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Tomato plants are inexpensive, yield lots of fruit, can grow in small spaces, and are easy to grow!
With a little bit of effort, you can enjoy juicy, flavorful, fresh tomatoes from your garden in anywhere from 60 to 100 days.
Types of Tomatoes
The first step in tomato growing is figuring out what variety to plant which can be daunting since there are literally thousands to choose from – more than 15, 000 varieties of tomatoes to be exact! Options include beefsteak, cherry, grape, plum, salad, and heirloom tomatoes to name a few. However, all varieties of tomatoes can be classified as one of two main types: determinate (bush) or indeterminate (vining). Let’s start here.
Determinate Tomatoes: Also known as bush types, these plants typically grow 2 to 3 feet tall (60 to 90cm), at which point the buds at the end of all the branches form flowers instead of leaves. Since they flower all at once, all tomatoes tend to ripen at once and then the plant dies, which means you only get fresh tomatoes for a relatively short period of time (roughly 2-week period). On the plus side, they usually bear fruit earlier in the season and do not require staking, making them great options for small spaces and container growing. Examples include Bush Early Girl, Roma, and San Marzano.
Indeterminate Tomatoes: Also known as vining varieties, these plants require caging or staking for support and can grow 8 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 m) tall. Benefits are that they produce larger crops over a longer period, evenly spread throughout the season. They generally start bearing fruit later in the season but continue to grow and produce until the frost kills them. They need lots of space so are ideal in larger gardens. Examples include most beefsteak and cherry tomatoes.
Choose what type works best for you or better yet, plant both types! A mix of both types will spread the harvest over the longest possible season. If you’re still not sure and you’re growing tomatoes for the first time, cherry tomatoes are a good option (especially great for young kids – they are always a hit!)
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Getting Started
Plant tomatoes late spring or early summer, once the soil is warm enough (at least 60 °F or 16 °C) after the last frost. Ideally, the best way is to start with small starter plants (tomato seedlings) from a nursery since tomatoes are slow growers and require a long growing season but can’t be planted outdoors until later in the season.
Seed starting: If you prefer to start from tomato seeds, start them indoors by sowing seeds half an inch (1.3 cm) deep in small trays roughly 6 to 8 weeks before the average last spring frost date. Prepare seedlings for transplantation outdoors by gradually exposing them to direct sunlight outdoors over the course of a week.
Where Best to Plant
As we’ve already covered, tomatoes are “sun worshippers” so choose a sunny spot making sure not to plant tomatoes in garden soil where tomatoes and other members of the nightshade family, such as eggplants, peppers, and potatoes have been grown in the past couple of years, if possible. Prepare soil by mixing in compost or aged manure a few weeks before planting.
If you’re short on space, tomatoes also do well with container gardening! Use a large container with drainage holes and well-draining soil. Bush, dwarf varieties and cherry tomatoes grow well in pots and containers. Avoid crowding by including only one plant per pot. Provide at least 6 hours of sun per day and keep soil moist. Tomatoes can also be grown successfully in green houses, allowing access to this fresh fruit all year-long, or hydroponically. Lucky for tomato-lovers, the possibilities are endless which means we have access to fresh fruit all year-long (even if it doesn’t come from our own backyard)!
Add tomato cages, trellises, or stakes at the time of planting, so as to help the plant stay upright. Dig a large hole, placing the root system deep enough such that the lower leaves are just above the surface of the soil. Fill with a mixture of compost and soil and plant seedlings 2 to 3 feet (61 to 91 cm) apart, which will allow space for the plants to spread out. Water generously the first few days, then water with about 2 inches (5 cm) per square foot per week for the rest of the growing season. It’s best to water in the morning and to water at the base of the plant to keep water off of leaves, helping to prevent diseases. Mulching helps retain moisture and control weeds. Avoid fast-release and high-nitrogen fertilizers.
Pests & Diseases
Tomatoes are susceptible to several pests and diseases. Pests affecting tomato plants include aphids, cabbage loopers, Colorado potato beetles, flea beetles, leaf miners, red spider mite, slugs, stink bugs, tobacco hornworms, tomato bug, tomato cutworm, tomato fruitworms, tomato hornworm, tomato russet mite, nematodes, and whiteflies. Diseases include blossom-end rot, curly top, early blight, fusarium wilt, late blight, tobacco mosaic virus, and powdery mildew to name a few. Try disease resistant cultivars to avoid some of these problems. Companion planting can also help. Try growing tomatoes with other plants such as asparagus, basil, carrots, celery, chives, cucumber, garlic, mint, onion, parsley, or pepper. Many of these plants help repel pests commonly affecting tomatoes, while some make it harder for pests to locate tomato plants by masking the scent of the tomato plant with their own strong scent. In addition, growing tomatoes with these plants are considered to improve the flavor of tomatoes while also attracting bees for pollination.
Harvest Time
Ripe tomatoes should be harvested when they are firm and very red in color (unless they are a non-red variety; in that case when they turn a deep shade of the expected color). For the best flavor, it’s best to leave tomatoes on the vine as long as possible and consume shortly after you harvest tomatoes.
If the weather is getting colder and you still have a large crop of un-ripened tomatoes, you have a few options – use them as is or try to ripen them. Green tomatoes can be harvested as is and used in appropriate recipes – there are lots of options, from green tomato cake to salsa and chutney. Alternatively, you can try and ripen the tomatoes using one of several techniques. You can pull the entire plant from the garden, remove foliage and hang upside down in a garage or basement to ripen. Another option is to pick tomatoes and place them in a paper bag or wrap them in newspaper and place in a cardboard box stored in a dark place until ready to eat. Cooler temperatures will slow the ripening process, while warmer ones will speed it up. Placing tomatoes directly in a sunny windowsill to ripen will likely result in fruit rotting before ripening. While you might lose some fruit regardless of which technique you follow, overall you’ll be adding to your harvest so it’s worth a shot to extend your garden bounty!
Grow Your Own Garden
If you’re looking for help on how to grow other foods check out these posts!
