Tomatoes (Solanum lycoperiscum)
While we eat tomatoes as a vegetable most often, they are botanically classified as a berry so they are technically a fruit. First thought to be domesticated in Mexico, they were introduced to Europe in the 16th century. Tomatoes are one of the most versatile things you can grow in your garden. They are a major ingredient in so many dishes – both raw and cooked. There are over 10,000 varieties of tomatoes that you can grow. While tomatoes are one of the most delicious plants you can grow, they are somewhat lacking in the nutrition department. Tomatoes are a somewhat decent source of Vitamin C and also contain lycopene but other than that they do not contain the other vitamins and minerals we need.
The Different Types of Tomatoes
There are two types of cultivars of tomatoes: Determinate and Indeterminate.
Determinate: These plants will grow until they reach a certain height and then stop growing. Once they have reached their maximum height the plant will focus all of its energy towards producing flowers and fruits. This cultivar is an excellent choice for sauce-making and canning. If making sauce is your thing, the Roma is the gold standard of Italian paste and sauce making. This variety is resistant to wilting and its compact vines will produce loads of thick-walled, pear shaped tomatoes with very few seeds. (Do not confuse this with the San Marzano) If you are looking for a tomato that is great eating fresh and also works for canning, the Rutgers variety is a New Jersey heirloom that produces uniform half-pound red tomatoes.
Indeterminate: These plants will continue to grow in height throughout the season. This type of plant will continue to produce foliar growth and I have personally seen my cherry tomato vines reach over ten feet! The fruits on indeterminate plants are produced throughout the entire growing season along the side shoots. Indeterminate tomato plants are perennial in their natural habitat but we cultivate them as an annual. Indeterminate varieties are the best if you want to spread out the harvest over a longer period of time. If you enjoy using green tomatoes, then Emerald Evergreen, a variety from the 1950’s that is sweet and has a unique lime green color, is an excellent choice and it produces great yields of a medium-sized fruit that stay green even when fully ripened. Another great choice for green tomatoes is Aunt Ruby’s German Green, which produces large green fruits with a blush of pink of yellow once it is fully ripe and has sweet, spicy flavor. If you are looking for something more of what we would call a traditional tomato variety, the Beefsteak produces flat, meaty, juicy tomatoes ranging from 10 ounces to 2 pounds and is a great choice for canning or slicing. Looking for an excellent canning tomato for making sauce? The San Marzano is a favorite of urban farmer Curtis Stone and it produces elongated fruits that hold on the vine or in storage and are wonderful for processing due to the meaty flesh with a low amount of seeds so they are a favorite for making paste or sauce. Every season I make a new “hanging basket” tomato experiment and I am looking forward to growing these White Cherry tomatoes. These creamy white to pale yellow colored cherry tomatoes are one of the sweetest varieties and is quite prolific for such a small plant.
Growing Tomatoes From Seed
Tomatoes are not the easiest plant to start from seed but they are amongst the most satisfying to grow. So why bother growing tomatoes from seed when you can simply buy transplants from your local nursery or big box home improvement store? Well, first of all, it is much, much cheaper as you can get an entire packet of seeds typically at a lower cost than the price of just one small tomato plant! Second, you will have access to thousands of different varieties so you can pick exactly what you will enjoy the most. I think the most important reason of all is the taste! (We will come back to this later.)
Starting Tomato Seeds Indoors
An important factor in when to start your seeds indoors is how many days to harvest it takes for the seed to germinate and produce fruit. Most tomato varieties range from 60 days at the earliest to more than 100 days. Tomato plants are far more prone to damage from frost than other plants so it is important to time the starting of the seeds so they are large enough for when you want to put them in the ground. My uncle once lost his entire tomato crop to a freak late frost in late May here in southwestern Pennsylvania! Because of that I like to error on the side of caution and wait a week or two after the last Spring frost date (also check the weather forecast) before I transplant.
An important piece of equipment (although you can get by without it) is a seed germination mat. These can be found fairly inexpensive these days and are worth it. In a pinch, you can use an old heating blanket, but make sure you layer some towels between it and the seedling trays as they get much hotter than a seedling germination mat. Also, you are going to have to have a more “hands on” approach if you are using the heating blanket hack as they can make the trays so hot they “cook” the seeds. A trick some gardeners use to encourage fast plant growth is to roll the seeds in a mycorrhizal fungi powder to encourage root growth and grow a more robust plant quickly. Another good idea is to use an oscillating fan once the seedlings have sprouted and grown a few inches to help strengthen their branches. The stress provided by the breeze from the fan will encourage the plant to grow a thicker stem and branches making for a more sturdy plant that is a lot likelier to survive once its put in the ground.
Finally, be sure to use a good sterile seed starting soil mix. You do not want to simply dig up some dirt from your garden and use it to start seedlings as tomato plants are susceptible to various diseases. Be sure that the pots or trays have excellent drainage as tomatoes are very prone to “damping off” and well-drained soil, as well as using a sterile seed-starting mix, will help you avoid that tragedy.
On Buying Tomato Plants For Transplanting
If you don’t want to go through the time and trouble of growing tomatoes from seed then here a few tips on buying transplants from your local nursery or big-box store.
- Look for short, stocky plants with a rich, dark green color on the foliage and straight stems that are slightly thick.
- Do not buy plants that already have flowers or fruit on them! You want the plant’s energy to go towards making a strong root system and branches and if they are already fruiting they will put their energy towards that instead. If you do happen to buy plants in this state then nip off any buds or flowers before you transplant them.
- Don’t buy plants that have yellow leaves or look like they are diseased. (Duh) Also be sure to check for any insects as you don’t want to bring those back to your home or garden.
- Protect your investment! If you buy the plants before the last frost you should consider leaving them indoors as tomato plants are intolerant of frost (even a light frost) and it will kill them.
Caring For Your Tomato Plants
Tomatoes are not what I would call a “care-free” plant as they have disease problems and need a lot of water especially when they are young. Always select a place for them in your garden where they will receive full sun (unless you are in a very hot, sunny climate then you might want to consider a spot where they get some afternoon shade) as that is best. Tomato plants prefer “deep watering” and you should never spray the leaves of the plant itself. Instead soak the ground around the stem being careful not to get the leaves and branches wet. It is best to water in the morning so they will have an easier time if it is a hot summer day. Try to avoid watering in the evening hours as this can encourage disease.
These plants need support so be sure to plant your stakes or cages in the ground when you transplant the tomatoes. If you do not and wait to stake or cage later you run the risk of damaging their delicate root system.
Fertilizing Your Tomato Plants
Tomatoes need a good fertilizer to be sure you will have a fruitful plant. I have know some Italians that plant their tomatoes on top of fish heads and I have heard this works great. A great trick to prevent something called “blossom end rot” is to use egg shells when planting as they contain a large amount of calcium that can help prevent the aforementioned disease. Stay away from any “high Nitrogen” fertilizer as these will promote lots of leaf and stem growth but do little for the setting of fruits.
The "Coiling Method" of Transplanting Tomatoes
Did you know that tomato plants are somewhat unique as the “tiny hairs” you see on the stem can actually turn into roots if planted beneath the soil? If they are left above the soil they are called “nodules” also known as “root initials” or adventitious roots. One method of transplanting is to dig a trench and lay the plant down in it then bend the top of the plant so it is above the ground and pack soil down around the stem and root ball. You can also dig a hole that is roughly two thirds of the size of the plant (don’t forget the root system in your calculations!) and leave the top of the plant out of the soil. Some gardeners do not like this method as it has been said to encourage disease but most will at least bury some of the stem when transplanting their tomatoes.
Pruning Your Tomato Plants - Suckers!
Much of the pruning of your tomato plants will involve getting rid of the “suckers” which are shoots that sprout in between the main stem and the side branches. These “suckers” are called that because they take away the plants energy to produce more foliage. You can eliminate then when they are small by simply pinching them off with your fingers. If you are late to getting to them and they are starting to grow larger then use a good pair of gardening shears to eliminate them. While lots of people will tell you to prune suckers – and I have seen people reduce their plants to almost one giant stem in this pursuit – it is more important to prune suckers if you are growing an indeterminate plant as these continue to produce new leaves and flowers throughout the entire season. If you are growing a determinate variety, you must be careful not to prune too many suckers (or not at all if you want a giant harvest) as this can severely curb the amount of fruit you get from the plant.
The Upside Down Hanging Tomato Basket
Without fail, every year and much to my wife’s chagrin, I plant a tomato variety upside down from the hanging basket next to our hop vines. Sometimes the results are great and other times … not so much. I don’t really recommend doing this unless you have a small garden footprint (like me) and are looking to maximize yield it is sort of just a novelty thing for the backyard gardener. Over the years I have learned some tips and tricks to make this work.
- Use an indeterminate variety of cherry tomato. One year I decided to transplant a determinate beefsteak tomato plant as I had too many for the garden plots. As soon as it was in the basket, it curled upward and the vines set fruit in between the wire cage and the pot resulting in “trapped” tomatoes that grew around the wires of the hanging basket and couldn’t be saved. Since that year I only use indeterminate cherry tomato plants in my hanging basket experiments!
- Once you have moved your seedlings to a 3″ pot and they are not quite big enough yet to transplant permanently, place the pot you are going to use in the basket upside down over the right-side up over the potted seedling and secure it. If the pot shifts it will sever the seedling’s fragile stem and the experiment is over! Leave it grow up upwards until it reaches a height of at least a foot and a half to two feet. The reason we do this is because main stem has a tendency to grow upwards towards the sun and can become trapped between the cage and the pot. The taller the plant is when you flip the pot over and place it in the basket the less likely that is to occur.
- Once your plant is hanging upside down check on it regularly for any side shoots that have grown upward and become trapped between the wire cage and the pot. If this happens gently pull the shoot out so it rests on the outside of the hanging cage. If you do not do this and fruits set in between the pot and the basket cage they will be unusable. Once fruit has set on the vine it will weigh the vine down so it will grow towards the ground instead of snaking upward into the wire cage.
- Liquid fertilizers are your best friend. Tomato plants are both thirsty for water and hungry for food to grow. Add a high-quality liquid fertilizer to the watering can and soak the potting soil. If you notice the water pouring out from the base of the pot and getting the plant wet you are pouring too much at once! I recommend a light watering in the morning with a little liquid fertilizer and if you notice the soil has dried out during the day (or it has been a very hot summer day) then again in the evening hours after the sun is going down.
Why Should You Grow Your Own Tomatoes?
For the taste! Why do the tomatoes from the supermarket taste so bland? Because those varieties were bred to be picked green and shipped hundreds if not thousands of miles while being sturdy enough to withstand the journey and arrive at your local store at least looking good enough to eat! The genetic mutation that makes these tomatoes uniform in appearance also disrupts the production of a protein that is responsible for the fruit’s production of sugar. Also, people who grow their own tomatoes let ripen on the vine and concentrate their sugars so their taste is amazing. I don’t think there is anything you can grow yourself versus buying in a supermarket that will have a greater gulf in the end result between the two than the tomato. Don’t believe me? Don’t take my word for it. Here’s Anthony Bourdain, in his book Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halle Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking, talking about the importance of a quality, vine-ripened tomato:
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