The ultimate homemade support, this cage welded from rebar will last a long time and becomes a sculpture in a pretty garden.
Use 6- to 8-inch long strips of nylon stocking as soft ties to support tomato stems on the stake. Criss-cross the stocking strips to hold the tomato stem without rubbing the stake.
When grown in a large pot with good-quality soil and regular care, a tomato in a pot will surprise you with the number of delicious fruit it produces. Sometimes tomatoes in pots do better than those in the ground because of perfect soil and improved air circulation.
This plant is watered well and without waste by a soaker hose. You should cover soaker hoses with mulch, but these had to be left uncovered so that you could see them in the picture.
Tomato blossoms can be temperamental. If it's too cool (below 55˚) or too hot (above 90˚), the flowers of most varieties will pause from setting fruit until the temperature is back where they like it./span>
Don't let your tomatoes sprawl on the ground like this because they are much more likely to get leaf diseases and other problems.
This cluster of tomatoes shows several stages of ripening.The cornerstone crop in home gardens, sun-ripened tomatoes deliver the taste of summer in every bite. Just a few healthy plants will produce buckets of beautiful fruits loaded with flavor and nutrition. Tomatoes run on warmth, so they are best planted in late spring and early summer except in zone 10, where they are a fall and winter crop. Choosing varieties can be confusing because there are so many, but it’s a good idea to plant some of each for variety and length of season. Our article "VFN What?" explains a few basics about important variety characteristics. Varieties resistant to diseases are always a good choice.
Soil, Planting and Care
Devote a prime, sunny spot to tomatoes, which will grow into a tall screen of green foliage studded with ripening fruits in mid- to late summer. Tomatoes need at least 8 hours of sun to bring out their best flavors, and you will need to stake, trellis, or cage the sprawling plants to keep them off the ground. Decide on a support plan before you set out your plants.
- Space robust, long-vined, indeterminate varieties about 3 feet apart.
- Stocky determinate plants can be grown at tighter 2-foot spacing.
- A single patio tomato will fill an 18-inch-wide container.
You can combine fast-maturing varieties with special season-stretching techniques to grow an early crop, but wait until the last frost has passed to transplant main-season tomatoes. Tomatoes take up nutrients best when the soil pH ranges from 6.2 to 6.8, and they need a constant supply of major and minor plant nutrients. To provide the major nutrients, mix a balanced timed-release or organic fertilizer into the soil as you prepare planting holes, following the rates given on the label. At the same time, mix in 3 to 4 inches of compost. The compost will provide minor nutrients and help hold moisture and fertilizer in the soil until it is needed by the plants.
To quickly increase the root mass of tomato plants, we recommend deep planting, so that 80% of the plant's stem is buried in moist soil. Cover the ground with 2 to 4 inches of mulch to suppress weeds and keep the soil evenly moist. Straw and shredded leaves make great mulches for tomatoes, or you can use weed-free grass clippings, applied in 1-inch layers every few weeks. Do not apply grass clippings any more thickly or they can mat down and prevent water from passing through. If summer droughts are common in your area, use soaker hoses or other drought-busting techniques to help maintain even soil moisture – the key to preventing cracked fruits and blossom-end rot. For maximum efficiency and eye appeal, place soaker hoses around the plants and cover with mulch.
As summer heats up, some tomatoes have trouble setting fruit. Be patient, and you will start seeing little green tomatoes again when nights begin cooling down. Meanwhile, promptly harvest ripe tomatoes to relieve stressed plants of their heavy burden. If you live in an area where summertime temperatures are typically in the 90s, be sure to choose some varieties bred for their ability to set fruit under high temperatures.
By late summer, plants that began producing early in the season will show signs of exhaustion. It will take but a few minutes to coax out new growth by pruning away withered leaves and branches. Then follow up with liquid fertilizer and treatments for leaf diseases or insects, if needed.
Troubleshooting
Humid conditions close to the ground create ideal conditions for fungal diseases like early blight, which causes dark spots to form on lower leaves. In mid-summer, big green caterpillars called tomato hornworms eat tomato foliage and sometimes damage fruits as well.
Harvest and Storage
As tomatoes begin to ripen, their color changes from vibrant medium-green to a lighter shade, with faint pink or yellow stripes. These "breakers," or mature green tomatoes, can be chopped into salsas, pickled, or pan-fried into a crispy appetizer. Yet tomato flavors become much more complex as the fruits ripen, so you have good reason to wait. The exact signs of ripeness vary with variety, but in general, perfectly ripe tomatoes show deep color yet still feel firm when gently squeezed. Store picked tomatoes at room temperature indoors, or in a shady place outside. Never refrigerate tomatoes, because temperatures below 55° cause the precious flavor compounds to break down. Bumper crops can be frozen, canned, or dried for future use.