How to grow tomatoes at home, everything you need to know to have a successful crop of any variety of tomatoes.
Tomatoes are my favorite vegetable to grow in the garden, especially heirloom tomatoes. This year, we raised tomato plants from seed. Quinton and I spent a good part of Saturday preparing the area in our garden for tomatoes. We finished up the weekend by getting all the tomato plants planted! We planted Cherokee Purple
(my favorite), Black Krim
, Green Zebra
(second favorite), San Marzano
, Amana Orange
, Red Currant
and Yellow Pear
.
(my favorite), Black Krim, Green Zebra(second favorite), San Marzano, Amana Orange, Red Currant and Yellow Pear.How to Grow Tomatoes
First Quinton loosened up the soil with a spading fork
by digging down and turning the soil over and over until it was loose and crumbly.
by digging down and turning the soil over and over until it was loose and crumbly.
Next, we decided that our soil was a little too clumpy, so we added some composted garden mix. It’s a mixture of composted rabbit manure, hummus, hardwood mulch, crushed granite, topsoil and sandy loam.
Now that the soil was ready, we took the tomato plant and removed it from the pot and picked off all the lower leaves to prepare for deep planting. Tomatoes do well when they are buried about 6-inches deep to allow them to develop a strong root system and help them grow sturdy and tall.
Next, we filled the space around the tomato plant with garden mix and pressed down to secure the plant.
We used a plant marker
to mark our newly planted tomato and placed a tomato cage around it to provide protection from pets, kids and weather. A tomato cage will also add support at the plant grows.
to mark our newly planted tomato and placed a tomato cage around it to provide protection from pets, kids and weather. A tomato cage will also add support at the plant grows.
Look at the difference from what we started with!
Finally, we watered all the tomatoes well.
Tips on How to Grow Tomatoes:
- Check on your plants daily and water as needed. If the soil is damp, leave it alone. If the soil is dry and crumbly, give it a good soak.
- Pull weeds by hand everyday so that it doesn’t seem overwhelming. If weeds are too large to pull by hand, use a hoe. A good tool we like to use is the hula-ho
. It’s great for cutting weeds off right below the surface of the soil.
- Take care to fertilize every two weeks or at least once a month. We use dry molasses
once a month (side dressing it by sprinkling a handful around the base of the plant) and we usually feed with Garrett Juice
, which is a foliar fertilizer by mixing it according to directions and spraying the leaves of the plant every two weeks.
So don’t be scared ~ you can do it!
I’m Jennifer Locklin, author and owner of Jennifer Cooks. I am a trained chef and passionate about good food, cooking for family and friends, and creating recipes that form lasting memories from one generation to the next.
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