How to Grow Perfect Tomatoes

Grow your own perfect tomatoes in a home garden.

Growing your own vegetables is a great way to get healthy and affordable produce. Some vegetables, including tomatoes, are relatively easy to grow in the home garden, but the more effort you put into it, the greater your results will be. If you want to achieve a harvest of perfect tomatoes, you will need to start your garden properly and maintain it well throughout the growing season with regular watering and supplemental fertilizers. If you take all the proper steps, you will be rewarded with perfect homegrown tomatoes.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Sunny yard space
• Shovel or trowel
• Compost
• Starting fertilizer
• Seedlings or juvenile tomato plants
• Water
• Stakes, trellises or tomato cages
• Gardening twine
• Nitrogen fertilizer

1. Select a location for your tomato garden. The ideal location will be in full sunlight, getting between 5 and 8 hours of sunlight per day, and will be well-drained. Vegetable gardens located in damp areas at the bottom of slopes or in the shade do not do well.

2. Plot out your garden. Determine how large you want your garden to be and loosen the soil in that area with a shovel or trowel. When mature, in-ground tomatoes typically need to be spaced 24-to 36 inches apart, so determine how many mature plants you want and select a garden plot of the appropriate size.

3. Mix compost and starting fertilizer into the soil to enrich the soil. This process is best done after the soil has warmed in early spring and before you plant your seedlings.

4. Transplant your seedlings or juvenile tomato plants into the garden. While they are young, you may keep your seedlings 12 inches apart but as they mature you will need to separate them to provide each plant with enough space to grow.

5. Water your tomatoes thoroughly and regularly during dry periods. The soil in your garden should be kept moist, but not wet. If you are keeping your tomatoes in pots, you may need to water them daily.

6. Utilize stakes, trellises and cages to support the weight of growing limbs and tomatoes. If you use stakes, secure the thickest stalks to the stakes with gardening twine. If you are using cages or trellises, arrange the stalks and leaves so that they receive the required support.

7. Side dress your tomato plants with fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate once the tomatoes have reached the size of golf balls. Dig a shallow trench around your tomato plants about six inches from the stalk and sprinkle 1 to 2 tbsp. of fertilizer into the trench. Cover the trench lightly with soil and water it.

8. Continue to water your tomatoes and reapply the nitrogen fertilizer in 4 to 6 week intervals until the tomatoes reach maturity. Mature tomatoes will vary in size and color depending on the variety, but ripe fruits will be firm and snap easily off the stalk.

9. Harvest your tomatoes as they mature. During the hot summer months, your tomatoes may begin to soften and lose color. If this happens, pick your tomatoes every few days and allow them to finish ripening indoors on a sunny windowsill in temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tips & Warnings

• You may choose to plant seeds for tomato plants directly into your garden but you will have a greater rate of success if you transplant seedlings or juvenile plants.

• Tomatoes come in a variety of types, and each variety has its own unique flavor and appearance. Speak to the professionals at your local garden supply store to determine which type of tomatoes you want to grow. You do not have to stick to one variety -- try planting several different types of tomatoes and see which grows best in your garden.

References

• University of Illinois Extension: Tomato
• Tomato Gardening Guru; Growing Killer Tomatoes; Kate Gardner
• NC State University; Growing Tomatoes for Home Use; Larry Bass; March 1999