Finding decent tomato growing tips that are actually usable can be difficult. There’s lots of information available out there but it tends to be stuffed with technical jargon that can put the beginner off before they even start! Sure the ph of the soil and balance of nutrients is important, but let’s not get bogged down with all of that too soon. Here’s some simple, easy to follow advice to get you going.
Growing you own tomatoes is great fun and having spent weeks tenderly cultivating and caring for your plants you can enjoy eating those wonderful fruits of your labour. Until you’ve actually eaten one of your own home grown tomatoes you will not know just how tasteless store bought tomatoes really are! But let’s get a little realistic here. Although growing your own isn’t particularly difficult, you will need to follow a few simple but important rules if you are going to have a chance of growing anything that will end up being edible!
The first thing you need to decide is where you are going to grow your plants. Planting outside in natural sunlight, with fresh warm breezes and carefully mixed soil is probably the ideal place. But you should be aware that with an outside garden, pests and diseases have easy access to your cherished tomatoes. Proper care must also be taken when preparing the soil before you even think about planting anything. To get the soil right you need to mix some good quality manure in with it a couple of weeks before planting to get all the nutrients released into it. There are more things you can add to the soil that can help the growth of your plants but for now let’s keep it simple.
Growing tomatoes successfully requires access to adequate sunlight. Wherever you choose to plant your seedlings you need to make sure they receive at least 8 hours of sunlight everyday. Sunlight is absolutely essential for creating healthy plants that produce lots of juicy tomatoes. Your plants need the sun in order to photosynthesize. You don’t need to have an in depth explanation about this, but just know that this process simply helps the tomatoes have a stronger sweeter taste.
Spacing your tomato plants out correctly is very important. When you plant your seedlings they should be spaced at least 2 feet apart. It may seem like they are too far away from each other and might look a little lonely – but remember they will grow pretty fast and bush out quite a lot. Keeping them well spaced apart will give them each more access to sunlight and also help to reduce the spread of any diseases.
Staking your tomatoes is recommended to provide support to the tomato plant branches. If any of the branches are allowed to sag and hang onto the ground, any tomatoes touching the ground will soon start to rot. Staking should be done quite early on. If you begin to see any of the branches hanging down you should use a stake or a cage to help keep the plant sturdy. Many tomato plant diseases occur on wet leaves. By properly supporting your tomato plant you can make sure it gets correct exposure to the sun which in turn will help to keep its leaves dry.
These simple tomato growing tips should give you a basic idea of some of the things you will need to consider before you enter into the world of tomato gardening. Once you’ve gone through the full process of seed to seedling – to full grown tomato plant to harvesting your own fruits you will then understand what I takes to grow successfully. When you first start, keep it simple. And as you continue in your quest for “the perfect tomato”, (and if you get hooked like I did you will), you will discover all the little exciting tips and tricks along the way. It’s really quite simple – once you know how!