No matter what time of year, tomatoes are the number one vegetable plant gardeners grow, and why not, they can be cultivated just about anywhere if given the right care.
To ensure a healthy and fabulous tomato garden, it takes more than just digging a hole, plopping the plant in it, and watering. But with a little bit of help, you can have loads of amazing tomatoes.
Whether you have a huge yard for your tomato garden or growing them in containers on your back patio, make sure you choose the right type of tomato plant for your growing conditions. There are several different varieties and sizes, heirlooms are always a great choice.
A few of my personal favorites for the large variety include, Texas Star, German Red Strawberry, and Kellogg’s Breakfast. For cherry sized tomatoes include, Brandysweet Plum, Green Doctors, and Purple Bumble.
There are literally thousands of different varieties on the market today of hybrid and heirloom tomatoes.
The key to a successful tomato garden is sun, water, and soil. Though all of these are important, soil often gets overlooked. Organic amendments are important, chemical based fertilizer and pesticides will eventually deplete the soil of any nutritional value all together.
After digging the hole, whether in the ground or in a container, I recommend putting a few handfuls of black worm castings. Tomatoes tend to be very hungry feeders, the nutrients in the black worm castings will release slowly, not to burn the plant, and allow it to thrive!
To prevent ‘blossom end rot’, which is very common ailment in tomato plants, where the bottom of the fruit turns black, add some organic coral calcium. Not only does it provide over 73 important minerals essential for growing plants, it dramatically helps restore a healthy calcium balance and increases the plants energy level for higher quality and healthier plants.