Tomatoes are the crown jewel of many a vegetable garden. Whether you grow them in your backyard, patio or balcony, these tomato gardening tips will help you get the most out of every plant you cultivate this season!
Tomatoes need a lot of sun to produce large, sweet fruit. So choose your garden spot carefully. Aim for seven hours of sun or more per day.
Planting
When you plant tomatoes, make sure to space them properly so they get enough sun. This gives them room to take up water and nutrients. It also allows light to reach the lower leaves and improves air flow, which helps deter pests and diseases.
Besides spacing, you can also encourage tomato plants to grow upright by staking them or using trellises and cages. Otherwise, they’ll flop over or sprawl, and the sun won’t reach all their foliage, which means fewer fruits.
If you’re growing tomatoes in containers, a layer of mulch will help keep the soil cooler. Mulch can be anything from shredded pine bark or fall leaves to grass clippings or compost. This keeps the ground around the tomato plants from evaporating in the summer heat, which can cause tomatoes to dry out and burn their roots. It also can prevent weeds from sprouting and discourage them from eating the tomatoes.
Fertilizing
Tomatoes require a well-balanced diet of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to produce healthy and flavorful fruit. It is important to use a fertilizer with these nutrients at each stage of growth and development.
In the early stages, tomato plants need nitrogen to aid in leaf production. Nitrogen helps tomatoes grow strong, healthy leaves and prevents leaf yellowing and difficulty growth.
To get tomato plants off to a good start, apply nitrogen-based, balanced 10-10-10 tomato fertilizer at planting time. This is also a great time to add organic compost or manure to the top of the soil.
Next, side-dress tomatoes every three to four weeks during their growing season. This can be done with a liquid feed or granular fertilizer that releases nutrients into the soil over time.
Avoid adding too much fertilizer at one time or it can burn the roots of the plant and cause nutrient imbalances. Signs of over-fertilization include yellowing leaves, poor flowering and a heavy build-up of sediment on the soil surface.
Watering
During the tomato growing season, your tomatoes will need regular watering to keep their soil healthy and their fruit developing well. The right frequency depends on a number of factors, including the weather and the growth stage of the plant.
Young seedlings need lots of water to establish their roots, while older plants have developed enough roots to withstand less frequent watering. Be careful not to overwater them, as this can cause the fruit to crack or rot.
A good way to keep the soil moist is to mulch with organic material such as leaves, straw, compost and other materials. This helps to retain moisture and reduces evaporation, making it easier for you to water your tomatoes more frequently.
It’s also important to water around the stem of the plant, not on the leaves. This is because the water needs to get to the roots, and if it gets on the leaves, it will wash away valuable nutrients and impede air flow.
Pruning
While it may not seem like pruning tomatoes is a necessary step, our experts say it can boost airflow and make harvesting fruit easier. It also helps the tomato plant produce larger fruits in the long run.
Pruning also removes branches with leaves that touch the ground, which can be prone to disease and fungal infections. Leaves that sit on the ground absorb moisture from rain and watering, which can help them spread bacterial and fungal pathogens to other parts of the plant.
To prevent diseases, prune tomato plants when they are dry. Wet plants are more likely to be infected with fungi and bacteria that can harm them, such as blight.
Tomatoes grow best in well-draining, nutrient-rich soil. The best way to improve the soil is by adding organic matter such as compost and worm castings.