The Key to Getting the Most from Your Tomato Garden
Tomatoes are one of the best fruit vegetables. Tiny cherry tomatoes with their sweet, tangy taste, can be eaten whole. Tomatoes will add a zip of color to a boring salad. Tomato sauce makes pizza or pasta even more appetizing when added. These are just some of the benefits you will get from growing your own tomatoes.
Tomatoes come in various shapes, sizes and colors but there are really just two kinds. One type is called the Determinates and the other the Indeterminates. Determinate tomatoes are vine growing that stop when they reach a certain point.
These tomatoes have early producing fruit that grow on a small compact vine. They are perfect for growing in containers or small spaces.
The best way to grow Determinates is to space them out about 1 to 2 feet apart. The tomato rows need to have a distance of 4 feet between them. With determinate tomato gardening if you wish to plant any other vegetables near the tomatoes, then you will need to keep some additional space around those tomato rows.
Indeterminates tomatoes on the other hand continue growing. They need support in the form of cages or trellises. The distance that you should keep between the cages is about 3 feet. Once the Indeterminate tomatoes have caught on to the trellis or their cage, you will need to train them to climb the supporting frame. Sometimes it will be necessary to tie the vines to the frame stakes so that the whole tomato plant does not fall over due to its own weight.
There are 2 ways to start your plants, either with your own seeds or buying starter plants from a nursery. Look for healthy plants that don’t have any yellow spots on their leaves. It’s also a good idea to check the roots to make sure that they are not coming out of the bottom of the container. By checking the root growth you will be able to tell if the plant will grow well or if it might be a poor fruit producer because it’s been stressed.
The best way to tell when to plant your tomatoes is when all of the other trees in your garden have leaves. This means the temperature will be warm enough and your plants will receive about 8 hours of good sunlight. It’s important to fully cover the roots of you tomatoes with soil enabling it to get all the nutrients it can.
Keeping an eye on the weather is also important. Those hot sunny days that you like are not necessarily good for your tomato plants and it will mean that they should have a weekly watering. Other than this, you can just sit back and wait to enjoy your fresh, ripe tomatoes straight off the vines.
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