The secret to sweet success: Grandmother's sugar water trick for tomatoes

Growing vegetables in backyard gardens has always seemed like something calm and relaxing to me. And it is indeed so up to a certain point. The pressure only spikes when it turns out that our efforts have come to nothing and the vegetables haven't grown as lush as we had hoped. In such a situation, there's no point in wringing our hands but drawing conclusions. It's also worth listening to the older, experienced ones, those who haven't been planting vegetables since yesterday but for decades. I did so, and I do not regret it because my tomatoes have never looked better.

In my house, the master of vegetable cultivation has always been my grandmother. She revealed to me that sometimes tomatoes are like people. They need a bit of sweetness. I didn't completely understand the first time, but eventually, I saw what my grandmother meant with my eyes. Yes, it was really about something sweet, specifically sugar water.

Why does this solution help tomatoes grow? Why do the vegetables become large and perfectly red after its application? The answer is straightforward. It turns out that the whole thing with sugar syrup isn't really about the vegetables themselves but the microorganisms in the soil. The sweet liquid makes them more active, positively affecting the stems, roots, leaves, and vegetables.

Watering tomatoes with sugar syrup will help us achieve the desired vegetables, but you must also know its limitations. This fertiliser can only be used once a month. Otherwise, it can be harmful and attract entire armies of ants, which we'd not want for the tomatoes.

Moreover, too intensive use of sugar syrup can make the plant stop absorbing enough water for growth. Specialists — including my grandmother — recommend holding off on watering tomatoes with sugar water until the vegetable skins slowly turn red.