Do you like tomatoes? Me too, especially the juicy, vine-ripened ones that can only come from a garden. I eat tomatoes year round, but every time I taste a “hothouse” tomato in the wintertime I’m reminded just how much better they are straight from the field. You might not be a farmer, or even have the inclination to “raise a garden”, but you can still enjoy fresh, home grown tomatoes if you live in a house that has a yard.
If all you want is a few fresh tomatoes every now and then throughout the summer, all you need to do is plant a few tomato plants around the perimeter of your yard. My neighbor Larry plants his right up against his cross buck fence, and he just brought us half a dozen of the tastiest tomatoes I have ever eaten. Another great place to put your tomato plants is right in your flower garden. The plants themselves have lovely yellow blooms, and nothing accents roses and other colorful flowers better than a dozen ripe, red tomatoes dangling in their midst.
It’s best not to plant all of your tomato plants at the same time. If you plan to plant 10 of them for instance, plant 3 of them in early spring, 3 more a couple of weeks later, and the last 4 two weeks after that. By staggering the planting times, you can extend the length of time during which you can enjoy your fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes! Until your area has seen the last frost of the season, be sure to cover your tomato plants at night to protect them from frostbite. An upturned plastic bucket works extremely well, but anything that will prevent the dew from falling on the plants will suffice.
It’s recommended that you fertilize your tomato plants early on using a fertilizer labeled 10-10-10. These numbers represent the ratio of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium nutrients contained in the fertilizer. Most local garden centers and many home improvement stores sell small bags of fertilizer that are formulated and labeled specifically for tomatoes. Simply follow the instructions on the bag for applying the contents to your plants.
As your tomato plants grow and begin to develop small tomatoes, they will often collapse under their own weight unless you “stake” them. As with the fertilizer, your local garden center or home improvement store should have stakes available for purchase. Alternatively, any sturdy stick or pipe approximately 3-4 feet long will do just fine. Simply drive it into the ground a few inches from the base of the tomato plant, being careful to avoid the roots. Next, loosely wrap a long, 1″ wide strip of cloth around both the plant and the stake and tie the two ends together. An old sheet or shirt cut into strips will make great tomato-staking “strings”.
When it comes time to harvest your tomatoes, you can either pick them when they are just a little pink and place them on a windowsill to ripen in the sun, or simply allow them to ripen right on the vine. The choice is yours, but I prefer vine-ripened tomatoes over those that were picked “green”.
Well, that’s all there is to growing your own home grown tomatoes. Enjoy!