Get The Sweetest, Juiciest Home-Grown Tomatoes With Help From This Pantry Staple

Your home-grown summer tomatoes are your pride and joy, and you want to do all that you can to make them delicious. While it's likely you already know how to maximize the flavor of your tomatoes after harvest, there's something you can do before they start growing to create a sweeter flavor. Believe it or not, the baking soda you have in your pantry can go a long way in keeping your tomato plants safe — and improving the taste of your harvest. Don't just dump baking soda on the soil and expect a miracle, however — it's important to know how to use baking soda correctly to support the health of your tomato plants. Using it the wrong way or in the wrong amount can cause problems. 

Baking soda is alkaline, and can balance acidic soil. Tomato plants tend to thrive in slightly acidic to neutral soil. This means if you have moderately acidic soil, adding baking soda can increase the pH, creating a slightly more alkaline environment. This allows your tomato plants to intake more nutrients, which can result in a sweeter-tasting end result, creating the perfect tomato to use for sweet bruschetta. Amending your soil to get juicier tomatoes is as easy as sprinkling a bit of baking soda into the dirt before planting. 

A few words of caution when using baking soda to create sweeter tomatoes: reapply the baking soda regularly, as it's not a one-and-done deal. Give your plants a little sprinkle of baking soda in the surrounding soil about once a week (be careful not to actually get baking soda on the tomato plant itself). Using baking soda too frequently can result in soil that's too alkaline, which can both harm your plant and create a bland-tasting fruit.

Baking soda isn't just great for helping your tomatoes taste fantastic — it can also help keep pests from munching on the hard work you've put into your garden. Baking soda can help to deter a variety of bugs, including slugs, ants, and aphids. Some pests can't tolerate the salt in baking soda, while others struggle to follow scent trails when baking soda is in the way. Just like when you're using baking soda to enhance the flavor of your tomatoes, use it sparingly throughout the rest of your garden. Applying it to the soil using a flour sifter can help to ensure that you don't overdo it.

Baking soda has a tendency to kill plants it actually comes into contact with, so sprinkling it directly on weeds is a great way to naturally stop them from utilizing the resources you want to direct to your tomato plants. To use baking soda as a natural weed killer, simply spritz weeds with water then dust them with a decent amount of baking soda.