How to Plant a Tomato Garden

According to the University of Illinois Extension, tomatoes are the most popular garden vegetable in the U.S. This is largely because of the ease of growing, the wide variety of types and many foods that can be prepared with them. As easy as tomatoes are to grow, there are a few simple preparations to be aware of to ensure the greatest success. You will be rewarded with large, thriving plants that produce a bounty of fresh, red tomatoes for your table for several months.

Things You'll Need

• Mulch
• 8-8-8 fertilizer mixture
• Tomato cages
• Prestarted tomato plants

Instructions

1. Plan your plot well. Tomato plants take a lot of space even if you keep them caged. Those cute little seedlings you plant in the spring will grow to 2 to 5 feet tall depending on the type of tomato and require at least a 2-foot square ground area--the more the better. Leaving a generous space around each plant requires a little extra effort in weed control but ensures plenty of fertilized ground during the growing period as well as enough nutrients for each individual plant when producing fruit. If you only have enough room for the 2-foot square area per plant, be prepared to provide more fertilizer during production than if you had more space.

2. Improve your soil. Heavy soils are best for tomato plants for two reasons: because they are a big and heavy plant, especially when laden with fruit, and because heavier soils do not leech out nutrients as quickly as sandy soils. If you have a fine, loose soil use a tiller to blend as much loam or clay soil as possible to make it firmer and stronger.

3. Give them a lot to eat. Tomatoes are "hungry" plants and require a very rich environment to thrive at the peak of production. You can get a lot of continuous fruit if you take extra care in providing good fertilization and weed control through the growing season. Weed control is important because even a few weeds can leech the soil of vital nutrients your plants need to produce a bumper crop of fruit for your table. Before you put your seedlings in your garden plot, generously mulch plenty of fertilizer into the ground. Once planted, give your young seedlings a zap with a fertilizer cocktail right after you plant them. Mix 4 tbsp. of 8-8-8 fertilizer from your garden store with a gallon of water. For large tomato patches, mix a pound of fertilizer with 10 gallons of water. During the growing season, spread crushed eggshells and coffee grounds on the surface of the soil around the plants once a week. Keep the grounds, shells or other fertilizers at least 6 inches away from the stem of the plants to avoid burning them.

4. Apply a heavy mulch of straw or other ground covering materials to help control weeds. Completely surround the plants and the pathways between each one. Not only will the mulch keep weeds from getting through, it will help hold water by the top of the soil where the plants roots are.

5. Keep them off the ground. You can buy prepared tomato cages or build your own using field fencing or concrete reinforcement wire. You should cage your young tomato plants when they are between 2 inches and 1 foot tall. If you wait longer, you may have trouble getting them inside the caging, or damage roots when pushing the wire into the soil.

6. Water your plants often. It is important to provide a lot of water to your growing plants and even more important to make sure they have plenty of water during their production. Tomatoes consist of a large amount of water, and if the plants do not receive enough, they cannot bear fruit. Thoroughly soak the ground around the plants at least once a week, more if possible without allowing pooling of water on the ground surface. Avoid getting the plants themselves wet unless it is late at night after the sun has gone down and they have time to dry overnight. Wet leaves in the sunlight are likely to burn.

7. Keep a close eye out for disease or pests. Two of the most common problems when growing tomatoes are blossom end rot and hornworms. Both are easy to avoid or cure. Blossom end rot is the best reason for applying cages to your plants because it will help keep the heavy vines from lying on the ground where the fruit can be exposed to pressure and water, causing them to rot. Hornworms are big, scary and ugly, but they are not dangerous and plucking them from your vines when found is the best cure. They can be hard to spot because they blend in well with the vegetation, but if you suddenly see your plants being chewed away almost overnight, you can suspect a heavy infestation of these voracious bugs that resemble green caterpillars.

Resources

• About Tomatoes