The days are now (mostly) warm and nighttime temperatures are steadily rising too. This is the ideal time to set out tomato plants, whether started from seed in the waning days of winter or bought from a nursery or farmer’s market. Tomatoes are the most popular food crop for home gardeners (community gardeners too!) and with good reason. They are easy to grow, and gardeners can select varieties with superior flavor to most tomatoes available in the market, at least those available to those of us without unlimited funds.
Getting started: Tomatoes like sun, and they love water. Lots of water. If you plant your tomato plants in a slight dish like depression in the soil, you can focus the water toward the plant base more easily. When planting tomatoes, plant them deep! Most plants need to be set into the ground at the same level that they were grown in a pot. Tomatoes are the exception to this rule. You can bury two thirds of the stem in the soil. The plant will form roots all along the buried stem, becoming much stronger. If you have plants that are tall and leggy from being grown indoors, plant them to just below the leaves. If you have nursery grown plants with leafy stems, remove some of the lower leaves before you bury the stem in the ground. Even if you have already set out your plants within the last couple of weeks, you can easily replant them deeper. The setback time will be short, and they will grow stronger than ever.
Care after planting: How you prune, stake, cage or trellis your tomato plants depends on the varieties you grow, specifically whether they are determinate or indeterminate. Determinate varieties grow to a certain height, usually three to five feet (I to 1.5 meters) and then stop. They tend to produce their crop all at once, which is good if, for example, you want a lot of tomatoes for making sauce for canning. Indeterminate varieties keep growing and can reach 10 feet! (3 meters), far taller than our rules allow. T Frost usually takes them before they get so tall here. They produce less fruit at a time but over a longer period, usually out bearing their determinate cousins.
Determinate tomatoes are bushy and tend to have sturdy stems and can be readily contained in a tomato cage whether store bought or made of wood or bamboo stakes and garden twine. They do not need a lot of pruning, indeed over pruning can reduce the crop. You can remove some of the lower leaves as the plant grows to increase air flow around the base of the plant, decreasing the risk of disease. Indeterminate tomatoes are more vine-like and will usually need a strong support like a trellis or stake. They are best pruned to one or two sturdy stems which must be tied to the trellis or stake as they grow. This will ensure that the plant does not spend too much energy producing leaves instead of more fruit. Commercial growers and backyard farmers usually let them sprawl on the ground, which will not work well here. First, they take up a lot of room and second, the low growing tomatoes will prove irresistible to our urban wildlife.
Should you stick to determinate varieties because they are a little easier to care for? That depends on what kind of tomatoes you want. There are great tomatoes in both types but, for example, most of the big juicy sandwich tomatoes are from indeterminate plants.
Tomato plants can benefit from some fertilizer during the growing season. Organic fertilizer specifically formulated for tomatoes and other fruiting plants is good. Anything with a high percentage of potassium and phosphorus relative to nitrogen will be fine. If you are going full Organic, avoid manure-based fertilizers. They usually are higher in nitrogen than the other nutrients and will stimulate leaf growth at the expense of fruit. Save them for leafy crops.
Mulching the soil at the base of the plants will help keep the soil moist in the summer and will help suppress weeds. It is best not to lay down mulch too early. Wait until the soil warms up before mulching tomatoes. The last few weeks we have had a lot of sunshine which, even when the air is cool and breezy, has warmed the soil nicely. You can mulch now if you choose.
Happy gardening!
Getting started: Tomatoes like sun, and they love water. Lots of water. If you plant your tomato plants in a slight dish like depression in the soil, you can focus the water toward the plant base more easily. When planting tomatoes, plant them deep! Most plants need to be set into the ground at the same level that they were grown in a pot. Tomatoes are the exception to this rule. You can bury two thirds of the stem in the soil. The plant will form roots all along the buried stem, becoming much stronger. If you have plants that are tall and leggy from being grown indoors, plant them to just below the leaves. If you have nursery grown plants with leafy stems, remove some of the lower leaves before you bury the stem in the ground. Even if you have already set out your plants within the last couple of weeks, you can easily replant them deeper. The setback time will be short, and they will grow stronger than ever.
Care after planting: How you prune, stake, cage or trellis your tomato plants depends on the varieties you grow, specifically whether they are determinate or indeterminate. Determinate varieties grow to a certain height, usually three to five feet (I to 1.5 meters) and then stop. They tend to produce their crop all at once, which is good if, for example, you want a lot of tomatoes for making sauce for canning. Indeterminate varieties keep growing and can reach 10 feet! (3 meters), far taller than our rules allow. T Frost usually takes them before they get so tall here. They produce less fruit at a time but over a longer period, usually out bearing their determinate cousins.
Determinate tomatoes are bushy and tend to have sturdy stems and can be readily contained in a tomato cage whether store bought or made of wood or bamboo stakes and garden twine. They do not need a lot of pruning, indeed over pruning can reduce the crop. You can remove some of the lower leaves as the plant grows to increase air flow around the base of the plant, decreasing the risk of disease. Indeterminate tomatoes are more vine-like and will usually need a strong support like a trellis or stake. They are best pruned to one or two sturdy stems which must be tied to the trellis or stake as they grow. This will ensure that the plant does not spend too much energy producing leaves instead of more fruit. Commercial growers and backyard farmers usually let them sprawl on the ground, which will not work well here. First, they take up a lot of room and second, the low growing tomatoes will prove irresistible to our urban wildlife.
Should you stick to determinate varieties because they are a little easier to care for? That depends on what kind of tomatoes you want. There are great tomatoes in both types but, for example, most of the big juicy sandwich tomatoes are from indeterminate plants.
Tomato plants can benefit from some fertilizer during the growing season. Organic fertilizer specifically formulated for tomatoes and other fruiting plants is good. Anything with a high percentage of potassium and phosphorus relative to nitrogen will be fine. If you are going full Organic, avoid manure-based fertilizers. They usually are higher in nitrogen than the other nutrients and will stimulate leaf growth at the expense of fruit. Save them for leafy crops.
Mulching the soil at the base of the plants will help keep the soil moist in the summer and will help suppress weeds. It is best not to lay down mulch too early. Wait until the soil warms up before mulching tomatoes. The last few weeks we have had a lot of sunshine which, even when the air is cool and breezy, has warmed the soil nicely. You can mulch now if you choose.
Happy gardening!