"Planting Tomatoes"
To get a reasonable tomato harvest, tomato seed needs to be started in early Spring. In the northern part of France we start ours as early as the end of February.
They do however need to be kept warm over the following few months.   To get the most out of planting tomatoes, start the plants from seed, but you can buy ready grown small plants from local nurseries and garden centres that will work just as well. I find there isn't as much choice of variety when buying the plants....but if you're looking for a quick and easy family type tomato, buying plants is a good option.
There are hundreds of tomato varieties available in seed packets. Thompson and Morgan have got a great collection...
tiny yellow plum red cherry huge beefsteak oriental purple red plum varieties yellow cherry regular family shape and sizes!
Browse through the catalogs and see what's available in your region. Choose two or three varieties, any more can get a little complicated!
Early spring is the best time to start thinking about planting tomatoes. Unless you're going to buy plants, then simply hop along to the local garden in a month or two. Keep an eye on when the plants are in stock. They often get sold very quickly!   Planting seed:
Prepare a tray of warm moist seed compost. You can use any tray for this. Wooden fruit crates work well, lined with a perforated black plastic liner. Or old painting trays with a few hole punched in the bottom for drainage can also be used. (Planting tomatoes doesn't have to cost the earth!) Your compost should be fine and chemical free and to give your young tomato plants a good start in life, it's best to buy a good seed compost. Plant seed a couple of centimetres under the surface ( NB: check on individual seed packets for detailed instructions )
Use a fine water sprayer to moisten the compost, and keep the tray in a warm light place, preferably in a greenhouse or conservatory or equivalent. Planting tomatoes in a light airy but warm place will give them a great start. TIP: Keep a bottle ( or barrel ) of water in the greenhouse and water your tomato plants from this. Cold water straight from the tap can be a shock to the plant's system! Spray compost regularly, up to three or four times a day on sunny or warm days. Keep moist, but not waterlogged. Make sure the tray drains properly and doesn't collect water in the bottom. Most garden plants hate to have their feet in water. Potting On
Planting tomatoes isn't just a question of throwing some seed about, as we see now! When your tomato plants are 20-30 cm high, they will need re-potting. Prepare individual pots for this. You can use black plastic pots you've used before, yoghurt pots, specialist trays of individual pots that can be planted straight into the ground. The choice is yours. Go with your budget. Planting tomatoes in a yoghurt pot will NOT have a disadvantage in life..believe me! The most important thing is making sure the drainage is good. Punch holes in the base of your pots, if needed, and put a little gravel in the bottom of each one before filling with potting compost. Half fill the pots with potting compost or use your own mix. It has to be quite fine though. Put through a sieve before using. Ease the plants out of your seed tray carefully to avoid damage. Handle by the stem as much as possible. Place each tomato plant into it's own pot, fill with compost to top. Firm down the plant and add a little more compost if needed. Sink the whole pot up to the rim in a bowl of water. Remove immediately and leave to drain in a warm sunny place. How Many?
For a seasonal crop to feed a family of four and a few extras, you should plant about 24 tomato plants. If you will be wanting to freeze some for the winter months, consider planting 12-24 more plants. Tomato plants do take up some space, so finding places for 40 or 50 plants may not be feasible. Decide on the space. Don't try and grow all your plants you take from the seed trays. You may have hundreds. Throw the weaker plants away. Yes, it's hard, but necessary :-) Look after your pots, watering regularly and keeping them warm for another month or so, and they should be ready to plant out in late spring / early summer. Planting Out
Planting tomatoes in your garden will ensure a good source of vitamin C for you and your family, but you haven't finished yet! You need a stake for each plant. Buy special tomato support canes from your local garden centre or if you have access to large numbers of straight branches or offcuts that are big enough, use them. Teenage tomato plants aren't at all fussy about who they hang around with!
Most planting instructions will have you planting your tomatoes in rows, some a half metre apart in rows 2 metres apart, etc; However, from experience I know that this doesn't always work well with tomatoes. Tomatoes are very susceptible to blight viruses, and if you have all the tomatoes lined up, the virus invade every single one. Gulp! Beating these viruses and still avoiding chemical remedies is easy.... scatter your plants around the garden Check on the packet for distances, then you know roughly how big your plants will get, a half metre wide for example.
Planting your tomatoes all over the garden may seem untidy, but far from it. You could plant 2 or 3 in a row at the end of one small plot, a couple in the flower beds, one or two in the herbs, a line of five against a fence. Get imaginative and try lots of ideas. Finding homes for two or three dozen tomato plants will be a lot easier than you think! Planting Tomatoes at Last!
Make sure your ground is prepared ( weed-free, dug, hoed, raked etc;) 1.Dig a hole a little larger than the pot holding your tomato. 2.Place stake/cane in the ground right next to the hole 3.Dunk the pot in water and let drain for a few minutes. 4.Ease the tomato plant gently from the pot 5.Tease the roots out and place in prepared hole. 6.Fill with fine soil and firm down the plant with both hands 7.Water well. 8. Using a natural garden string/twine make a loose tie around the plant and stake. This will protect the young plant from any high winds or mean breezes! Voila! Plants are in. Now treat yourself to a cuppa.... Caring for your Tomato Plants
Tomatoes do need a little looking after. Keep an eye on them and make sure they get enough water. After a couple of weeks, you can feed the plants.- and every couple of weeks after that. We use comfrey feed that we make ourselves. Nice to stick with a natural product if possible. As the tomato plants grow, tie another loop of twine to the stakes, higher up. Don't let them droop. They will break and die.
When your tomato plants start to grow, they will develop a little branch between a branch and mainstem, rather like an armpit growing an extra little arm! Pick these out when you see them. Leaving them will give you a lovely bushy plant but very little fruit. By picking them out, you encourage the main branches to produce more fruit.
So that's it really. To sum up, planting tomatoes is all about: Careful nurture in the first few months Plenty of food and water Support when life gets stressful! And the rewards? No comparism, eating tomatoes you've grown yourself is a totally different experience to eating packaged supermarket varieties. It's hard to believe there can be such a difference - but there is...:-) You can find more about tomatoes and even a few recipe ideas in my book recently published with Findhorn Press. Grow Your Own Pharmacy You really can grow enough fruit and veg to keep your family glowing with good health!
Happy Gardening! More "Tomato" Reading
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