How to Grow the Best Tomatoes at Home

Tomatoes are the most popular garden vegetable in Canada by far. They are easy to grow just about anywhere there is heat and sun. There is a huge variety of tomatoes to choose from, in colours ranging from white, yellow, orange, red, green and purple. I grow over 200 tomatoes and 20 different varieties each year. My favourite varieties include ‘Sweet Million’ cherry tomatoes, which work well in containers; ‘Whopper’, a good medium-sized, disease-resistant tomato; and any of the big juicy beefsteak tomatoes. If you are planning to preserve tomatoes for winter-use you have to grow some Roma paste tomatoes.

Mid May is a great time for most Canadians to get their tomatoes in the garden.

Here is my recipe for the Best Tomatoes on the Block.

1. Buy short, stocky plants with dark green foliage.
2. Plant in the ground once the temperatures are a minimum of 20°C.
3. Dig a hole about the size of a half bushel, or 3 shovels full. Dig existing soil into another part of your garden.
4. Fill the hole with triple mix (one third topsoil, one third peat moss and one third compost or composted cattle/steer manure).
5. Plant the tomato up to the second set of real leaves – deeply. And push the soil firmly around the main stem of the tomato to give the soil and plant contact. New roots will develop along the stem, producing a stronger plant.
6. I use straw as mulch around my tomatoes. Spread the straw about 25 cm deep per plant. Straw mulch helps to retain needed moisture during the hot, dry spells of summer and reduces weeds dramatically.
7. Water using a compost tea solution (take an old pillowcase half filled with compost, drop it in your rail barrel and leave it there for 24 hours or a week – but no longer or it will begin to stink). OR fertilize with your favourite tomato food. I use Green Earth organic 4-6-8 for tomatoes and vegetables. Keep in mind that tomatoes are heavy feeders. Follow directions on the fertilizer package or continue to water with compost tea. You really can’t go wrong with the stuff.
8. Stake in mid-June using a spiral aluminum stake. No tying, no fuss. Timing is everything – get to this job before the tomatoes begin to bloom as you will double your crop as a result of getting them off the ground. Staking your tomatoes reduces the risk of diseases and insects.
9. Apply Green Earth Bordo Copper Spray in July to prevent the #1 enemy of healthy tomatoes – early blight. Bordo Copper Spray is a copper fungicide which is mixed with water. Use it on fruit trees, ornamentals and vegetable crops to control leaf spots, blights, anthracnose, downy and powdery mildew and blackspot.

Via Mark Cullen

Tomatoes like plenty of sun – a full eight hours a day, in fact. They also like heat and shelter from the wind. They are heavy feeders so the soil should be rich with organic material at planting time. Water at least twice a week for the first six weeks or so, more frequently if the weather is hot and dry.

Harvest often – do not allow fruit to rot on the plants. This will slow fruit production and is an invitation to insects and diseases.

Mark Cullen appears on Canada AM every Wednesday morning at 8:40.  He is Lawn & Garden expert for Home Hardware.  Sign up for Mark’s free monthly newsletter at www.markcullen.com.