How To Grow Tomatoes

History of tomato plant

T(caps)he history of the tomato reaches 2500 years in the past, when people of the ancient Aztec empire saw its value and integrated it into their lives. Tomato plants belong to the family Solanaceae, or the nightshade family. The tomato is native to western South America and Central America. The Latin name for the cultivated tomato is Lycopersicon escutentum. Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium is a wild species of tomato which is found in the low altitude coastal valleys in Peru. It produces cherry-size red fruit and easily hybridises with cultivated varieties. Probably the first tomatoes came from Peru, and wild tomatoes can still be found in the Andes. By the time the conquistadors came to Central and South America, there was widespread cultivation of tomatoes, though there’s much debate about where tomatoes were first raised and about exactly how they made their way north to Mexico. Cortez discovered tomatoes growing in Montezuma's gardens and brought seeds back to Europe, where they were planted as ornamental curiosities.

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The first variety to reach Europe was yellow in color, since in Spain and Italy they were known as pomi doro, meaning yellow apples. Italy was the first to embrace and cultivate the tomato outside South America. The French referred to the tomato as pommes d'amour, or love apples, as they thought them to have stimulating aphrodisiacal properties. Tomatoes were originally grown in Britain and the rest of Europe as ornamental climbers and were cultivated for their decorative leaves and fruit. The first British tomato grower was Patrick Bellow of Castletown who successfully reared plants from seeds in 1554. Tomatoes are now the most widely grown vegetable in the world.

If you grow fruits and vegetables, chances are you've thought of growing tomatoes. With so many varieties, delicious flavors, and health benefits, what's not to love? With proper care in the planting, growing, and harvesting stages, you can enjoy a successful crop this year and for years to come. You can learn how to grow tomatoes by following some simple strategies.

How To Grow Tomatoes

All tomato plants are vines that would sprawl along the ground if you do not stake them to grow upward. If left to their natural tendencies, tomato vines would become a damp, tangled mess on the soil, where they would attract all types of diseases and pests. The trick to growing great tasting tomatoes is to choose the best varieties, start the plants off right, and control problems before they happen! Choosing tomato varieties can be confusing because there are so many. 

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What to choose and which type is best suited for your particular garden depends on a few things – how much space you have to devote to tomatoes, if you need or want to grow in pots or planters, how many tomatoes you can or want to handle at once and if you want most of your tomatoes in one harvest or prefer to get a few at a time.

Here are a few things to consider:

1. Decide on the type of tomatoes you want.
2. Consider the size of the mature plants.
3. Find out which diseases are common in your area and select resistant varieties whenever possible.

Determinate and Indeterminate Tomatoes 

One of the classifications you will often see on the label of a tomato plant or on a packet of tomato seeds is Determinate or Indeterminate. These terms refer to the growth habit of tomato plants and basically mean bush or vining.

Determinate tomato:

Are varieties that grow to a fixed mature size and ripen all their fruit in a short period, usually about 2 weeks. Once this first flush of fruit has ripened, the plant will begin to diminish in vigor and will set little to no new fruit. Determinate tomato varieties are often referred to as (bush) tomatoes because they do not continue growing in length throughout the growing season. They are generally smaller plants than indeterminate tomatoes, with most growing to a compact 4-5 ft.tall. Despite their compact size, staking or caging is recommended, because they will be supporting a very heavy load, once all of their fruits are set and begin to plump up and ripen. Growing a determinate tomato makes good sense when you want a lot of tomatoes all at one time, such as when you want to make tomato sauce.

Indeterminate tomato:

Indeterminate tomatoes are perfect for the home gardener who wants a smaller harvest several times during the season instead of one large batch at once. The amount of fresh tomatoes on your kitchen counter is easily controlled by how many plants are in the garden. Indeterminate tomatoes get very large, up to 6 feet tall, and produce fruit throughout an entire growing season until climate conditions become too cold. Support for these tomatoes is essential for good harvests and to keep the plants healthy.

  You can choose what works best for your garden!

➡️  shop organic seeds for the best tomato varieties to grow in your garden. 

It’s a good idea to grow a range of varieties, including at least one or two disease-resistant types, since, of all veggies, tomatoes tend to be the most susceptible to disease.

Research has shown that organic, homegrown tomatoes have a much more complex chemistry than commercially produced fruits. Not only does chemistry equal a greater depth of flavour, it is also likely that homegrown tomatoes are healthier with higher levels of the pigment ‘Lycopene’. Lycopene has been shown to help unclog blocked arteries and is thought to be one of the reasons the Mediterranean diet is so healthy. The other big bonus with growing your own tomatoes is the amazing variety of size, shape, colour and flavour there is available. Tomatoes are long-season, heat-loving plants that won't tolerate frost, so it's best to set them into the garden as transplants (young plants) after the weather has warmed up in spring. You can purchase tomato transplants, but there's something especially rewarding about starting your own plants indoors. Plus, by growing your own transplants, you can choose from among hundreds of tomato varieties that are available as seed but rarely sold as transplants.

Starting Seeds Indoors 

When you start with seeds, you have full control over the type of tomatoes you want to grow. Since tomatoes are heat lovers, most gardeners don't have growing seasons long enough to start tomatoes from seed outdoors. To get around that, tomato seeds are often started indoors.

•  Thoroughly moisten the seed-starting mix, and then fill the containers to within 1/2" of the top.

•  Firm the mix, but don't compact it.

•  Place two or three seeds into each small container or each cell of a seed starter then Cover the seed with about 1/4" of soil and gently firm it over the seeds 

• Water. You don't need to soak the soil, just moisten the top layer.

• Place the pots in a warm spot. 

• Keep the mix moist but not soaking wet. Lay some plastic kitchen wrap over the tops of the pots.

• Check pots daily. As soon as you see sprouts, remove the covering and place the pots in a sunny window or under grow lights, keeping the lights just an inch or two above the tops of the plants.

• The young seedlings need to be kept at 18 °C (64 °F).

The best tomato seedlings are short and stubby rather than tall and thin.

Thinning Tomato Seedlings 

Tomato plants are ready for thinning when seedlings reach 2–3 weeks of age or approximately 3–4 inches in height. When choosing which seedlings to pull and which to leave, keep the larger, more-developed seedlings and remove weaker, smaller seedlings. Thinning seedlings means to remove all or part of a plant to make room for the growth of others.

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• Select the strongest, healthiest seedling and use a pair of scissors to cut off the others at the soil line. The reason you will want to cut the seedlings instead of pulling them is to avoid disturbing the delicate roots of the neighboring seedling. 
• You can give your plant the correct amount of sunlight, water and nutrients, but if you don’t give them enough room to grow, they will not be able to thrive. They will compete for nutrients, and you will be left with two smaller plants, instead of one large, healthy plant.

 Transplanting Tomato Seedlings 

Tomato plants grown in pots need to be spaced out when their leaves touch each other to avoid overcrowding and plants becoming elongated and 'leggy'; the best tomato seedlings are short and stubby rather than tall and thin. Compost should also be kept moist and should never be allowed to dry out.

Watch How to Transplant Tomato Seedlings Video

When there is no danger of frost outdoors and your plant meets the height requirement at least 6 inches (15.2 cm) high, they are ready to be transferred outdoors.

Remember to harden them off for a week or two before planting them in their final outside positions. Hardening off means getting them gradually used to outside temperatures by leaving them outside on fine days and bringing them in at night. You leave them out for progressively longer until they can be left out at night provided all risk of frost has passed.

Watch How to Successfully Harden Off Tomato Seedlings Video

Tomatoes are one of the greatest additions to any garden! There's nothing quite like the exquisite flavor of a homegrown tomato. 

Want to read more:

➡️ How To Plant Tomatoes

 🛒  Shop for Tomato Seeds  🛒 

 

If you have any tips for growing Organic Tomatoes, we'd love to hear them - please share them in the comments below.

Happy Gardening!

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