Tomatoes are usually the most popular plants in the garden. Most people want and like them and what makes it nice with just a few tips they can be very easy to grow. Below are my little babies getting bigger and bigger. This year my biggest lesson from last year is PLANT MORE! I only planted I think 3 regular tomato plants and 3 of the small cherry or pear tomatoes. I also learned last year to plant more of the regular slicing tomatoes and maybe 1 of the cherry kinds. I like cherry tomatoes a lot but wow they produce a lot and for my little household I was overwhelmed by 3 plants of them. Another tip I would give is stay away from heirlooms unless thats the kind of tomato you were really wanting. I had a hard time keeping that variety successful and for me they are a slow producer. My favorite varieties for our area are " Early Girl" this is a good standard slicing tomato just like the ones you'd pick up in the grocery store ( but 10X more flavor ). I planted 2 Early Girl tomato plants this year, they were my favorite from last year and they are just tasty and reliable. I also planted an "ACE 55" tomato, similar to the early girl just a good overall tomato. Another would be a "Roma" sounds familiar to people probably and it is, it a thick-meated tomato great for sauces and canning. My next one is new this year but I planted a " Celebrity" tomato which again is just a good reliable slicing tomato. I planted one " Yellow Pear" I just can't resist these because those tiny little yellow jewels are so yummy and sweet. Last but not least one wild card a "Green Zebra" I thought i'd just give it a shot, as the name states it's a green striped like tomato. I always think it's fun to pick one just to test it out. So all together in one end of my box I planted 7 tomato plants! Im excited for all the bounty I will be getting from that, i'm sure my friends and family will be excited too since they usually partake also. According to the square foot gardening method I like to use you can plant one tomato plant per square foot. I spaced mine a little further just so I could work around them better also because I wanted to leave some space because during the summer they provide great shade for me to grow other plants under them.
I love tomato plants you'll know what I mean when you grow them yourself but they have this great smell when your working with them.
Check out these beauties! This is why I like to plant my tomatoes a little on the early side like first of March. The tomatoes hold up fine, and the weather fluctuates so much from high sixties to the eighties it's nice to have them in and going before the real warm weather hits. Also in vegas we have such a long summer you can really grow two whole crops of tomatoes. One starting in beginning of March and the other late July early August. I try to make good use so I can get tons of tomatoes. The excess are great for canning and making into sauces for the freezer. If you like tomatoes trust me you'll be wanting as many as you can get of these fresh babies. There is also something so rewarding for me in the summertime not buying produce from the grocery store except for a few odds and ends I don't grow like onions. Having all my produce right at my back door tasting ten times better!
I took this picture to show you why I love to trellis my tomatoes. Just look how that tomato plant is actually on it's own growing around the trellis. So much more low maintenance than staking which takes a lot of effort and to me didn't support enough, my poor plants last year were being squished under the stain of holding that ripening fruit. Trellising gives all the support in a nice even fashion and makes working around the plant very easy, this is the reason I don't like cages to me you have to do a little bit of finagling to get to the plant inside the cage instead of it being nice a spread out on a trellis. Just in case you didn't gather I promote TRELLISING TRELLISING TRELLISING for your tomatoes.
The proof is in the pudding. Here we are beginning of april and I already have gorgeous little tomatoes growing on my wonderful plants. This is one of my "Early Girl" varieties.
A few tidbits on tomatoes. Tomatoes do need a little pruning. If you look at the picture above see where the arrow is pointing that little bit growing in the middle of the split in the plant. This is called a sucker. It's not harmless but any means and there is even a debate on whether you really need to get rid of these but from what i've read just pulling off these little guys will help more of the effort to stay in your main plant and fruit on it. A sucker can kinda suck the energy away from the plant and in a small garden it is a good idea to get rid of these as they come along just to give you the best leg up on your main plant. That all being said sometimes usually in the beginning I am very good about keeping up with removing the suckers and sometimes i'm not. I try to just once a week or so go out take a look at my plants and just simply prune those little babies off.
Another tidbit about tomatoes would be the two different growing habits of them. One being the determinate type which is bushier, won't grow quite as tall and requires less support like staking, trellising or cages. They will tend to bear their crop all at once. The other one is an indeterminate which is more vine like, will definitely need trellising and will bear fruit over a longer of period of time. Last year my indeterminate tomato plants grew to the top of my trellises and beyond even wove back down and starting growing back towards the ground from the top. I have a few of both types in my garden I don't think one is better than the other. I think it's nice to have both so you can have a well rounded tomato garden. Just check out the little tag when your buying the tomato plants it just helps to maybe plan out where you place them knowing which way they will grow.
Tomatoes should be bought as an already established plant from the nursery. To grow from seed outside would take way too long and you can start them indoors but lets just go the easy route and buy them ready to go. They aren't pricey usually a dollar or two at the nursery and they always have a great variety.
Wow that was a long post and their is probably still a lot of tomato info to put out there but i'll start with that for now and add more as my tomatoes mature. Happy tomato growing. Once you have garden fresh tomatoes you'll be sad to go back.
