h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just something i ran across recently:
Studies are being conducted which show that tomatoes respond to the color RED.(National Geographic, july 99 p 83) Bright red tinted mulch, a few red stakes around the plants, whatever you like. I tried this last year when i got this NG issue. My tomatoes had been very sluggish up til then (what with the cold weather) and showed no sign of even flowering... anyway, in 2½ weeks i had ripe tomatoes! Apparently the tomatoes are fooled into thinking there is competition, so they produce more fruit that grow bigger and ripen earlier.

This could explain why farmer's wives in the midwest always preferred to plant their tomatoes by their big red barns!