How To Plant Tomatoes

It's almost tomato planting season! In some areas, you may be able to put tomatoes outside right now. Here in Central Ohio, Mother's Day is the traditional date, but my seedlings are growing nicely in the window in preparation for moving outdoors. So today I'm sharing some tips on how to plant tomatoes, America's most popular home-grown crop - and possibly my favorite!

It is wonderful to be able to eat and serve your own succulent tomatoes from the garden.  They have a sweet and rich flavor that store-bought tomatoes almost always lack. However, they are not always as simple to grow as you might expect.

How To Plant Tomatoes Outdoors

Cherry tomatoes.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tomatoes are a climbing plant. You can grow them either in containers or in the ground, but they need to have a trellis or other support to climb.

They also like warmth and plenty of direct sunlight. They will grow in most parts of the USA from zone 3 and in the UK and Europe, but in cooler climates you should choose a suitable variety and be sure to plan a sheltered, sunny spot for them. Do not plant them outside until you are sure that there will be no more frost. Planting in containers has the advantage that you can easily move them into a greenhouse or into the house at night, if cold weather threatens.

It is possible to grow tomatoes from seed, but most people start with small plants from the nursery. Check plants carefully for any signs of disease. If you see any, go to a different nursery.

Soil pH should be from 6.0 to 7.0. You can check this with a soil testing kit from any nursery. If your soil tests outside of this range, either add product to alter its acidity level or plant your tomatoes in containers in compost of the right pH.

If planting in the ground, dig plenty of tomato compost into your soil, then dig a hole about a foot diameter for each plant. The holes should be 12 to 18 inches apart according to the variety of tomato (the label should instruct you on this). 

Put in the bottom of each hole a little compost followed by broken eggshells or calcium product from the nursery. Set the plants into the holes and fill with compost. It's fine to cover the lower branches of the growing plant, but at least 3-4 branches should be above ground.

Water them, then place a paper collar around the stalk at ground level to deter crawling pests, and cover with a cloche if your climate is cool. After a couple of weeks remove the cloche and collar, cover the soil with a layer of mulch and set up whatever supports your plant variety needs.

Tomato plants love water and need 1-2 inches of rain per week. If you get less than this, be sure to water them often.

State fruit - Tomato (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How To Plant Tomatoes Indoors

Tomatoes can also be grown inside the house in containers, but they need lots of direct sunlight so you will need to position them carefully. They should get at least 6 hours of sunlight per day in order to grow well and produce good fruit.

Additional Tips On Planting Tomatoes

If you are growing tomatoes in the ground, be sure to rotate them to different parts of the garden each year. They are very prone to disease and moving them around will help to stop the common tomato diseases from becoming established.

For the same reason, if you are growing them in containers it is best to discard the compost and clean the container, as well as burning the remains of the plant, at the end of each season.

Warning: although tomato fruits are safe to eat, other parts of the plant can be poisonous. Protect from young children and pets.

Good luck with your tomato plants. I hope you have a bountiful and delicious crop!

Growing Tomatoes: To sucker, or not to sucker?

Last week, a passing neighbor commented on my exuberant garden. He then offered some words of wisdom, apparently from his non-apartment-dwelling youth, when he grew tomatoes himself. “Do you know how to remove the suckers? That is what will make them produce more tomatoes.”

Having grown up on a farm, I was surprised and a little embarrassed to admit I was not even familiar with the concept. My mother was (and still is) an avid gardener, and I don’t remember her ever mentioning such a thing.

Image via WikipediaA little research on the internet quickly revealed there are two schools of thought on the topic: Remove the suckers vs. Don’t remove the suckers. (Or if you prefer, the Suckers vs. the Non-Suckers.)

The Sucker camp says you should sucker your tomatoes (remove the new, small stems that grow up in the joints of your plants) in order to make the fruit grow larger (I didn’t actually find anything about the plants then producing MORE fruit, as my neighbor had claimed).

The Non-Suckers say you should not sucker the plants, as the suckers may actually grow more tomatoes themselves, and increase your yield.

(Apparently this also depends on the type of plants — if your tomatoes are “determinant” or “non-determinant”. Determinant plants grow to a certain size and then stop, and produce all their fruit. Suckering these would not really make sense, as when they are done growing, you would want as many branches as possible to produce fruit. Non-determinants continue to grow, adding more leaves and stems even as they are fruiting.)

I have never tried the suckering method, and I don’t believe my mother ever did either. I just removed a few this week, on one plant, so we’ll see if I notice any difference.  I just removed the small ones, as the larger ones looked like they may be planning on blooming, themselves…
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I would love to hear comments on other’s experiences with this — do you sucker, or not, and what have your experiences been with either method?

(For other ideas on sustainable gardening or related topics, feel to visit our website at http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html ).

Have a great week!
Rose.