How to grow great tomatoes

Stephanie Bruner
View Comments

Summertime and tomatoes go together, so it's disappointing to get only a few small OK-but-not-great tomatoes. Here are some tips for a bountiful summer harvest.

Know what you're planting

First, choose the right plants. Plant tags say "determinate" or "indeterminate," and they usually indicate a number of days. What does this mean?

Determinate tomatoes reach a certain size, then stop growing. They produce all their fruit at one time. These are usually the earlier maturing ones, often producing fruit in about 65 days. Determinate tomatoes are great for small spaces or for gardeners who want a big harvest all at once for canning or freezing.

Indeterminate tomatoes, including most heirloom varieties, just keep growing. They'll start to produce fruit at approximately the number of days indicated on the tag, but they'll keep on producing until the season is over.

Related: You're not an Iowan until you have...grown a tomato

Where should you plant them?

Here's the easy answer: In the sunniest place you can find. Tomatoes do best with a full day of sun. Anything less than eight hours of sun will cut down on your yields.

Tomatoes like moist, rich, well-drained soil. If your soil is heavy clay, consider building a raised bed at least 18 inches deep so you can control the soil quality and drainage. When you plant tomatoes, plant them right up to the bottom of the lowest leaves. They'll form roots all along the stem.

Keep them upright

Tomatoes produce better if the plants are staked or caged. Unstaked plants flop over, which breaks stems and causes fruits to sit on the ground and rot before ripening.

Skip small tomato cages — they'll bend under the weight of a plant. Larger sized cages work, but they'll need a couple of heavy stakes to keep them from sagging. Wire mesh for reinforcing concrete makes good, sturdy cages. Or just put three or four heavy, 3- to 4-foot stakes around the plant shortly after planting, and weave garden twine around the stakes as the plant grows.

Feed me!

Tomatoes need a lot of nutrients to produce heavy yields. Adding compost to the soil, either in spring or fall, adds nutrients to the soil. You'll find all kinds of organic and synthetic fertilizers for tomatoes, too. Fertilizer packages always list three numbers, such as 10-10-10. The first number is nitrogen, the second number is phosphorus, and the third number is potassium. Choose a fertilizer with a high middle number, because that's what helps the plant produce fruit.

Regular watering is important, too. Make sure your tomatoes get about an inch of water every week, especially during the hottest part of summer. If tomatoes go through prolonged dry spells, they won't set as many flowers, which means fewer tomatoes. And existing fruit cracks when plants don't get enough water.

Protect them from pests

You aren't the only one who wants to eat tomatoes. The most reliable protection from raccoons and chipmunks is a wire mesh fence, with openings too small for them to squeeze through. Tomato hornworms, those big green caterpillars with a "horn" on one end, can wreak havoc in a tomato patch, too. Just pick them off and squash them. Use a pet- and child-safe slug bait or old-fashioned beer traps to keep slugs away.

About the author

STEPHANIE BRUNER is a freelance writer in Des Moines with a degree in horticulture.

View Comments