Growing Tomatoes

Growing tomato plants in the Summer is a tradition across America. We love them. They are relatively easy to care for, taste great, and delight children of all ages as the get taller and taller.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are a great asset to our health and wellness.

Putting tomatoes out to early can result in frost damage. You may wish to begin your growing with seeds from packets a month or two before the weather is predicted to get nice. You can start them in little seed trays, or in larger ones.

During midday when the weather is nice, you can bring the trays outside. In this way your plants we become used to outdoor weather and winds.

As the weather improves, the babies can be planted outdoors. Be careful not to place the young ones too close together. Remember how large your plants were last year? Give them plenty of room to grow and expand.

Our outdoor living experience is enhanced by being able to watch our crop mature. What type of plants are you considering this year? The tomato has many variations. What you plant depends on both aesthetics of how it looks, and also on the flavor result you are seeking in your end product.

Here are some varieties you might wish to consider:

- Red Pearl

- Tigerella

- Yellow Currant

- Black Plum

- Brandywine

Heirloom tomatoes are a great choice for the home gardener. If you like great flavor, and do not mind quirky shapes or colors, the heirlooms may be for you.

Monitor your growing plants for diseases, particularly on the leaf. Large tomato worms may want to share the crop with you, so keep an eye out for them too.

Watering is one of those things that can be overdone. When you do hydrate your plants, make sure the water goes deep so that the roots get the liquid.

When the time comes to harvest, try to wait until the crop is really ripe. Pick some ripe tomatoes, wash them, and slice to your taste. They make for a great sandwich with mayo. Add bacon and some lettuce if you insist, and you've made yourself a delicious BLT sandwich.

When the end of the season comes, compost what you can, and prepare the soil for next year, and another great season of tomatoes!

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Growing Tomatoes Indoors - 4 Fundamental Guidelines to Guarantee Indoor Plant Success

During the warmer summer months it's really easy to grow beautifully tasty tomatoes to eat whenever you want. But once summer is over (and all too quick it seems), its back to your old ways and tasteless grocery store tomatoes. You've been spoilt and wish the time would pass quickly so you can get back to growing again. But wait, who says you have to grow them outside? Growing tomatoes indoors is just as easy as long as you follow a few simple rules.

The benefits of growing your tomatoes indoors include being less open to pests and diseases. But one of the major benefits is that you can enjoy having tomatoes all year round! You need to first decide where you are going to grow the plants. Ideally it should be situated somewhere where there is a certain amount of natural sunlight and fairly constant temperature.

4 Basic Rules To Indoor Tomato Growing Success

1 - Sufficient Light

As with the outdoor variety of your plants, the indoor variety will need around 12 hours of sunlight each day. If this is not possible (for instance during the colder, darker winter months) you can trick your plant by using artificial light. I like to try and simulate the natural outdoor conditions as much as I can, so I would typically go for 12 hours light and then 12 hours of darkness. You should perhaps test to see what works best for you, but this is the way I rotate the light and it gives me constantly good results.

2 - Ideal Temperature

As with the light, we are trying to simulate the natural outdoors conditions. Think about how warm it was during the summer months that created an ideal growing environment for your tomatoes. This is what you need to reproduce inside. So you should strive to maintain a constant temperature of about 70 degrees to give your plants the best chance of strong healthy growth.

3 - Proper Nutrients

Indoor tomato plants don't really require any special care because they are not so vulnerable to pest problems, so some gardeners suggest that normal potting soil will suffice. But I feel that in order to help promote sturdy plants that will produce an abundant crop of succulent fruit, the nutrients within your soil are still a very important part of the indoor growing process. A good mixture of growth promoting "soil ingredients" that I find ideal are equal amounts of sphagnum peat moss, vermiculite and perlite. Remember once your plant begins to fruit it will need extra nutrients.

4 - Regular Watering

Tomatoes need regular watering but be careful not to over water! Make sure that the container you are using has a hole in the bottom to provide adequate drainage. If water is allowed to gather in the bottom it can lead to root rot. You should look at watering your plants about twice per week and should aim for the soil to be moist but also slightly on the dry side. I would say on average, you should look at no more than approximately 1 inch per week of water in total.

If you don't have the luxury of growing your tomatoes in a garden, if for instance you live in an apartment or a flat or a townhouse then growing tomatoes indoors will enable you to do this. The pleasure you will get from the incredible taste of your own organically grown fruits compared to anything you've ever had from a supermarket is something to be desired. This article is just a starting point. If you stick to these 4 fundamental rules of tomato gardening, you should be heading in the right direction to growing your own superb indoor tomatoes.

Stephen Martinson has been growing tomatoes for over 10 years. His aim is to show everyone how grow their own beautiful succulent great tasting tomatoes the easy way. For more great tips on growing tomatoes indoors, visit http://www.easytomatogrowingtips.com.

How to Grow Tomatoes - Creating the Perfect Tomato Garden

If you love biting into a juicy, ripe tomato then you need to learn how to grow tomatoes. Nothing beats being able to pick a tomato right from your garden. Follow these simple tips and you will be on your way to creating the perfect tomato garden.

Select the perfect spot to plant your tomatoes. This can be the difference between success and failure. You want to choose a location that gets between six and eight hours of sunlight each day. Prepare the soil for max success. If the soil is not rich and fertile then add a layer of compost. Keep nitrogen levels minimal so as not to cause too fast of a growing. Believe it or not, making your plant grow too fast will produce fewer tomatoes.

Prep your seedlings by exposing them to the growing environment prior to planting them. You will do this gradually, a few hours at a time until they are ready to plant. This will ensure that you have a hardy plant ready to take on the outdoors. This often results in a more productive tomato plant.

For successful planting you will want to do so at a time when the soil temperature is at least 50 degrees consistently. This means that the last frost has passed. It is often recommended to plant later in the day or when it is cloudy to reduce the stress that excessive sunlight can cause on a seedling. You will want to plant them in holes deeper than their containers. Also make sure to leave enough space between each plant.

Proper maintenance requires mulching, fertilizing, and watering. As a rule, provide your plants with an inch of water per week. Monitor the soil to ensure it does not dry out, especially when the hot summer months have arrived. Add mulch to help retain moisture. And fertilize every two weeks in the beginning and then once a month after the plant has blossomed.

To get your plant to be super productive, then remove the first blossoms. This actually creates more tomato production and larger fruit. Removing the first blossoms will force the plant into greater production.

Harvest your tomatoes at just the right time. Once they have shown any sign of red you will want to harvest them. It is OK to leave them on til they are ripe, but you are going to compete against bugs and squirrels.

Remember to be patient and don't quit if your first attempt is not as successful as you hoped. As with anything there is a bit of learning involved and as time goes on you will create your own strategy that works best for you!

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Best Growing Tomatoes - 6 Tips For Avoiding Sunscald

Gardening can be a very relaxing hobby, and becomes even more satisfying when you are able to eat the fruits of your labor. In the process of learning how to produce the best growing tomatoes possible, you may have wondered what is sunscald and are there any ways to avoid it.

Sunscald is prevalent worldwide. It occurs when the tomatoes are exposed to direct sunlight in dry, unusually hot weather. This condition generally manifests itself on green and ripening tomatoes.

Signs and Progression of Sunscald

• white or yellow hard, light patches appear on the sides of the tomato that face the sun
• the patches form blisters and become indented
• the blisters become grayish white and paper thin
• black mold may grow in the papery patches and cause the tomato to rot and become inedible

To enjoy the best growing tomatoes you possibly can, it is important to know not only what sunscald is, but, to learn how it can be avoided.

Six Tips for Avoiding Sunscald

1) prune your tomato plants sparingly so the remaining leaves can still offer shade for the tomatoes

2) use straw, a lightweight screen, or a shade cloth to build a tent over the tomato plants

3) try to control any leaf diseases with fungicide spray

4) use a wire cage for the tomato plants, as it provides good leaf protection

5) pick the tomatoes while still green and let them finish ripening indoors with indirect sunlight

6) try growing tomato plants upside down - the plant leaves and the container the plant is in will shade the tomatoes quite well

Tomatoes that have been affected by sunscald are still edible and the taste should not be affected - simply remove the areas that have patches. If the sunscald has progressed to the point that you notice black mold or rot, it is better not to eat it. In spite of the loss of a few tomatoes due to sunscald, with good care, most tomato plants will provide you with an abundant harvest.

Deb R. is an avid gardener with a special interest in growing tomato plants. Are you trying to grow the best juicy and tasty tomato possible, and avoid disease, pests, and soil problems? Best Growing Tomatoes. Check out this fantastic guide on how to grow fabulous tomatoes right now!

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