Tips for Growing Tomatoes - Zone 10

Once you taste a vine-ripened tomato no other will do. When you grow your own tomatoes your culinary horizons immediately broaden, and you get the opportunity to experience the best of the best in tomatoes.

There is a big difference between a grocery store's Roma tomato and heirloom varieties such as a Black Krim or Brandywine. If you don't grow tomatoes you are unlikely to ever encounter these delicious varieties because heirloom tomatoes cost more to produce and take more time to grow, but man are they worth the wait!

Tomatoes are many gardeners favorite fruit and are both easy and tricky to grow. Tomato seeds are almost guaranteed to grow, they are incredibly easy to germinate and are great starter crops for new gardeners if grown in the right conditions. However, tomatoes are susceptible to greedy pests, but here are some tips for a bountiful organic harvest.

Tips for Growing Tomatoes

1. Tomato seeds may be started indoors as early as January.
2. Plant with flavor enhancing and pest deterring companion plants such as basil, garlic, and oregano.
3. Plant 3 to 6 feet apart to prevent disease and pests.
4. Water at the crown to avoid disease.
5. Transplant tomato seedlings a few inches deeper than their crowns.
6. Tomatoes are heavy feeders and should not be planted in the same spot twice unless the soil is amended with worm castings, compost, or blood and bonemeal.
7. Tomatoes should be planted away from other heavy feeders such as corn.
8. Plant more than one tomato variety.
9. Plant in full sun.
10. Train tomatoes in their cages as soon as possible.
11. Save your favorite tomato variety’s seeds and plant again next spring! 

Happy gardening!

Laura