How to Prepare Garden Soil for Tomatoes

Make sure the soil is the best it can be.

There is nothing as delicious as a fresh-picked tomato, still warm from the summer sun. Millions of people who don't grow any other vegetables will add a tomato plant or two to their gardens. In order to grow great tomatoes, you need to start from the ground up. If you prepare the soil properly by improving its texture and adding natural nutrients in the form of compost, you'll get healthier plants and tastier fruit.

Things You'll Need

• Soil testing kit
• Rotary tiller or shovel
• Compost

Instructions

1. Pick a site. Tomatoes need a lot of sun (six to eight hours per day) and plenty of elbow room (six square feet or more per plant). Do not keep growing tomatoes in the same spot year after year, because the soil can be infested with disease-carrying microorganisms or fungi.

2. Have the soil tested. Your local extension office can do this for you for a reasonable fee. The soil report will tell you how acidic the soil is; tomatoes do best with a pH level of 6.0 to 7.0 (slightly on the acid side of neutral). If the pH number is higher than 7.0, add potash; if it's lower than 6.0, add ground limestone. The soil test will also reveal the amounts of various minerals in your soil; discuss the test results with your extension office to find out what the numbers mean and what, if anything, you need to do to compensate.

3. Till the soil deeply (at least two feet). If you can rent or borrow a rotary tiller, use that; otherwise, you'll need to dig the soil out with a shovel. Remove rocks, roots and other debris.

4. Add organic material to the soil you've dug up. Compost is the best single additive for garden soil. If you don't have your own compost pile, you can buy bagged compost at the garden center or hardware store. You can also buy bulk compost, which is sold by the cubic yard (27 cubic feet) and delivered to your home. Another common additive is peat moss, which is less expensive than compost, but doesn't add as many nutrients to the soil.

5. Plant your tomatoes after all danger of frost is past. (Your extension office can tell you the "last frost" date for your area, after which it's safe to plant.) Add a handful of bone meal and a couple of handfuls of compost to the hole for each plant.

Tips & Warnings

• There are three main enemies of the tomato plant: nematode worms (tiny critters you can't see with the naked eye) and two kinds of fungus, fusarium and verticillium. All three can get into the soil and cause the plant to become stunted or diseased. Prevent problems by moving your tomato plants around in the garden; don't plant tomatoes in the same spot for more than one year. You can also choose tomato varieties that are hybridized to be resistant. The seeds or plants will be labeled with an N for nematode resistance, an F for fusarium resistance and a V for verticillium resistance. Some varieties will have two or even all three letters.

References

• The Garen Primer, Barbara Damrosch, 1988
• general info
• nematodes

Resources

• County Extension Office list