Tomato Growing Guide: Planting Methods, Variety Selection, and Troubleshooting
Tomatoes are a vegetable we often eat now, and they are available year-round on the market. Do you know how to grow them? If you want to learn, let's take a look together!
How to Choose Tomatoes
Choosing tomato varieties can be confusing because there are so many, so please use our tomato selector to help you choose the best ones for your garden.Growing a range of varieties is a good idea, including at least one or two disease-resistant types, because among all vegetables, tomatoes tend to be the most prone to disease.
Soil, Planting, and Care
Tomatoes run warm; plants in late spring and early summer except in Zone 10, where they are a fall and winter crop.To start growing, plant starter plants rather than seeds. Choose young tomato plants from BonniePlants®, a company that has spent more than 100 years helping home gardeners grow the best gardens.Contribute a golden, sunny spot for growing tomatoes. Tomatoes need at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight to bring out the best flavor.
You will need to stake, trellis, or cage most tomato plants to keep them off the ground. Decide on a support plan before you start planting, then add support directly after planting.
Give each plant enough space to grow. Space sturdy, long-leafed, indeterminate varieties about 3 feet apart. More orderly plants can be spaced 2 feet apart. Improve the planting area by mixing in a few inches of high-quality garden soil, such as compost-rich Miracle-Gro®PerformanceOrganics™ All-Purpose In-Ground Soil, along with the top layer of existing soil. If growing in containers, you will need at least a 24-inch pot for indeterminate varieties, or an 18-inch pot for determinate varieties. Be sure to fill containers with a quality potting mix, such as Miracle-Gro®PerformanceOrganics™ Container Mix, for best growth results.
Tomatoes take up nutrients best when the soil pH is between 6.2 and 6.8, and they need a continuous supply of primary and secondary plant nutrients. To provide the needed nutrition, when preparing the planting hole, mix a continuous-release fertilizer with calcium (such as Miracle-Gro®PerformanceOrganics™ All-Purpose Plant Nutrition Granules) into the soil. The label indicates continuing to feed during the growing season. This will help protect the fruit from blossom end rot, a problem that can occur when plants do not get enough calcium.
At the same time, mix in 3 to 4 inches of compost, which will provide trace nutrients and help hold moisture and fertilizer in the soil until the plants need it.
To grow truly strong tomato plants, we recommend burying two-thirds of the stem at planting time. This key step will cause the plant to sprout roots along the buried stem, so your plant will be stronger and better able to find water in drought. Note that this deep planting method applies only to tomatoes (and tomatillos), not to other vegetables.
Immediately after planting, water the seedlings to help them settle in.
You can plant early crops by combining fast-maturing varieties with special season-stretching techniques, but wait until the last frost has passed to plant main-season tomatoes.
Cover the ground with 2 to 4 inches of mulch to reduce weeds and help keep the soil evenly moist. Straw and shredded leaves make excellent mulch for tomatoes
Water regularly, at least an inch of moisture per week (through rain or watering), and more in summer. Feel the soil; if the top inch is dry, it is time to water.
Troubleshooting
As the summer heat sets in, some tomatoes have trouble starting to set fruit. Be patient, and when the nights begin to cool down, you will see small green tomatoes again. At the same time, harvest ripe tomatoes promptly to lighten the heavy burden on stressed plants. If you live in an area where summer temperatures are usually in the 90s, be sure to choose some heat-tolerant tomato varieties, which were selected for their ability to set fruit under high temperatures.
If summer drought is common in your area, or you tend to forget to water, use soaker hoses, drip irrigation, or other drought measures to help maintain even soil moisture. This not only helps prevent cracked fruit, but also helps prevent blossom end rot. (Fluctuations in moisture can reduce the amount of calcium the plant is able to take up, which can cause blossom end rot.)
Wet weather creates ideal conditions for fungal diseases such as early blight, which forms black spots on the lower leaves. Be sure to remove any unhealthy-looking or diseased leaves throughout the season. Late blight is a more destructive disease that can quickly kill plants; the only way to control it is to prevent it by spraying the leaves with an approved fungicide such as chlorothalonil or copper, and to keep the garden clean of plant debris.
You also want to watch out for pests. For example, in mid-summer, large green caterpillars called tomato hornworms eat tomato leaves and sometimes damage the fruit. One or two hornworms can strip a plant of leaves in a short time! As soon as you spot pests, treat the pests immediately.
By late summer, plants that started producing early in the season will show signs of exhaustion. With just a little effort, you can extend the life of those sad-looking tomato plants by pruning withered leaves and branches. Then follow up as needed with liquid plant food and treatment for leaf disease or insects.
