Growing Great Tomatoes
By Karen Gross, Fri Dec 9th
For many people, growing big juicy tomatoes is part of whatmakes vegetable gardening so enjoyable. Whether purchasingplants from your local nursery or starting tomatoes from seed,there are a few basic steps to follow to ensure that you harvestan abundant crop at the end of the growing season. There aremany different varieties of tomatoes to choose from, dependingon whether you will be cooking, canning, slicing, or eatingminiature or grape-like varieties right off the vine. Sweet100’s are very abundant, and are good for salads as well aseating fresh from the garden. Roma tomatoes are good for makingsalsa, because the peels are not as tough as others so you don’tneed to peel the skins off. Romas are also known as the classicpaste and sauce tomato. There are Early Girls, Early Boys, BigBoys, Big Mamas, Sweet Baby Girls, Beefsteaks, French Rosehybrids, Big Rainbow, specialty tomatoes and many more. So startby choosing the kind of tomato you would like to grow.
Planting Tomatoes from Seeds
Tomatoes grown from seed will require six to eight weeks beforethey can be planted in the garden. Purchase individualcontainers or flats, starter soil or mixture, and the seeds ofyour choice. Fill each container with soil, pressing it tightlyto remove air and to avoid settling problems after watering.Typically, seed companies print instructions for planting righton the tomato seed package. Each variety is a little differentso follow instructions carefully. Prepare a label identifyingthe type of tomato and the date started. You can make your ownfrom Popsicle sticks or purchase them at the store or gardencenter.
Insert your label in the pot and mist with water. Placecontainers in a sunny window and keep seeds moist by placing aplastic bag over them. Small greenhouse containers are alsoavailable at your local nursery. Watch for seeds to germinateand remove plastic when plants emerge. Wean out weaker lookingseedlings to give strong ones more room to grow. Keep moist bymisting or watering tomatoes when needed. When plants have asecond pair of leaves it is time to transplant these seedlingsto your garden or a large pot in which they are to grow.
It is a good idea to harden off or acclimatize a plant tooutdoor conditions before planting by setting it out in directsun during the day and bringing it in at night. After a fewdays, the tomato plant will have adapted to the new surroundingsand can be transplanted in the desired location. Place plantsdirectly outdoors after the threat of frost in a shady location,out of the wind and protected from heavy rains.
Purchasing Started Plants
If you prefer to purchase plants from your garden center orgreenhouse, select dark green plants that are stocky in size andthat do not have any fruit. The fruit will stunt the plantgrowth and the total yield will be reduced. Tomatoes are one ofthe few plants that will tolerate being planted deeper than theysit in the pot. So a taller plant can be placed a little deeperif preferred. As mentioned, harden off the plant before movingit to a final location.
Preparing Garden Soil For Tomato Plants The soil should be deep,loamy, and well-drained for the best harvest. Tomatoes prefer aslightly acidic soil with a pH of 6.2 to 6.8. The term pHbalance refers to acidity or the alkalinity of your soil from anumerical scale of 1.0 to 14.0. The neutral point on the pHscale is 7.0. Higher than 6.5 indicates alkaline soil, lowerthan that indicates acidic soil.
Test kits are available at garden centers or through localhorticultural organizations. To raise the soil’s pH, workagriculture lime into the soil. Use sulfur to lower the pH ofalkaline soil. Using fertilizers and compost amendments willalso change the soil’s pH over time. Adding decomposed organiccompost will improve any soil structure. You can purchase
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