How to grow tomato plants

Why bother growing your own?

The tomatoes that you get from the grocery store are specifically designed to last a long time, between travel and time spent on the shelf at the shop to your own storage after purchase.  The problem with this process is that these tomatoes will not taste as nice as the ones you grow yourself.  Plus you will save a lot of money by growing your own. You will save a lot of money by growing your own. Share on X  

Preparing

Prepare an area in your garden that is at least 2 feet (0.6 metres) square for each tomato plant and ensure that this area is either; next to a wall or has a sufficient climbing surface such as large wooden stakes etc. because tomato plants can grow up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) tall.  Dig through the soil to remove and large rocks or stones and till the soil by digging out shovel fulls of earth and turning them over.  Do this until the earth in the area you intend to plant is very soft and fluffy, there should be no hard pieces of soil left.  

Planting

Just before planting you should add a generous amount of manure or good quality compost as tomatoes require large amounts of nutrients throughout the growing process.  When planting it is important to bury the small tomato plants very deep so that at least 2/3 of the plant is buried.  There is no need to water the plant at the time of planting, as long as the earth has been sufficiently tilled as described in the above step.  

Care

Tomatoes are very hungry plants that require as many nutrients as possible, however, the plant itself will begin to sprout non-producing shoots that will steal as many nutrients as possible while not providing any fruit.  As your plant grows you will need to check it each day to try and identify these non-producing shoots.  These side shoots will appear at the junction between a normal branch and the main stem of the plant.  You can identify these non-producers if they are growing leaves after a few days, and are connected at the same junction as a normal shoot and the main stem.  These non-producing stems should be removed by cutting them off, as they are stealing valuable nutrients from the growing shoots. As these plants are very hungry for nutrients you will need to limit the competition within the plant itself.  To do this, wait until there are at least 5 or 6 growing shoots emerging from the main stem and then cut off the top of the plant, about 7.5cm (3 inches) from the top.  This will allow those 5 or 6 growing shoots to benefit from as much nutrients as possible.  If you let the plant continue to sprout growing shoots than all of the fruit will suffer from a lack of nutrients. If planting outdoors in a climate that gets good rainfall at least once per week it will not be necessary for you to water the plant.  If, however, you are planting in a hot climate or during the summer months you should water the plant once a week with plenty of water and allow the soil to dry out between watering. Begin feeding the tomato plant with a specifically formulated tomato feed approximately 2 weeks after planting and continue to feed once per week.  

Harvesting

This one is really easy.  As soon as the tomatoes are red and look like a tomato feel free to pick them from the plant.  These newly harvested tomatoes should be eaten as soon as possible as home grown tomatoes do not last too long off the plant, unlike the store-bought versions that are designed to last a long time.  You can store these tomatoes for up to 1 week by washing them and drying thoroughly.  Place them in a bowl on your counter top.  Never store home grown tomatoes in the fridge as this will shorten their life expectancy.