Home Grown Tomatoes
by John Yazo
Tomatoes are by far the most popular vegetable grow in the backyard garden. Varieties of many types are available, from heirloom tomatoes to hybrids. They come in many different shapes, sizes, colors and there are even low acidic tomatoes.
Tomatoes can be started from seed or you can purchase plants from your local garden center. If you plan on starting them from seed indoors at home or in a greenhouse the temperature should be between 65 degrees and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The optimum temperature being between 75 degrees and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. If you purchase plants instead of starting them from seed you should buy healthy, strong looking plants with a dark green color and no flowers on the plant. Tall lanky light green in color plants are not the best choice.
Don't plant tomatoes to soon outside. Make sure all the risks of frost have past before you decide to plant them. Tomatoes like hot humid nights. If you decide to get some plants in early you will need to cover then with heat caps to keep them warm and protect them from any risk of frost.
When planting tomatoes pinch off the bottom row of leaves and dig a hole deep enough so that the stem of the tomato plant is buried below the first row of leaves that were pinched off, add layer of sifted compost to the bottom of the hole. once the compost has been added place the plant in the hole and backfill with sifted compost.
Staking and the use of cages should be done directly after you plant the tomato plants. Once the tomato plants have a mature root system driving stakes or clips for cages could damage the root system of the plant.Cages are a lot less work than staking tomato plants but they cost more to purchase than stakes.
Once the tomato plants start to grow you will need to keep them pruned. Clip off all suckers that shoot out when they are one to two inches long. This will leave you with a single stem that will develop a strong and healthy plant.
Fertilize your tomatoes only after you start seeing fruit on the plant one inch in size. Don't feed tomatoes plants with a large amount of nitrogen. This will cause the plant to develop more foliage than fruit. Tomatoes should be side dressed with fertilizer when the first fruit is one inch in size and then again just before you start to harvest the crop.
Organic grown tomatoes are easy to grow and taste can't be compared to a tomato that is purchased in the supermarket.
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