Planting Tomatoes From Seed To Garden

Planting Tomatoes | Tomato Varieties | Seedlings | Soil | Transplant | Plastic Mulch | Tomato Stakes | Fertilizing | Watering

We love tomatoes. In an effort to begin growing tomatoes early and be the first on the block with fresh tomatos, there are a few things that can be done early in the season. Picking the right varieties helps, but getting the soil ready is just as important.

Choose your tomato varieties

Starting tomato seedlings yourself at home? Sure, and why not. That's the only way you can get some of the most tasty, unique, large or heirloom tomatoes you've ever seen. Sure, I still plant and grow tomatoes from the garden center every year as an effort to diversify my risk, but the garden center chooses those for different reasons. It is likely they have the best profit margin, are disease resistant, or could be grown the easiest for them. Maybe they are picked because that's what their grower chose this year. There have been times where I couldn't get my favorite tomatoes at the garden center because the supplier who provides seed to the greenhouse had a crop failure. That's disappointing. Nope, the only way you can be assured the best tomatoes is by starting them yourself. And it's easy to do.

You aren't alone on this one either. You can thumb through the seed catalogs and pick the ones you like the best and that's one of the big joys of growing tomatoes as a home gardener. But you can also contact your local agriculture extension office and find out what the best tomato varieties for your area are. We have a University that does trials and releases that information to the public, so you get an up close look at which tomatoes taste best and yield best for your climate. Take advantage of that priceless information. This can take a lot of guess work out of growing tomatoes in your area.

Lastly, in selecting varieties, pick many. Spread out your risk. This way if one tomato variety succumbs to disease you shouldn't lose your whole crop. Supplement with greenhouse tomato plants from your local garden center. Pick early season and mid-season varieties so you have fresh tomatoes regularly instead of all at once. Be creative, and you'll find the best tomato for your garden climate and personal taste.

Prepare the seedlings

Once you have your plants selected, you need to know the best time to start your seedlings. Ultimately that depends on your location, but is usually about 4-6 weeks before last frost date. See our page on tomato seedlings for more information.

Apart from that, caring for seedlings is pretty easy. You need to transplant them at the right time, give them a lot of light and just enough water. You are trying to grow a nice rootball here, not a lot of top growth.

About 10 days before you plant them in your garden, begin to get them acclimated to the world outside by moving them slowly into the shade for a little bit of time each day. If they are doing well give them a little sun. Don't let them dry out. When you are able to give them full sun then they are ready to go into the garden.

Prepare the soil

This is something all plants need, and your best bet here is lots of organic matter, like compost, worked in each year. This helps the overall health of the soil and provides a nice place for roots to grow and lots of nutrients for the plants. Tomatoes like a humus-like soil. I've found in clay soils the plants roots will spread across and just under the soil surface looking for water and food. In a looser soil they will travel deeper, where more nutrients may be.

You can add some tomato fertilizer when preparing your soil to help supplement your tomatoes fertilizer requirements throughout the season. See our page on tomato fertilizer for details.

Something I like to do after the soil is prepared and my tomato garden layout is done, is to dig holes where each tomato plant will go. And not just any hole. Deep and wide. At least as wide and deep as the length of your spade. Then I pile that dirt just outside the hole in a mound, on the North side of the hole. The purpose is to help heat that soil a little bit better by allowing the sun to contact it. This is a trick early garden lovers use to help heat up their soil a little bit warmer so they can get early tomatoes. Not only that, we intend to plant them deeply, more on that later.

Another trick to remember is that dry soil doesn't hold the heat well. If your soil is clay, it is probably wet, so let it dry out a little with this method. If it is sandy, then it is probably dry. Make sure it is wet to make best storage of the sun's heat. Then just before planting tomatoes outside, within a week anyway depending on soil type, stick the garden hose into that hole and fill it to the top. Wait for it to drain and then do it again. If, after the second time, it is taking a long time to drain, 5 minutes or so, then you've done enough, otherwise water it again. A deep watering like this is great to provide deep moisture for the plant.

Consider a plastic mulch

On the other hand, if you are starting really early, then you probably won't be digging holes because it is too wet. Instead you may want to consider a black plastic, or IRT mulch to warm the soil. Level your ground flat, put down a soaker hose, sprinkle the soil with a water hose to make sure the top isn't dry, and lay down the plastic. This is probably the best way to warm the soil if you want to plant tomatoes extra early. I use IRT plastic mulch when planting peppers and melons too.

Transplant to the garden

Once you've determined your soil temperature is warm enough, and you are past your area's last frost date OR you are providing some night-time protection like row covers or season extenders, then it is time to begin planting tomatoes outside. Make sure your plants are hardened off and ready for the outside, then we begin.

If the soil is sufficiently warm then consider planting your tomatoes deep. Up to the first set of leaves. The idea here is that a growing tomato will grow roots along the main stem if it is placed under ground. That means in addition to the excellent root growth you helped to stimulate by starting tomatoes indoors, you'll be able to supplement them with a whole new set of roots which will be able to reach out farther to get to water and nutrients. Good job for you! I find that planting deeply also helps the plant get through drought easier because, at least on heavy soils, it affects the top layer only, where much of the roots stay. By planting deeper it usually takes longer for that water to disappear and the plants have at least some to draw from. Not only that I rarely find myself having to water after fruit has set. I try to reduce watering tomatoes when the fruit is ripening because it is said to provide the best tomato flavor, and by planting deep the tomatoes are sure to find some water without stressting the plant. So consider planting tomatoes deep into the soil this year if you haven't done it before.

Remember that soil you (may have) removed from the planting hole as described above? Don't be afraid to mix that up half and half with some compost before you replace it in the steps to follow.

When planting tomatoes you must be careful. Do not disturb the roots very much. They say that tomatoes aren't as picky about this as other plants, but be careful not to damage your plant. Each tomato plant could give you 40-200 tomatoes! If you are ready to start, first give your tomatoes a weak dilution of tomato fertilizer. This aids the plant until the roots can grow out of the root ball, and also makes the plant slide out of the growing container easier. Then the procedure I use is to put my hand over the pot with the stem between my index and middle finger, turn the pot upside down and be ready to catch the plant. If it doesn't come loose, use your other hand to squeeze the sides of the pot gently and then tap on the bottom. When it comes free, put your second hand on the plant and flip it over, remembering not to hold it by the stem if you can avoid it. I occasionally do, depending on how large and heavy the root is, and how stiff, sturdy and stalky the stem is.

Another tomato planting tip I like to tell is this. When you put the plant the tomato in your hole and you've planted it deep, then allow a little recessed cup to sit around the plant in the area where you took the dirt out of the hole. The reason why has to do with receiving enough water easily when the tomato plant is small. I'll cover why below under the WATERING TOMATOES section.

Tomato Stakes and Cages

For those early gardeners who plant early or live in cooler climates, staking or caging is necessary. Although you may produce more fruit by letting tomatoes sprawl on the ground, the cooler weather may also disease to take hold as the ground stays wetter and the tomatoes can rot from contact with the ground. Although I've had family members do this successfully for main season tomatoes, on an unseasonably cool year or a year with a lot of rain you could have problems. But the option to stake or not stake is there.

If you wish to stake your tomato plants, do it at the time you are planting tomatoes outside so you don't disturb the roots later. I use a 1 inch by 2 inch stake about 4 feet long and drive it into my clay soil as far as possible with a hammer. Make sure the stake is long enough for your needs. A stake that is too short can cause the plant to spill over the top, make the whole thing heavy and then fall over when a heavy watering or rain happens. Likewise in light soils you'll need to prevent this from happening by staking deeply.

I personally use both stakes and cages together on my plants. In my experience neither is sufficient by itself. Then again, I plant tomato varieties that usually reach about 4-5 feet in height. At that size, they can easily knock over a simple cage from a garden supply store, and I've never been happy with just a single stake. So I put a stake in the ground, then I weave the cage over top of it, in and out of the tomato cage worse. This provides incredibly sturdy support and still allows the tomato to grow freely, as well as keeps it off the ground to keep splashing water and moisture away from the leaves.

Fertilizing

Fertilizing tomatoes is a complex matter, one which can be mostly resolved simply by preparing the garden soil properly with plenty of organic matter. But it is inevitable that under some conditions, and during certain times of the season, a growing tomato plant will require supplemental fertilizer. The most important things to know about fertilizing tomatoes are:

• don't use too much nitrogen or you will get few fruits. Choose 5-10-10 instead of 10-10-10
• tomatoes like phosphorus which can be provided at planting time with bonemeal, or throughout the season with a liquid fertilizer like 5-10-10
• fertilize at transplanting time to aid the plant until the roots can spread beyond the root ball
• fertilize tomatoes once when they are flowering to prevent blossom drop
• fertilize tomatoes again when they have a heavy set of fruit on them

For more detail on the subject, see our page on fertilizing tomatoes.

Watering

Watering tomatoes properly is vital for healthy plants and abundant fruit. Whenever you water tomatoes it is preferred that you water deep infrequently, instead of watering shallow and more frequently. Don't let tomato plants dry out completely or show signs of wilting. That could stunt their growth.

Remember that little recessed cup under the plant you made when planting tomatoes? Here's why. For most of the season and particularly for the first month, I find it so convenient to just let that little recessed "cup" fill with water from a watering can and it will drain right into the root zone. This also becomes a great asset if you need to apply a liquid fertilizer in a hurry. If you replace the dirt flush, or worse yet higher than the surrounding soil, most of the watering will run off and little will reach the root zone. The result? You'll have to apply more water for the plant to receive any benefit. For people who have used hill planting I've found those tomatoes usually wilt for several days after they have been planted because they just aren't able to get the water which has ran off away from the root zone. Obviously if you are in an area with lots of rain you may wish to rethink this strategy, but you can always fill the recessed cup in with dirt after your roots have grown and spread out.

There is a lot more to watering tomatoes than I can describe here. For the most part you just need to water about once a week, don't use an overhead sprinkler because of the risk of the tomato disease called blight, and remember to water deeply. To make sure your watering is appropriate for your plants, get yourself one of those handy little moisture meters that will tell you the exact amount of moisture in the soil. For more detail on providing water to tomatoes, see our page on watering tomatoes.