Growing Tomatoes

A healthy tomato crop waiting to ripen

• While technically a fruit, most people consider tomatoes to be an essential part of the vegetable garden. 
• Greenhouses and polytunnels offer the best conditions in the UK for producing a summer-long feast of tomatoes. 
• However, outdoor ripened fruit can be worth waiting for as they have a different taste to the indoor grown plants.
• Tomatoes take about 12 weeks to grow from seeds to the blossom stage, and another 8 weeks to produce ripe fruit.  


• This is the reason we don’t see ripe tomatoes outdoors until the end of July or early August.
• By starting plants in the winter months in heated greenhouses or poly-tunnels, it is possible to bring the fruiting season forward by 4 - 6 weeks.
• There are varieties suited to growing indoors and outdoors and some bred especially for containers and hanging baskets. 
• Whichever variety you choose, all need fertile soil, and plenty of regular sun, heat, food and water to produce sweet, juicy fruits.
• You have two options for acquiring tomato plants. 


• Your first option is to grow your plants from seed. If you select this option then you will need to start your plants in a greenhouse or in your home, and then transplant the tomato plants to you garden in April or May.  see the section below for detailed facts.
• If you don’t want to invest this much time in your tomatoes you can always buy tomato plants from a nursery or garden centre.
• When you shop for a tomato plant you will want to look for a healthy plant. 


• Examine the leaves.
• Healthy plants won’t have spotty leaves or yellow leaves. 
• You will also want to look for a plant that is naturally resistant to certain disease strains. The tag on the plant will have letters that tell you what they are resistant to. A key to these letters should be provided on the container or in a sign posted near the tomato plants.
• It is safe to plant tomatoes in the garden when the temperature is a consistent 10°C (50°F), but plants won't begin to set fruit until the overnight low is regularly above 13°C (55°F). 

• Tomato plants, like any plant that produces fruit, need at least seven hours of direct sun. 


• If you have less, you will have fantastic foliage but very few fruit. 
• There is nothing at all that can overcome this light requirement. 
• Fruit production takes a tremendous amount of energy, and tomato plants, like all plants, get that energy from the sun.
• Use the best soil available to grow the tomato crop. 


• Clay and sandy soils can be improved by working in 2 to 3 inches of compost, peatmoss, or other forms of organic matter in the top 6 to 9 inches of soil. 
• Lime and fertilizer should be added according to soil test recommendations. 


• If no soil test has been taken, apply 3/4 cup of lime and 1/2 cup of 8-8-8 fertilizer for each plant. 
• Lime will help reduce nutrient imbalances, particularly with calcium and help control the blossom end rot problem that occurs so frequently on tomatoes.
• The exacting conditions detailed above are the reason why so many people prefer to simply grow their tomatoes in growbags. 


• A growbag is a large plastic bag filled with peat or a similar growth medium. 
• The bag contains enough nutrient for one year's growing [?] and requires only planting and watering. Treat the nutrient claim with some scepticism, as tomatoes are greedy feeders.

• Fill a 7.5cm (3in) pot with compost, lightly firm and water.
• Scatter seeds thinly (most germinate so only sow a few more than you need) and cover with a thin layer of vermiculite.
• Label and put on a windowsill to germinate. 
• Seedlings should appear within two weeks and be large enough to move into separate pots in about eight weeks.
• To pot-on, hold seedlings carefully by their leaves and gently lever up with a dibber. 
• Make a hole in a 7.5cm (3in) pot filled with compost and carefully lower in the seedling.
• Gently firm, making sure roots are covered and water. 
• When roots come through the drainage holes put into a 12.5cm (5in) pot.
• When the first truss or 'branch' of flowers has appeared, tomatoes are ready to be planted out, whether it be outdoors in soil, or growbags, or in greenhouses and poly-tunnels in soil, pots or growbags.

• Avoid transplanting during the heat of the day. 


• You want as little stress as possible on the plants, and their roots will have been disturbed, so choose early morning or evening to give the plants time to adjust. 
• Handle carefully. Remember that the fine hairs all along the plant stem can become roots if they are not damaged. 
• Plant deep, leaving only 2-3” of stem above ground, and the fine hairs will become roots which will ensure strong growth.
• Don't plant them too close.


• Tomato plants need at least 50cm (1½ feet) between plants, preferably 65cm (2 feet), and that's for plants that are grown upright on stakes or cages. 
• If no support is given and they are allowed to sprawl on the ground, tomato plants need twice as much room. 
• Plants spaced too closely will produce few fruit and have more disease problems as the foliage stays wet. 
• Plant according to how big they will get, not on the size of the transplants.
• Planting in growing bags requires a slightly different approach to planting out in garden soil.


• Prepare the bag by shaking and kneading it to break up clods of compacted compost and form into a hummock shape.
• Puncture the base to make some drainage holes and cut out the pre-marked planting squares. Scoop out compost for the tomatoes to be planted.
• The top of the root ball should be beneath the top of the bag and have a light covering of compost. Firm in and water.
• Put a growing bag frame over the bag and insert a cane next to each plant.
• Secure this to the frame and as it grows, tie the tomato to the cane every 10cm (4in).
• Water well after planting and ensure that the soil never becomes dry.
• You need to consider supporting all tomato plants, except for tumbler varieties.

• As tomato plants mature, they begin to sprawl along the ground because they become heavy with fruit. 
• If left to grow without training, the fruit is exposed to sunscald and inclined to rot. 
• An effective way to prevent these problems is to train the plants to grow vertically by staking the plants.  Tie the stem to the stake at 15cm (6 inch) intervals.
• Another simple training method is to build tomato cages. As the vine grows, guide the stems into the cage.  

• Generally, staking produces larger tomatoes but less quantity than caging. 


• A common 2 metre (6 foot) tomato stake may be purchased from many garden centres. 
• The stake should be driven in the soil about one ft deep, 7 to 12 cm (3 to 5 inches) from the plant. 
• Be sure to avoid driving the stake on the root side of plants that have been trench planted. 
• Trench planted tomatoes should be staked immediately after planting while the location of the buried stem is fresh in mind. 
• Use a strip of cloth, nylon stocking, or heavy string to tie the plant to the stake.

• Tomato cages produce most fruit.


• Tomato cages may be made by using a (5 1/2 foot) length of concrete reinforcing wire or pasture wire. 
• The wire will form a circle 18 to 20 inches in diameter. 
• Fencing wire is not suitable, as the holes are too small to enter a hand and remove grown fruit.
• The bottom horizontal ring of the wire cage should be cut off so that the ends can be pushed into the ground. 
• After setting the cage in place over the tomato plant, drive 2 or 3 stakes around the outside edge of the cage to give it extra support.

• Unless you're growing a bush tomato, the aim is to create a single-stemmed plant.


• To do this, snap out shoots that grow in leaf joints and when your plant has produced four good sets of flowering trusses, pinch out the growing tip.
• This will ensure all its energy goes into producing fruit. 
• Remove all leaves that are touching the ground because of the accessibility to bugs and disease, as well as moisture-related problems .
• Water plants daily and once flowers have started to appear, feed with tomato fertiliser every week to ensure the best fruit.
• When the soil around tomato plants is allowed to dry out, a serious problem results. 


• Calcium, one of the handful of minerals needed by all plants to grow, is absorbed by the plant's roots along with water. 
• If water is limited, so is calcium. 


• The result is blossom-end rot, a brown, dry, leathery spot found on the bottom of fruit. 
• Don't be fooled by magic remedies that promise to fix this. 
• Special fertilizers, egg shells or a Tums tablet placed next to the plant won't make a difference. 
• Only water will make the difference. 
• So make sure your soils don't dry out and use mulch to help conserve moisture.
• Feed the plants, but not too much.


• Tomatoes like a balanced fertilizer, with similar amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. 
• Avoid using fertilizers that are intended for lawns. The high nitrogen will push the leaves at the expense of fruit. 
• Look for fertilizers designed for tomatoes and follow the label directions. 
• Or better yet, throw a shovel full of compost around the plants every other week.
• Don't remove leaves or branches from mature plants with fruit


• Some advocate that tomato fruit need direct sunlight to ripen. This is untrue. 
• Pruning the plant prior to fruiting is fine but never remove foliage from a mature plant. 
• This exposes fruit to direct sun and can lead to sunscald, a yellowing of the side exposed to the sun. 

• If you find yourself with a glut of green tomatoes at the end of the growing season, try putting a few in a kitchen drawer with a banana to encourage them to ripen.

• Fruit that is fully ripened on the vine has a much fuller flavour than fruits that are picked early and then allowed to ripen. 


• Many cherry tomatoes, however, have a tendency to crack if they stay on the plant, so they should be picked at the peak of redness, or even just before.
• When daytime autumn temperatures are consistently below 16°C (60°F), fruit will no longer ripen on the vine, so it is time to bring all mature green fruits indoors, either on the vine or off.
• Store ripe fruit.


• Wash and dry your tomatoes before storing. 
• Unless you're planning to store your tomatoes for over a week, a windowsill, counter-top or bowl works fine. 
• If you know you won't use them in the next few days, then lower temperatures (a cool entryway, the refrigerator) will help preserve the fruit. 
• Contrary to common practice, storing in a refrigerator is not otherwise recommended, as the cooler temperatures can reduce flavour and cause mushiness. 
• Your fresh-picked tomatoes will last longer on the kitchen counter than store-bought ones, which are probably a few days past picking when you get them.
• If you end up with too many tomatoes to eat at one time, try these storage methods:

1. Canning, which will preserve your tomatoes for a year or more.
2. Freezing, which can be used for up to eight months.
3. Drying, which can keep tomatoes for more than a year.

• Ripening green fruit is a topic that causes controversy.


• Most of us grew up placing unripe tomatoes on a sunny windowsill -- with the emphasis on sunny. 
• However, every expert source recommends placing them in a paper bag. Light, so essential to growth and to setting fruit, is not needed to ripen the fruit. Hence, the dark place. 
• While light is unnecessary, humidity and temperature control are critical during ripening. Tomatoes kept on a counter-top can become too dry, while those in a plastic bag can mould or ferment. Hence the paper bag. 
• Temperature is also important, and the paper bag acts as a miniature greenhouse, trapping some of the day's heat. 
• There's another advantage to the bag. Tomatoes, like most fruit, emit ethylene gas as they ripen. This gas is a by-product of ripening, and is also a stimulant for ripening. 
• When you store unripe tomatoes in a bag, the ethylene emitted by the riper ones will stimulate the others to ripen. 
• Since most fruits emit ethylene, you can use another, ripe fruit to hasten the ripening process. Bananas work especially well because they emit more ethylene than most fruits.
• If the bag doesn't appeal to you, remember that one of the best sources of heat is still the sun and the sunny windowsill. 
• If you turn them daily, rotting is unlikely, the light may not be helpful, but it doesn't hurt, and the humidity control is not much of an issue with nearly-ripe fruit.
• If it's the end of the season, and you're dealing with quantities of green tomatoes still on the vine, the time-honoured method of ripening tomatoes indoors is to cut the vines and hang them intact, upside down, in a dark place. 


• Believe it or not, most of these tomatoes will indeed ripen. 
• Those picked when their outer color changes to a lighter, more translucent shade of green known as mature green will fare better than those that are still a dark green. 
• These very unripe fruit are candidates for other uses.
• You can find recipes for chutney, pickles, and even pie made from green tomatoes.