How to Grow Tomatoes for a Bountiful Harvest All Summer LongRaise healthy and productive tomato plants with our expert tips.
Tomatoes are one of the most popular summer crops, known for their variety in shapes, sizes, and colors—from small cherry tomatoes to large beefsteak varieties.
Growing tomatoes in your garden can be a rewarding experience that fills your kitchen with fresh, delicious fruit all summer long.
To help your tomato plants thrive, we consulted gardening expert Carrie Spoonemore, co-creator of Park Seed's From Seed to Spoon app, for her top tips on planting and caring for tomatoes.
Determinate vs. Indeterminate
TomatoesUnderstanding the two main types of tomatoes—determinate and indeterminate—can help you decide which variety best suits your needs.
Determinate Tomatoes:
Determinate tomatoes have a compact structure and produce fruit over a concentrated period, typically a few weeks to a couple of months, before growth stops.
This makes them ideal for canning and preserving, as they yield a large crop all at once, simplifying harvest.
Indeterminate Tomatoes:
Indeterminate tomatoes grow and produce fruit throughout the season.
They have a vining habit and often require support like stakes or trellises.
These varieties offer a prolonged harvest, with fruits ripening gradually from early summer until the first frost, making them perfect for fresh eating.
How to Plant Tomatoes From Seed?
Starting tomatoes from seed is best done indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost date in your area.
This allows the seedlings to grow strong before transplanting outdoors.
Here are the steps:
Fill trays or pots with seed starting mix and moisten it.
Make 1/4-inch-deep holes in each tray or pot, placing two to three seeds in each pot.
Cover the seeds lightly with seed starting mix.
Water gently and cover with a plastic dome to retain moisture.
Place the seeds in a warm spot (70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit) with plenty of light.
Remove the cover once seeds germinate, which typically takes seven to 14 days.
How to Plant Tomatoes From Seedlings?
You can also buy seedlings from your local nursery and plant them directly in the ground after the threat of frost has passed and nighttime temperatures remain consistently above 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Choose a sunny spot in your garden with well-drained soil.Add compost or organic fertilizer to the soil.
Gradually expose seedlings to outdoor conditions over 7 to 10 days.
Once hardened off, dig holes deep enough to plant the seedlings up to the first set of true leaves.
Space plants 18 to 24 inches apart in rows 3 to 4 feet apart.
Water thoroughly after planting.
Add mulch around the plants to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
How to Care for Tomato Plants?
Tomatoes need full sun, fertile soil, and frequent watering to thrive.
Sunlight:
Tomatoes require at least six to eight hours of sunlight daily.
Too little sun can make them leggy and less productive, while too much sun can cause sunburn.
Soil:
Tomatoes prefer well-draining, fertile soil. Add a generous amount of compost and a small amount of nitrogen fertilizer before planting.
If your soil is limestone-based, amend it with a bit of sulfur.
Water:
Water tomatoes frequently and deeply when first planted.
Once established, provide about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water per week. Avoid getting the leaves wet when watering.
Fertilizer:
Feed your tomato plants a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer every two weeks during the growing season, starting two weeks after planting seedlings.
Temperature:
Tomatoes are warm-weather plants and grow best in temperatures between 70 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and around 50 degrees Fahrenheit at night.
How to Prune Tomato Plants?
Pruning tomatoes throughout the season encourages the plant to produce more fruit.
Remove suckers, the small shoots growing between the stem and branches, when they are 2 to 4 inches long.
Remove leaves from the bottom 12 inches of the plant to improve air circulation and reduce disease risk.
Regularly trim any yellowing or diseased leaves and excess foliage to allow sunlight to reach the fruit.
How to Propagate Tomato Plants?
Propagate tomato plants in late spring or early summer when they are actively growing.
Cut 6 to 8-inch sections from healthy, disease-free stems, ensuring each cutting has several sets of leaves.
Remove the lower leaves, leaving the top set intact, and place the cuttings in water or moist, well-draining soil.
Keep the cuttings in a warm, bright area out of direct sunlight until roots develop, usually within one to two weeks.
How to Harvest Tomatoes?
To harvest tomatoes, gently grasp the fruit and twist it off the vine, or use pruning shears to cut the stem just above the fruit.
Tomatoes are ready for harvest when they have fully developed color and are slightly soft to the touch.
Begin harvesting when they start to break color and let them ripen on your counter.
Harvest tomatoes in the morning when temperatures are cooler.
How to Store Tomatoes?
After harvesting, store tomatoes at room temperature, away from direct sunlight, with the stem side down.
Avoid refrigerating unripe tomatoes, as cold temperatures can affect their texture and flavor.
For fully ripe tomatoes, refrigerate them but allow them to return to room temperature before eating to restore some of their flavor.
For long-term storage, consider canning, freezing, or drying.
Pests and Problems:
Tomatoes are susceptible to pests such as aphids, tomato hornworms, mealybugs, nematodes, and spider mites.
Regularly check your plants and treat pests promptly, often with insecticidal soap.
Common diseases include blight, powdery mildew, and fusarium wilt.
Blossom-end rot, a common issue, causes black rot at the end of the fruit and can be prevented by checking soil calcium and managing environmental stressors.
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