Growing Big Tomatoes

Tomatoes are a wonderful garden plant that not only is a great fruit to use in your food recipes, but also a great plant that can be grown in your home.  Growing tomato plants gives a lot more joy than growing almost any other plant because you actually receive ediable fruit from your labors in only about sixty days.

The tomato plant is referred to as an annual. This means that the plant completes it’s whole life cycle within the span of one growing season (annually). After sowing the seeds, you will be able to see the results in a just a few short months and this is the most satisfying part of having tomato gardens. The fact that you are able to reap the rewards very quickly motivates people interested in gardening to grow tomatoes. In this era of instant coffee, micro wave meals, where our computer speed is increasing daily, people are not patient enough to wait very long to enjoy the fruits of their labor. The quick time in which tomatoes are ready for harvest has enticed thousands of want-to-be gardens to raise tomatoes.

Sound familiar? Maybe something you’ve thought about but were afraid to try? Think you can do it? Or, maybe would just love to eat a tomato that really tastes like a tomatoe!

Give it a try:
The first step is to decide where you are going to grow your tomatoes. In a garden or in a container. If you have the luxury of a garden space then you must begin mulching the soil and preparing if for planting. If you are going to grow your tomatoes in a container; selection of that container, and purchasing a nutrient rich, mulched soil in which to plant.

Another option may be to sow your seeds in a container indoors and avoid the possibilities of bad weather outdoors, then replant as the plants begin to mature and the weather is more desirable.

As your seeds become small plants they become very vunerable to the hot rays of the sun. So if you have your container next to a window, relocate during the hottest hours of the day. When the stalks of the plants are about the size of a Starbuck’s straw they should be mature enough to withstand the environment. Note: rare frosts and severe winds will require special protection. If your plants are in a ’starter box’ waiting to be replanted into the garden or larger container now is the time. When you replant your seedlings into their new location be sure to plant them deeper. Place the stalk approximately one and a half to two inches deeper into the soil. This will allow many more roots to be produced from the stalk, whereby giving your plant more stability and more sources to absorb needed nutrients from the soil. Now , this will hurt a little…pinch off about a half inch from the top of the plant. This will force growth into those new roots.  

Next to lots of sunlight, water is the most important thing to a tomato plant. When replanting, make sure to sufficiently water the root area, 3-4 liters to insure the surrounding soil is moist and to help in reducing the shock of the replanting. If planting in a container insure that the bottom of the container has a hole large enough to stick in your thumb. You don’t want to have stagnant water in the bottom of your container drowning your plants. Water the plants in your container until you see it coming out the bottom.

Take pride in your tomatoes and protect them from aphids and bugs with a mild, not systemic insecticide ( found at any nursery especially for tomatoes, just ask). Birds, rabbits, squirrels, dogs and neighbors can all be vandals to your tomato crop so protect as required. Your excellent gardening skills will have produced many large tomatoes that will need vine support from stakes, doweling, wire mesh, etc. or the weight will break your plants. If you didn’t install a tomatoe ‘cage’ when your plants were small, insure that you provide an adequate support apparatus to protect your plants.

Harvesting your tomatoes is the most fun part of gardening. Try to refrain yourself from picking the fruit too soon. But once your tomatoes start to ripen you will need to harvest daily as removing a fruit from the vine only encourages the development of another blossom.

Happy Gardening.

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