Stuart Robinson: Secrets to Riper Tomatoes
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
September 15, 2004
Dearest readers,
On this day in 2004, the late, great Stuart Robertson—Montreal’s beloved professional gardener and journalist—delighted the readers of The Gazette with his secrets for coaxing green tomatoes into luscious ripeness.
Born in Bournemouth, England, in 1944, and making Canada his lifelong home, Stuart’s gentle authority and dry wit echoed across Montreal gardens for decades, both in print and on the airwaves of CBC’s Radio Noon.
Since 1981, Stuart’s garden column has been a staple in the Montreal Gazette; his advice—always practical, reliably organic, and lightly laced with mischief—has won the trust of city and country growers alike.
His much-loved series, Stuart Robertson’s Tips on Organic Gardening, sits on many a bookshelf, ready for consultation when aphids strike or tomatoes stubbornly stall in the green stage.
On that crisp September morning, Stuart’s counsel was clear:
The first trick is to trim some of the leaves covering the green fruit so that they're more exposed to the sun.
This helps them warm up during the daytime.
But the very best way of making sure that all the fruit on a vine turns ripe is to cut down on their competition. Step one is to pinch off all the side shoots...
Be ruthless and remove them all, even if they seem to be producing a small set of flower buds...
Step two is... trim the growing tips from all the remaining stems to stop the plant from getting any bigger.
One gardener I know swears that severe pinching threatens the plant so much that it hurries to set its fruit (and seeds) much quicker.
Beyond his gardening genius, Stuart was a fixture on CBC Radio Noon for nearly three decades—a reassuring and knowledgeable presence whose voice soothed even the most anxious tomato growers. A champion of practical, sustainable gardening, he inspired countless people to get their hands dirty and grow ripe tomatoes.
Stuart Robertson passed on September 23, 2009, leaving behind a legacy rooted in laughter, learning, and the promise that every gardener, with a dash of courage and a snip of the secateurs, might turn green fruit fiery red.
