Growing Tomatoes - The Number 1 Garden Pick!
By: Janet Hartin, M.S.
Many gardeners agree that there is nothing quite as good as a home-grown tomato (Lycopersicon spp.). Tomatoes remain the most popular vegetable grown in the garden due to their outstanding fresh flavor and nutritional value. One medium sized tomato supplies about 40% of the RDA of vitamin C and 20% of the RDA for Vitamin A, as well as high levels of lycopene, which has been found to prevent many forms of cancer.
There are many tomato varieties available, and this time of year you may either direct seed or plant small tomato plants from ‘pony packs’ directly into your garden. While either is fine now, as spring becomes summer if you haven’t started your tomato seeds, it’s better to choose transplants in order to beat the chilly fall weather since tomatoes are "warm season" vegetables and perform best in the summer.
Many people find that growing tomatoes is economical. Each mature plant produces approximately ten to fifteen pounds of fruit (yes, that’s right: tomatoes are actually a fruit rather than a vegetable) over the course of its annual production cycle.
To avoid having to use chemical pesticides, minimally select disease and nematode-resistant varieties: these will be designated with a VFNT notation (verticillium wilt, fusarim,and nematode-resistant). Many gardeners take it a step further and only plant VFNT-resistant tomatoes. The ‘T’ stands for tobacco mosaic virus. Incidentally, smoking is not only hazardous to your own health, but to your tomatoes, as well!
There are bush-type tomatoes that grow to 4’ high or more at maturity and include all of the early-fruiting varieties. These are also referred to as ‘determinate’ in growth habit. The more common tomato vines that are often supported with wire enclosures are ‘indeterminate’ in habit and will grow well into fall and winter, unless frost kills them. Many of the larger fruited, standard size tomato plants are of this type. While indeterminate types always require some type of support, it is a good idea to also support determinate plants to prevent fruit from coming into contact with the soil and coming down with a bad case of rot! Using plant supports also saves valuable garden space since more plants can be grown in a given area.
If you germinate your own seeds, make sure to purchase fresh seeds and not use last year’s leftovers: they may not germinate. Transplant them when they resemble 6-8” nursery-grown transplants.Tomatoes should be planted deep (this is different from most plants), leaving only the top two or three sets of leaves peaking up above the soil. Or, plant leggy transplants horizontally; roots will form along the buried stem! This strengthens the plant and provides good anchorage. If you are transplanting seedlings from peat pots, do not remove the peat or biodegradable container. It will decompose naturally. Otherwise, you are likely to disturb the tender roots and risk losing the plant altogether.
Tamp the soil gently around new transplants and water them thoroughly for the first few weeks. The roots are not developed enough to mine deep water and require lots of assistance! Once established, you can back off a bit and water once or twice a week when the soil begins to show signs of drying out.
What about fertilizer? Tomato plants need nutrition, which should be applied as soon as they are transplanted. There are many sources (as we’ve discussed in previous articles) including traditional balanced fertilizers found on the shelves of every nursery and garden center in town, but if you’d like to go organic, try composted manure, blood meal, canola meal, or fish powder. Most are slow-release, which prevents water pollution from leaching nitrogen, which will affect the long-term growth of your garden plants. Be careful not to apply too much nitrogen later in the season because it will promote leaf rather than fruit growth. Nitrogen deficiency can be recognized by yellow older leaves and slow growth. Phosphorus (P) promotes healthy roots and blooms and is partially supplied by decomposing organic matter. Too little phosphorus results in dull green leaves and purplish stems and poor bloom. Organic phosphorus is available in bone meal and fish emulsion.
If you’re a traditional gardener used to using ‘off the shelf’ fertilizers, work 2-1/2 to 3 pounds of a complete fertilizer (5-10-10, 5-20-20, or 8-16-16) into every 100 square feet of garden one to two weeks before planting. Note that the phosphorus (second number in the series) should be double the first number (nitrogen) for best growh and to protect the environment. Tomatoes prefer slightly acidic pH; since many California soils are inherently high pH (greater than 7), you might want to purchase a test kit from a local nursery and make sure the pH is between 6.6-7.2 Sulphur applications can decrease pH.
Harvest your home grown ‘scarlet treasures’ when they are fully ripened and just starting to soften. Store them in dark, warm conditions. While many people prefer the taste of refrigerated tomatoes, flavor actually starts to wane once chilled. For full flavor, tomatoes are best consumed at room-temperature. Consider a tomato older than three days plucked as old! If you have a bumper crop and need to harvest more than you can consume fresh over a short period of time, consider cooking tomato sauce and freezing it right away. You’ll be glad you did once winter rolls around! Also consider donating excess produce to a local food kitchen or shelter.
A popular notion these days is for groups of neighbors to get together each spring and decide what each household will grow over the summer to then share in the rewards! This works great and gives neighbors a chance to form lifelong friendships that are often a rarity in our busy modern world.
Start looking forward to reaping your rewards in late May and enjoy your bounty through the summer, and if you’re lucky, into the fall. Next time I’ll talk about other warm-season vegetables and how to stay on top of those pesky weeks we all love to hate.
Happy Gardening!
