Quick and Easy Guide to Growing Tomato Plants

Growing tomato plants in your garden begins with selecting the ideal tomato plants suitable for your garden. If you are a first time grower, try a popular and safe tomato variety like Early Girl, Better Boy, Big Boy, Brandywine, Lemon Boy and Celebrity. Just like storing eggs in baskets, it is always advisable to plant several varieties of tomato plants in your garden at the same time without going for a single type of tomato plant.

Choose a site where you get full sun light at least 6 hours a day to transplant your tomato plants. Improve the quality of the soil by adding a lot of compost or manure in it. For better result add five to eight pounds of compost for per square feet soil. Make holes in the size of a basket ball for every plant that you purchase for planting in your garden. Place them in the hole and bury about 75% of the plant. There is nothing wrong in burying some of the leaves of the tomato plant when you place them in the hole. Before you place the plant in the hole you can add crushed egg shells and some compost to keep the fertility of the soil inside the hole high enough for them to healthily. Place a paper collar on the plants to protect them from soil worms. You should also keep them covered to keep them safe in the cool climate.

Best practice for growing tomato plants mandates that the plants should be kept 18 to 36 inches apart from each other to ensure healthy growth of the plants. It will help the plants to grow bigger without shadowing the plants nearby. Placing plants close to each other may affect the yield that you get from your tomato plants. The plants should be provided with 16 ounces of water per plant everyday for the first ten days after the transplantation. After two weeks of transplantation you can place a mulch of straw or dried grass or pine needle to keep away the plants from the attack of weeds. It will also keep the soil moist around the plant during dry weather.

To make the tomato plants grow better, ensure that each plant receives about 7.5 liters of water every week. Following a consistent watering schedule of 2-3 times per week for optimal productivity. You can also make use of the tomato cages to support the tomato vines during the first few days after the transplantation. It can also be vined in the trellis or fence to give proper support to the tomato wines. Make sure that the cage that you are using to support the tomato vine is at least 48 inches tall so as to not obstruct the growth of tomato vines.

Shake your tomato plants for a few seconds once or twice a week once the flowering begins. It will encourage the plants to increase its fruit production. Normally fruits will start to appear on a tomato plant within 45 to 90 days of transplantation. Wait till they become big and bright with deep colouring. Now they are ready to be picked from the plants.