Tips and tricks

Tomatoes 🍅

Tomato plants love a head start on growth, so don’t be too late in starting them. This is particularly important for colder areas. Last spring frost date is used as a guideline for seed starting as well as planting them outdoors. Sow the seeds at least 8 weeks prior to the last frost date, especially if you have a short growing season. Those with long summers can wait until 6 weeks before the last frost date. It is a good idea to talk to other gardeners about timing too.

When you start the seed, the soil temperature in the seedling trays should be kept steady in the 70 F – 90 F range. Tomato plants love warmth. The seeds germinate faster and develop healthy root system in warm soil.  If you are not sowing the seeds in individual compartments, leave ½ inch distance between them.  When the baby plants start sprouting, provide strong light from a sunny window or use artificial lighting. Strong light is important since light-stressed seedlings grow thin and weak and become prone to diseases.

Although cotyledon leaves may appear in 1-2 weeks, it may take up to a month or more for true leaves to emerge. You can gently prick out the seedlings when they have a set of true leaves. Plant them in individual containers, burying them right up to the base of the cotyledon leaves. This helps them develop more roots and grow into sturdy seedlings. Maintain the seedlings at about 70F until they are ready to be hardened off prior to planting out in the garden.

Easy To Grow Bush Varieties

If you are new to growing tomatoes, it’s a good idea to start with an easy variety to grow.

The following bush/cherry varieties are highly recommended:

• Tumbler F1
• Terenzo F1 (Tumbler Ugrade)
• Tumbling Tom
• Red Alert
• Garden Pearl
• Maskotka
• Losetto 

Bush types are sometimes called “determinate” and do not need their side shoots pinched out.

Bush varieties grow well in containers and large pots so they can trail over the sides, or in an upside down planter such as a topsy turvy.

Trailing and Tumbler varieties include, Tumbling Tom – Red and Yellew, Tumbler F1 and Hundreds and Thousands to name just a few. These are also great for hanging baskets.

A big tip

Want to keep pests away? Plant an onion start — you can find them at well-stocked gardening stores — or some scallions on one side of your plant, and a little marigold on the other. Sounds strange, but Marigolds are a great way to help the plant also and it looks pretty too .