In this article were going to discuss the planting of tomatoes. This isnt something to try if youre new to gardening. Tomatoes need special care.
To begin with, tomatoes need a minimum of six to eight hours of sunlight each day to grow well, and full sunlight is recommended especially if you live in the more northern cooler climates.
The soil should be well drained with a pH of around 6.0 to 6.8 in cooler climates. Plant your tomatoes in the spring well after the last frost and frost danger is past. Of course there is always going to be that freaky April day where temperatures dip below 32 but these days will be very rare. In hot climates, try to plant your tomatoes when temperatures begin to drop in the early fall.
The tools and materials youre going to need for planting your tomatoes are compost, a trowel, garden fork or tiller, plant supports such as cages and stakes, and plant ties.
First thing youll need to do is prepare the plants. In order to harden transplants to the elements, give them at least a week to ten days of transition time between indoor and outdoor growing conditions. Start off by placing the plants in dappled shade and make sure theyre protected from strong winds. Make sure you bring them in the house at night. As time goes by, gradually give them more exposure to the sun and wind. Eventually youll be able to leave them out overnight. If it looks like there is going to be a frost, bring them back inside.
Next thing you have to do is prepare the soil. Mix the soil with composted manure until its loose for at least six to eight inches into the ground. Mix the soil with a rototiller or garden fork. Test the pH of the soil. If the test shows that the pH needs to be adjusted, add limestone or sulfur as is needed.
After the soil is prepared, you can transplant. Bury the tomato stems up to the plants second set of leaves, digging a ten to eighteen inch deep hole, if you need to. Fill up the hole with amended soil. Eventually, roots will form along the buried stem. Wrap a newspaper collar around the stems to protect the plants from cutworms.
Finally, you need to install support. Youll have a number of options for staking tomatoes. There is however, one method that is most common. In this method youll position wire cages over the plants. Use five feet tall galvanized wire mesh and make cages twelve to thirty inches in diameter. Youre going to need about three feet of mesh for every foot of diameter. Fasten the cages to short stakes driven into the ground so that they dont fall over.
Some tips about growing your tomatoes. For one thing, theyll usually stop growing at a certain height but some varieties grow taller than others. Dwarf varieties grow only 2 to 3 feet tall and will give you cherry-tomato-sized fruits. Keep your tomatoes well watered through the growing season so you dont end up with disfigured fruits. Finally, fertilize very carefully. Too much nitrogen will give you more foliage than fruit.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Gardening
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