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10 Tomato Gardening Tips
Use these 10 tomato gardening tips to grow more fantastic tomatoes! Growing them is not so easy sometimes. These tasty little treats come in all colors and sizes, and taste great no matter how you eat them.
Getting a great crop of tomatoes is a tricky thing to do. I have lost whole rows, grown too many (is there such a thing as too many?), and produced lanky unhealthy looking plants. I’ve been through it all, and failed in more ways than I can count.
Tomato plants can be fickle, these tips will help you grow enough of them to last all summer long. You can fry them, put them in salads, put them on burgers and sandwiches, or eat them right off the vine.
Tomato Basics
Why grow tomatoes? They are tasty and healthy. You can’t go wrong with tomatoes.
I love the varieties! So many colors, sizes, and flavors! The dark purple, they tiny yellow, the plump juicy red! All so good!
These are low in calories, and high in vitamins. They have also been shown to act as antioxidants when consumed regularly. Why wouldn’t you add them to every meal?
Tomato Gardening for the Best Crop
First off, tomato plants hate the cold. They just can’t survive a frost. This is how I’ve lost whole crops to an unseasonable frost. You must grow these guys in the summer.
They require a ton of sunlight to get those fruits nice and sweet too! There’s something beautiful about a tomato plant this is healthy, dark green and loaded with tasty treats.
Tomato plants love acidic soil too, so don’t skimp on the soil amendments. Be sure to plant them at the right time for your area too! This will help immensely.
10 Tomato Gardening Tips
1) Plant Sparsely
Tomatoes need space to grow. Seedlings should be spaced well apart from each other. Only one per seedling cup is recommended. I can’t bear to pluck them, so I plant very sparingly.
Tomatoes that are crowded tend to get stressed and are then susceptible to disease later. Giving them space is best to ensure healthy growth right from the seed.
2) Keep Them Warm
Being a warm weather crop, tomatoes need the warmth to flourish. Provide heat by using a heat mat under those seedlings or growing them in a protected warm sunny window.
Don’t forget about the heat when you transplant either. Cover your garden bed for a few days before transplanting to heat it up for them. Tomatoes can take the heat from full sun too. They love it and produce more fruits when they are kept nice and warm.
3) Aerate them
Provide some airflow for those little seedlings. This helps to strengthen their stems. They need to be able to withstand a windy afternoon without breaking.
Strengthening the stems early on will be a benefit to your crop. They can hold more fruits on strong stems! You can alternatively pet them daily and enjoy the lovely smell of tomato plants, it’s one of my favorites!
4) Give Them Light
Did I say they love full sun? That means they require a ton of light to grow well. Full sun in the garden all day, bright light when starting seeds indoors.
Some say to let them get some shade in the afternoon, but I’ve seen the tomato crops in California just out there, baking all day in full sun at 100+ degrees and they get truckloads of tomatoes! More light gives darker, healthier plants that are short and stocky with nice strong stems.
5) Plant Them Deep
Tomato plants tend to have a ton of tiny bumps on the stems. Did you know that roots can grow from those? Yup! More roots mean the plant can get more water, which leads to more tomatoes.
When transplanting tomatoes, go ahead and plant them deep, or on their sides. Bury them all the way up to their lowest leaves, they will grow roots from all of those bumps on the stems. This also helps to ensure proper spacing so they grow happy and healthy.
6) Remove Leaves
Once planted, go ahead and remove those lower leaves as they start to die off. This encourages healthy new growth at the top and prevents fungus problems down low. It’s wise to protect the plants from disease through the entire season.
7) Add Mulch
Covering the soil around your plants with mulch or other covering helps hold in that heat and water. It also provides a protective layer to prevent soil and soil borne disease from splashing onto the leaves when watering.
8) Pruning
Fights have been started over this one. To prune or not to prune?
I’ve seen gardeners go mad trying to get all of the suckers off of their plants. Others simply let the tomatoes go wild, no stakes, no ties, just crawling on the ground. You know what? Both methods provided impressive yields.
9) Ample Water Supply
You just can’t get fully ripe juicy tomatoes without water. You must water regularly to prevent blossom end rot and splitting. Tomato plants need a steady watering regime.
Long hot summers in full sun can stress your plants if they don’t get enough water. Keep a schedule to ensure they get plenty of water and the soil stays damp through those long afternoons.
10) Getting Tomatoes
Early on, the plants are in growth mode. Plants tend to grow upwards by phototropism. Pinching off the main growth tips will encourage the plant to put energy into the branches. These are the ones that will provide fruits.
Once your tomato plants have reached a descent height, pinch off the tips to get bushier plants that will provide tons of fruit. Tipping them may also encourage the last fruits to ripen faster at the end of the season.
Getting the Best Harvest
These tips can really boost your tomato harvest each year. The rule to follow is to start right with healthy plants and give them light, water and love.
Happy growing!
More to Grow:
Check out these other great gardening tips to be able to feed your family all summer long.