Growing Tomatoes – How To Grow Tomatoes

Tomatoes is by far the most popular crop to grow at home.  They are easy to grow and can grow in almost any type of soil, provided they get 5-6 hours of sunlight a day.  They don’t need plenty of room like other crops to grow and most do fine in just a few square feet of space.

For many gardeners, the decision to grow tomatoes is whether to grow them from seed or purchase young plants from a nursery.  If you are looking to eat or use a few tomatoes for cooking, it is best to purchase young plants.  For more serious grower who are looking to plant them on a large scale, buying seeds would be more economical than buying young plants.  However, there are some type of tomatoes such as pear tomatoes and yellow tomatoes, that will have to start with seeds since nurseries usually don’t sell them as young plants.

When it comes time to planting them, they should be buried deep in the ground.  The tomato plant should be at least half of its length in the ground with only a few top branches sticking out.  Doing so will provide the plant to develop new roots to form along the stem, which will make the plant stronger.

Once the plant start growing, usually when the first set of leaves appears, you can begin to add fertilizers.  At this stage, it is best to use fertilizer that are high in nitrogen.  The nitrogen helps the plant build strong root system and make the plant stronger.  However, when the plant begin to form blossoms, you will want fertilizer that have less nitrogen and more phosphorus and potassium.  Too much nitrogen in the soil when the plant is in the fruiting stage, will cause the plant to produce less fruits.

As your garden begin to fill with tomato plants, keep an eye out for diseased plants.  If you find one, try to diagnose the problem as quickly as possible.  Also, to prevent other tomato plants from getting infected, it is recommended to remove the diseased plants.  If the diseased plant is left untreated or not removed, it can spread the disease to other plants very quickly.

Tomatoes is one of the easiest crop to grow in the garden.  A novice gardener can grow healthy tomato plants with little effort.  With a little care and nurturing, you will have the best tomatoes to eat in a few months time.