
Make it a weekly habit to snap them off while they’re still small — under two inches is ideal. Bigger ones should be cut with clean scissors to avoid tearing the stem.
Skip this task for a few weeks and your plant becomes a leafy mess with way less fruit.
2.) Deep Watering Twice Weekly
Most gardeners water a little every day, and that’s actually one of the biggest mistakes you can make with tomatoes. Shallow, frequent watering keeps the roots near the surface where they dry out fast and stress the plant.
Instead, water deeply twice a week — enough to soak down 6 to 8 inches into the soil. This pushes the roots deeper, where moisture sticks around longer. Consistent deep watering in June directly affects how much fruit sets later in the season.
3.) Adding Calcium for Blossom End Rot
Blossom end rot isn’t a disease — it’s a calcium deficiency, and June is exactly when it starts showing up on your tomatoes. That dark, sunken spot on the bottom of the fruit means the plant couldn’t move enough calcium to where it needed to go.
The fix is pretty straightforward. Pick up a calcium spray at your garden center and apply it directly to the leaves every week or two. Also, keep your watering consistent — uneven moisture is usually what causes the problem in the first place.
4.) Pruning Lower Leaves
Once your tomato plants hit about 12–18 inches tall, start removing the leaves on the bottom third of the plant. These lower leaves are the first to pick up soil-borne diseases like early blight, and they don’t get enough sun to help with fruit production anyway.
Use clean scissors or pruning shears and cut them off close to the stem. Doing this every couple of weeks through June keeps airflow moving and lets the plant focus its energy where it actually counts.
5.) Side-Dressing with Fertilizer
Once your tomato plants start flowering, they’re working overtime — and they need more fuel to keep it up. That’s where side-dressing comes in. Just scratch a small amount of balanced or low-nitrogen fertilizer into the soil a few inches away from the base of each plant.
Do this every 3–4 weeks after the first flowers appear. Skip it, and your plants run out of steam right when they should be loading up with fruit.
