Here are some easy guidelines you should follow when buying your tomato plants. Step one, be sure the starter plants you buy have no yellow leaves on them as this is a sign that you could be buying trouble right from the start. Inspect the container. An indication the plant has been in the container too long is if the roots are growing out of the slits. Do not buy any starter plants that bear fruit already, as these plants will most likely produce very few tomatoes in the long run.
Step two is to prepare the soil. Tomato gardening is best in a soft soil. Mixing in some sand and compost will give them a healthy start. We have that colloidal humus is the best product to use as a compost. Preheating the soil in your tomato garden will give your tomatoes a boost that they will love. Just place plastic bags (black is best) over the dirt for a couple of weeks before planting. This will raise the temperature of the ground. This will help you obtain early tomatoes.
Step three is getting them in the ground. Tomatoes should be planted deeper than they come in the pot. You can plant them all the way up to a few top leaves. You can dig a deep hole or a long shallow hole and lay the plant sideways. It will find the sun and grow straight up through the soil. Tomatoes are capable of rooting all along their stems.
Step four is optional but recommended. Mulching is always a good idea for tomato gardens for moisture retention; however give the ground a chance to warm up some more after the planting before you put down your mulch. Mulch will also keep the soil born diseases from splashing onto the plants. Plastic mulch is best for heat lovers like tomatoes and peppers. Step five is not widely known but critical to a tasty and bountiful harvest. When the tomato plants are about 3ft. tall, removing the leaves from the bottom of the plant about 1ft. of the way up will help prevent fungus problems since these are the leaves most likely to be effected. Spraying once a week with an organic compost tea can also be effective at warding off fungus in your tomato garden. One little secret is the tomato needs lots of air flow. A mature plant should have VERY FEW LEAVES left on them!
Step six would be to remove suckers from your tomato plants at the cross joint of two branches will add more energy to the plant as these suckers will not bear fruit anyway. Thinning the leaves will allow the tomato garden to receive more sunlight. A tomato plant requires as much air movement as water. Indeterminate type tomatoes can be coaxed into early growth by just pinching off the tips of the main stems in early summer. Determinate tomatoes usually set and ripen their fruit at the same time.
The final step is to make sure to water generously while the plants are developing. Once the tomatoes start to ripen lessen the water so the plants will sweeten up a bit more. Be sure not to let the plants wilt or the tomato plants may drop their blossoms or even sometimes it’s fruit. Planting in containers will make them portable. Follow these steps to insure a healthy and fruitful tomato garden.
