Growing great tomatoes

Tomatoes, Tomaatoes, no matter how you pronounce them, we all want to grow big, healthy, abundent, crops. Well as you will see there is no big secret, just a few important tips and smart advice.

1) Buy good healthy plants at a local garden center. Pick a location in your yard where your tomato plant will receive a good amount of sunlight daily. A shady area will prevent or greatly reduce your tomato production.

2) Dig a hole 3 to 4 times deeper than the existing root system. Add a little bone meal and peat moss to the hole and mix it with some of the existing soil. Now for the important Tip. Remove a few of the lower leaves and plant your tomato plant Deep exposing only a few of the top leaves. This will force your tomato plant to grow a very large deep rooted root system enabling your tomato plant to absorb more nutrients and water.

3) Water at the base only if possible using a drip irrigation or your hose. This type of watering helps plants get a deeper watering for the roots and helps reduce disease.

4) Place some granular fertilizer around the plant being careful not to touch the plant with the fertilizer. A good tomato food or a 5-10-5 will do. If you prefer to go more organic you can use some composted cow manure as fertilizer. Just mix it with the fisrt few inches of the top soil.

5) Provide a layer of mulch about 2 inches thick around your plant. This will reduce weed growth (weeds sap nutrients from the soil) and help keep the water levels more stable for your tomato plant.

6) Water daily  trying to water the same time every day. The mornings are a good time.

7) Stake or cage your tomato plant early before it gets hard to do. This will help your plant grow proper and reduce unnecessary stress.

8) If it is not to difficult to do every 2 weeks give you plant a foliar fertilizing with some liquid fertilizer. Your plant will remain green and healthy with this added touch.

9) Every three or four weeks add a little fertilzer as decided in step 4. This will help to ensure your plant is getting full nutrients.

10) When you get tomatoes to harvest, pick often as this constant harvesting will encourage your tomato plant to continue to produce tomatoes untill the frost gets to it.

Good Luck and Happy Tomato Plant growing.