Hand by Hand Guide Planting Fresh Garden Tomatoes from Tine Seeds

Growing tomatoes

When is the right time to grow tomatoes and how should I go about preparing the ground for them?

Tomatoes are a warm-season crop and the main sowing period is from mid-September to November. But seed can be sown up to a month earlier if you have a greenhouse or some other protected place. The seedlings are usually ready for transplanting about a month later, when they should be about 10-12 cm high. To ensure a continuous supply of tomatoes, make small successive sowings every 4-6 weeks. For the average family, 10-12 plants per planting should be sufficient.

Tomatoes are gross feeders and so the ground must be very well prepared for them. Dig it over thoroughly and work in plenty of compost and cow manure, as well as a balanced fertiliser such as 2:3:2 at the rate of 100g per square metre. The plants should be planted about a metre apart if they are going to be staked, but at least 1,2-1,5 m apart if unstaked.

Staked or unstaked

This depends on the type of tomatoes, as well as on the amount of space you have in the garden. There are two types of tomatoes: determinate tomatoes and indeterminate tomatoes.

Tomatoes in containers

Yes. Tomatoes grow extremely well in containers and in gardens infected by soil fungus diseases or eelworm it is often better to grow the plants in this way.

It is most important to use large pots, at least 35-45 cm in diameter and 35cm deep, as the plants need plenty of root room. Fill the containers with a rich potting soil. Smaller pots can be used for the small-fruited, dwarf tomatoes. For plenty of flowers and an even set of fruit, the plants in the containers must not be allowed to become dry. Tomato plants may be foliar fed with a liquid fertiliser every 4-6 weeks, or with a fertiliser watered onto the soil.

Whitefly can often be a problem on container- grown tomatoes in greenhouses. Spray the tomato plants with permethrin as soon as this pest is noticed.

Changing ground

I’ve grown tomatoes in my border for a few years now. I always feed the soil well with liquid fertiliser, but last year the crop was pretty miserable and I had a good many plant failures, too. What’s the matter?

Probably your ground is ‘tomato sick’. What has happened is that the soil has developed a poor structure as a result of constant liquid feeding. Over the years, there has been a build-up of salts, plant acids and toxic products from both the plants and the ferti lisers, all of which have made the soil sour.

In addition, pests and diseases that attack tomatoes specifically may also be there, transmitted from an earlier crop and now spreading through the border.

Tomatoes grow best in soils that have not known tomatoes before and so it is important to rotate the crops, changing the beds and growing other vegetables (see VEGETABLE GARDENING). If this is not possible, you could remove the soil completely to a depth of at least 60 cm and replace it with fresh soil. Or you could sterilise the present soil with Jeyes Fluid.

If all this seems a bit elaborate, then the simplest solution is to grow your tomatoes in large containers. This method shuts out all soil-borne diseases completely — and at the end of the season you can mulch the garden with the compost in the containers.

Skin split

Splitting is usually caused by unsettled weather coupled with lack of watering. In cold or dry seasons the fruits develop slowly and the skins become hard.

When a warm or wet spell follows, developmentaccelerates, butthe tomatoes are unable to expand without splitting their skins. The only treatment is towater regularlyand never letthe soil dry out completely.

Cutting back

All tomatoes grown as single-stemmed plants produce sideshoots in the leaf axilis — that is, between the leafstalks and the main stem. These must be removed to keep the plant growing upwards and to prevent it from growing into a less productive bush shape.

The sideshoots should be removed as soon as they can be seen. Do it gently, using your

Thumb and finger or a pair of nail scissors. You must be careful not to damage the fruit trusses as you work. Remember that these trusses grow out of the main stem between the leaf stalks. If you miss a sideshoot for a time and it grows large, cut it out as soon as you spot it, and dust the wound with sulphur to keep out disease.

Magnesium check

Magnesium deficiency is the culprit. Magnesium is included in some tomato fertilisers, but not all. Check the label on yours, and if magnesium isn’t listed, change to a fertiliser that does have it.

At the same time, spray your plants with a solution of Epsom salts. Mix the spray at a rate of 90 g to 5l of water, adding a few drops of washing-up liquid. Repeat the do see very 7-10 days until the leaves are all green, and at the same time cut the tomato fertiliser by half. When the plants are once again green and healthy, resume normal feeding.

Green to red

Most gardening folklore contains a nugget of sound sense, and this maxim is no exception. Red or ripe tomatoes give off a gas called ethylene which will hasten the ripening of green ones. Wrap the green tomatoes separately in tissue paper and store them in a covered box — putting one or two red ones in with them. Check them daily and remove them as they ripen — otherwise you’ll have a rotting mess.

Alternatively, if you have eaten all the red tomatoes, put a ripe banana in with the green tomatoes. Ripe bananas give off ethylene in the same way as red tomatoes.

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