The Three Keys to Growing Great Tomatoes
Advice from an expert grower
Three main tasks ensure a bumper crop of juicy tomatoes: watering, fertilizing and tying up the plants as they grow.
Watering is particularly important, because drought-stressed plants are prone to blossom-end rot, which results in leathery, brown patches on the bottoms of the fruits. Container-grown tomatoes are most at risk of blossom-end rot because they can dry out so quickly.
Related: More about blossom-end rot
Aim to keep the soil lightly moist, watering when the top inch feels dry. You can water by hand (I like to use a long-handled watering wand) or set up soaker hoses to deliver moisture right to the root zone. Deeply water to encourage deep-rooted plants and mulch the soil surface to slow water evaporation.
I mulch with three to four inches of straw or shredded leaves immediately after planting my tomatoes. Mulch conserves moisture as well as reducing weed growth and suppressing soil-borne diseases like blight.
About a month after transplanting, I fertilize with a fish emulsion, repeating every two weeks. Be sure to read and follow the application directions on the product label.
Finally, don’t forget to secure your growing tomato plants to their supports. This is best done every 10 to 14 days. I set a reminder on my phone to make sure I stay on top of this task. Using garden twine, I loosely tie the plants to their wooden stakes. At this time I also pinch out new suckers on my indeterminate plants to direct their energy into fruiting.
When and How to Harvest Tomatoes
Harvest season is prime time for tomato lovers! But did you know that you don’t have to wait until your fruits are fully ripe to pick them? In fact I harvest large-fruited tomatoes like ‘Brandywine’ and ‘Galahad’ when they’re about half ripe—before they can tempt critters like deer, rabbits and squirrels or begin to crack and split.
You can pick these tomatoes any time they’re past the breaker stage, the point when the green fruit begins to show signs of the mature color. As for smaller-fruited tomatoes, like grape and cherry varieties, I generally wait until they’re fully ripe.
Small-fruited tomatoes are picked by hand, but I clip medium- to large-sized fruits using garden snips. Tugging or pulling them from the plants can damage the branches or knock down neighboring fruits that aren’t quite ready.
It’s also a good idea to pick any ripe or near-ripe fruits before heavy rain. A sudden influx of moisture can cause both small- and large-fruited tomatoes to split and spoil quickly.
