Planting and Caring for Tomatoes in the Home Garden

In part 1, I discussed the many different types and categories of tomatoes and talked about how to pick the right varieties for your garden and your needs.  This week I will talk about when and how to plant them, and how to care for them throughout the season to maximize their yield, taste, and health (and your own enjoyment!)  First lets talk about seasonal timing.

WHEN TO PLANT TOMATOES:

The short answer is: Now!

When the first rains come in September or October, it generally spells a bitter and abrupt end to tomato season with many exploded and quickly rotten fruits.  With such an uncertain end looming, and with our relatively mild Summers, it is important that we give our tomatoes every opportunity to mature.  This means making sure that they don’t get planted so late that they don’t have time to mature their fruits.  

On the other hand, tomatoes that are planted too early, when night time temperatures are consistently below 50 degrees, can suffer significantly and become stunted or diseased during a fragile time of their development.

Our Oregon Springs are about as unpredictable as our Falls, so proper timing for planting is always a bit of guess work, but I generally think of the planting window for tomatoes as being between May 1st and June 1st.  A little later or a little earlier cane work depending on the particular year, but your tomatoes may suffer for it one way or another, or you may get lucky!  So given the timing of this post, get those tomatoes in ASAP!

HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR TOMATOES:

Now that your tomatoes are planted they will need some TLC in the many weeks before they offer you their treasured fruits.  In caring for tomatoes it is important to think about fertility, physical support, pruning and training, and irrigation.

Tomatoes have relatively high fertility needs.  This is partly because of the fruits they bear, and also because they take so long to mature.  For this reason, I like to fertilize my tomatoes once at the time of planting by dusting with a balanced organic fertilizer like EB Stone Organics Tomato and Vegetable Food.  A second light application when fruits begin to set can also be beneficial.

Soon enough, you will need to support your tomato plants as they outgrow their ability to stand up on their own.  There are dozens of ways to give this support, but the easiest and most widely used supports are tomato cages.  They come in many shapes and sizes, so just make sure that you purchase a cage that will last.  Simply surround your tomato with a cage and let it do the rest of the work!

There are many ways to prune and train tomatoes.  Different methods and approaches lead to different growth responses and tomato forms.  The truth is, you don't have to prune your tomatoes at all!  Tomatoes that go unpruned, though often unruly, will produce many and delicious fruits.  That being said, I am a proponent of light pruning early on which leads to a form which keeps later fruit off of the ground.

At the “axis” of each lateral tomato branch, small buds or “suckers” form.  These suckers grow into vegetative branches and will not bear fruit in the life of the tomato.  For this reason, I like to “thin” or pinch out suckers on the bottom 8-12” of all of my plants.  After that, I let my tomatoes run wild (within their cages).  This selective pruning of suckers involves minimal effort and leads to a tomato plant which bears its fruit on intermediate and higher branches where fruits are safe from rodents and from rotting.

Finally, we should all consider our approach to irrigation for tomatoes.  Tomatoes evolved in climates where irrigation was not a sure thing, and for this reason, they are remarkably resistant to water deficiency.  That is not to say, however, that they should be stressed.  During most of their life, and especially during their time of vegetative growth, they like regular deep waterings.  They suffer from having their roots saturated so provide adequate intervals between deep waterings.  

When tomatoes begin to set their fruit, their water needs change markedly.  At this time watering quantities and intervals should be reduced significantly.  Denying your tomato plants the water that they desire will encourage them to shift from their vegetative stage to their reproductive stage and will actually speed up their process of setting and maturing fruits and getting you tomatoes!

Reducing irrigation close to harvest time also reduces the moisture content in the fruits and concentrates their sugars making for much more flavorful and less mealy tomatoes.  Also, deep watering during fruiting causes sudden H20 uptake by the plants and often leads to cracking and exploding fruits.  So as counter-intuitive as it may be, take it upon yourself to be very spare with your irrigation during fruiting.

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