Tips For Growing Great Tomatoes
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Tomatoes can be one of the most exciting and rewarding vegetables in your garden. They can also be one of the most frustrating.
Here are a few tips that you can use to produce big, juicy, flavorful tomatoes every year:
As always, your garden is only as healthy as the soil it is grown in.
This is especially true for tomatoes. While they are a hardy plant, if they don’t have nutrient rich soil they will not produce to their full potential. Make sure when you are preparing the soil that you use about 1/3 compost to 2/3 soil. Test your soil before you plant to be sure the nutrient levels are where they should be. Tomatoes like a neutral PH usually between 5.8-7.0.
I personally like to plant my tomatoes in containers.
There is one reason and one reason only that I prefer using containers; if one of my plants gets a soil borne disease I don’t want it to infect all my tomato plants.
Make sure you plant your tomatoes in a sunny spot.
The love lots of sun and warmth as well as deep watering. Also be sure that you have lots of extremely beneficial earthworms. They are one of your greatest allies in the garden and will continue to supply nutrients to your soil.
There are tons of varieties of tomatoes to choose from.
I grow Super Sweet 100’s and Roma’s because both of these varieties do well in the hot summers we experience in the desert. If you aren’t sure what tomatoes do well in your area, call your local nursery and ask. Even if you don’t have access to an organic nursery, you can order your organic seeds and start them yourself. You can find every variety in organic seeds online.
Once you have your tomatoes planted you need to provide a trellis or cage for the tomatoes grow up.
Be sure to fertilize often with compost tea. How often you fertilize depends on your soil. I fertilize about twice a month because earthworms are not huge fans of the desert heat so I don’t have nearly as many as I would like. If you have rich soil with lots of worms you will probably only need to fertilize with compost tea 3-6 times during the growing season.
Once your tomatoes have produced fruit you are going to give them a little support.
I mean this literally. Most tomato plants have trouble supporting the fruit they produce. The tomatoes will spoil if they touch the ground and it can cause both disease and fungus. This is where you come in. The best way to do this is to use the trellis or cage to support the stems.
By following a few easy tips you can produce big, juicy, organic tomatoes. Before you know it you will be creating sauce, salsa and delicious tomato salads.
Besides, if we all grew our own tomatoes, we wouldn’t have to worry about Salmonella outbreaks!
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Thank you, I like information posts and I like gardening posts.
Some nice tips there. With so many pesticides in what we eat, it’s a great idea to start growing your own stuff. I have been doing it for years now.
Great article Garden Mandy,
I have a question about something my friend claims is best and I doubt it works.
My friend claims, it is better to let them grow on the floor, rather than on a trelli or cage.
She says, because the tomatoes are technically “vines”, they will grow “new”/”additional” roots where a fork of the stem touches the ground. To prevent that the fruits spoil due to fungi, she puts like 2 inches of straw on top of the soil, so the tomatoes do not actually lie on the soil.
Mandy, I trust your expertise, that’s why I’m asking you:
Is this true ???
Hi Studymaster,
Thanks for stopping by!
I highly suggest that you never grow your tomatoes on the ground in this fashion. It is way too risky in my opinion.
While the straw is acting as a barrier between the dirt and the tomatoes, depending on the humidity level where you are, it is still possible to get fungi and bacteria on your tomatoes. In fact it is more than possible, it is likely.
You are not only risking disease but you are attracting bugs as well and making it very easy for them to commandeer your tomatoes.
Also when you grow tomatoes on the ground like this they take up a lot of garden space that can be used in a much more productive way.
If you are looking to keep your pests and disease low, without the use of pesticide or fungicide, I suggest sticking to the cage or trellis.
I hope this helps.
Thanks Mandy,
You confirmed, what I thought. I’m gonna stick to the cages.
I did not find an email address on the site, which is why I am using this contact form. I would be interested in knowing if you are open to selling advertising on this blog. Please get in touch with me if yes. Please feel free to delete this comment
Dear Garden Mandy,
In our sophomore biology class we are growing tomatoes in the indoors only until December 20. The rules are, the three tomato plants have to stay in the classroom and we only have one row of south facing windows. The only period of time we can care for them are in the late afternoon at about two o’clock. We are allowed to use any supplies we want. What are some sugggestions for growing an amazing tomato with our restrictions?
-Sincerely,
Sam and Sally
Hi Sam and Sally
What a cool assignment!
Ok first things first, make sure the PH of your soil optimal. For tomatoes it should be between 5.8-7. You can pick up a PH test kit at any nursery or home improvement store for under $5. If the PH is under 5.8, add the contents of a few tea bags or add a little compost. If your soil is over 7 try to add a little organic peat moss. Chances are though, you are using potting soil which should be pretty balanced.
Next, ask your teacher if you can put earthworms into your soil. If you can perfect, dig up a couple from your backyard. However, if you can’t don’t worry, you can purchase worm castings from the nursery. This contains all the nutrients your tomatoes need.
Try to fertilize with compost tea about every 3 weeks. You don’t need to spray the leaves, just pour the tea on the soil.
Be sure to never get the leaves wet and try to touch them as little as possible. This will greatly reduce fungus and bacteria.
The key to tomatoes is, when the first batch of flowers come in, simply pinch them off. Usually, they come in when the plant is very young and not very strong. You don’t want the plant to waste its energy on producing fruit just yet. Let it get a little healthier before it bears fruit and you will get much larger, better tasting tomatoes. I think that is it for now.
Good luck with your project and let me know if you have any other questions or if you run into any problems,
Mandy
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