Who doesn’t love a good tomato, ripe off the vine, warm from the sun and juicy fresh—sweet and yummy? That’s what summer gardening is all about. Enjoying the fresh vegetables from your garden, picked daily, your own work of delicious art.
Yes. You can grow the perfect tomato, and I am going to help you.
I did a lot of research on growing THE perfect tomato and found articles that were very helpful but the one article I follow is by Lisa Hinzman Howard. She has been a certified master gardener since 2011, and a speaker at many garden shows across the US. Here is some of her advice on growing the perfect tomato.
Choose a sunny spot. Pick your very sunniest spot for your vegetable garden in general and your tomatoes in particular. Tomatoes are sun lovers and more sun will mean more fruits.
Use good quality soil and a fertilizer made for tomatoes. Tomato plants are heavy feeders and will not only require good quality soil but also regular applications of fertilizer specifically for tomatoes.
Allow lots of space. Tomatoes grow fast and will grow much bigger than you might imagine. As I like to say: Trust the tags! They’ll get huge in the rich soil you’ll be providing. Crowded plants will be more susceptible to diseases like blight and allow less light to get to the fruits. In my tomato-pot garden, for example, I only ever plant one tomato plant per large (24″ or greater diameter) pot. The same spacing applies to planting in ground or in a raised bed.
Interesting additives in the planting hole. Gardening myths and legends abound and the same goes for planting tomatoes. Some put fish heads in their planting holes, others choose banana peels. I like to add a handful of egg shells and two mint-flavored antacids in mine. That, combined with a quality tomato fertilizer, seems to keep blossom end rot away for me and keeps my tomato plants happy. Truth or legend? You’ll have to decide for yourself. I like to use Epsom salts, egg shells and a good compost base for my soil. I do not use fish feed in the soil because in Granby we deal with a bear population and that would truly attract them.
Plant ‘em deep. This one is hard to grasp at first as it is unique to tomato plants, but for the best results plant your tomatoes very deep. Far deeper than they are planted in the pot from the nursery. Plant your tomato transplants so that the stem is buried and only the top few leaves are above the soil. Planted this way, your tomato will develop strong roots all along the stem.
Timing is everything. Tomatoes are warm-season crops so don’t plant until all danger of frost has passed. That’s around Mother’s Day in my USDA Zone 5 garden. Even after that date, it’s important to watch your extended forecast before you plant your tomatoes.
Provide sturdy support. Add your tomato cage as soon as you plant if it is not already in place. And please choose something sturdier than the cheap tomato cages sold everywhere in the spring. Invest in the better ones or make your own. You won’t be disappointed and can use quality cages forever. This support will help you train your tomatoes to grow through the fencing and provide support to the plant and developing fruits, keeping most off the ground.
Mulch thoroughly. I mulch my vegetable garden with a thick layer of straw several inches deep every year. Mulch prevents weeds that thrive in bare soil. It also helps keep the soil moist. Most important is the benefit mulch provides in keeping soil-borne diseases from splashing onto your tomato leaves, paving the way to diseases like blight that wither and kill your plants. Pull your mulch back an inch away from the stems to prevent stem rot.
Water deeply and regularly. Irregular watering can lead to blossom end rot, a calcium deficiency, along with cracking and splitting. Ideally, tomatoes should receive one inch of water per week, provided by watering at soil level if not provided by natural rain.
Pruning is a must. I learned this tip late, after many years of struggles with blight and other soil-borne diseases. I tried rotating my crops until I learned that makes no difference unless you have acres of land to plant. Then I found the true solution. When my tomato plants grew to around three feet, I started heavily pruning and everything improved!
Harvest regularly. Once your tomatoes start to ripen, you will need to harvest them on a daily basis. Ideas for using your tomatoes range from right-off-the-vine eating, to canning and freezing.
Clean it up. Lastly, like most of the vegetables in my garden, your tomato garden will fare best if you remove the plants completely after the fall frost. Removing the plants quickly and thoroughly will help prevent disease. I also do not put tomato plant remnants in my compost pile due to the opportunity for disease. Now that you’re all cleaned up, you can await seed catalogs and dream of next year’s garden and future perfect tomatoes!
So, there you have it. Suggestions to help you grow the perfect tomato this season. From my garden to yours … may your tomatoes be larger, healthier and tastier than ever before.