Planting Tomato Plants

Staking Tomato Plants-5 reasons not to

2011-01-04T10:49:00.000+02:00

Although most tomato gardeners firmly believe in staking their tomato plants, as it often gives better crops, there are a few exceptions that you may want to consider. In this article I will share with you what I think are 5 plausible reasons to just leave your tomatoes to garden to grow naturally.

Some tomato varieties will do just fine without staking
One of the simplest and best reasons for not staking your tomato plants is that it is sometimes unnecessary. Certain varieties of tomato plants will do quite well without you having to support them. A more common example of this is when you are growing cherry tomatoes. These small sized tomatos will grow in abundance even if you don’t stake your plant.

If done incorrectly it can damage your tomato plant
If you are new to growing tomatoes outdoors, you will soon learn that many types of tomato plants have low resistance to damage. Although there are a few hardy varieties, most of them will damage easily. Incorrectly staking your tomato plants may damage the stem, which will cause your plant to not produce tomatoes to its full potential.

It is very time consuming
If you are just into tomato gardening for the love of it, you will realize that it can take up quite a bit of your time. Once you have staked your tomato plants, you will constantly need to maintain them. You will need to keep checking that the stakes are firm in the ground, and that the tomato steams are growing around the stakes.

Can be expensive if you purchase stakes
Many seasoned tomato gardeners recommend making your own stakes. It’s much cheaper than purchasing them and they are just as effective. The down side however, is that you need to treat the stakes first to prevent rotting. This can be quite costly if you don’t know how to it properly. If you simply decide to buy pre-prepared stakes, you will have to fork out some extra cash.

It’s a lot of long and hard work
Staking your tomato plants can take up to an entire day if you have many plants. Let’s face it, with modern lifestyles; one doesn’t really have that much of time to spend on their tomato gardens. Even if you have just a few tomato plants, the process can be quite tedious. Unless you have some help to do it, staking tomato plants will probably tire you out long before you’re complete.

Growing Tomatoes From Seeds–5 reasons you should not try it

2010-12-29T10:46:00.000+02:00

Although some tomato gardeners are up the challenges that come with growing tomatoes from seeds, many are not. In this article, I will give to you 5 of the major factors you need to consider if you want to grow tomatoes from seeds.

Can be expensive if you don’t know how
If you are new to tomato gardening then it’s probable that you won’t know exactly what is most important when it comes to growing tomato plants. This is very evident if you are going to be growing your tomatoes from sees, as there are a number of things up for sale that are perceived as necessary. Many of the things however, can be omitted, and you will still get a great tomato garden.

It’s a long process
Not only do you have to pay constant attention to your seedlings, you will need to wait a considerably longer time for your tomato plants to produce tomatoes. You need to continuously check on soil moisture levels and ph levels. If you are in a hurry to get you tomatoes from the garden, then growing them from seeds may not be the best option.

You crops may fail
Growing tomatoes from seeds is a delicate process. One that must be constantly monitored. If you are new to growing tomatoes, then there is a possibility that your first crop may not be quite what you expected. Being new to tomato gardening shouldn’t stop you though. It just means that you need to work a little harder.

Seedlings are prone to disease
Very young tomato seedlings can get diseased quite easily. You need to make sure that the soil is not to damp, and have a sharp eye for spotting irregularities. A risk is that if you don’t spot the disease, and plant the seedling in your tomato gardened, the other plants may get the disease as well. This may ruin your entire tomato garden.

Transplanting can be very difficult
Even for experienced tomato gardeners, the process of transplanting seedlings is a delicate one. If you even a little too rough, you can damage the plant, which may cause it to not bear tomatoes later on. You need to be extra cautious when transplanting the seedlings and you need to know exactly what to do.

Even though it’s exciting to grow tomato plants from sees, it can be a difficult process. If you are not willing to put in the extra effort, then you probably won’t get a bumper harvest.

How to Grow Tomatoes Without a Yard

2010-12-22T10:45:00.000+02:00

Would you love to start a tomato garden, but you don't have any land to grow your tomatoes in? Many people find that they want to take on tomato gardening, but feel that they cannot, due to a lack of having a large. Well, even if you live in an apartment, without a garden, this article will show you how to grow tomatoes without a yard.

An easy option when it comes to growing tomatoes without having any land is to use a tomato planter. They are basically little containers in which to grow tomatoes. Many stores sell them, and they come in a wide variety of sizes and materials.

A free alternative to buying tomato planters is to use a container as a substitute. This is a much more cost effective option for growing tomatoes, as just about any container will do. I have had success growing the tomatoes in old buckets. All you have to do is to drill a couple of holes in the bottom of the bucket for water to filter through.

I recommend that you get a large tomato planter (or whatever type of container you are using) as tomato plants can grow really large. The last thing that you want to do is to restrict the size which your tomato plants grow to. A larger container, with more soil, will also retain water for longer therefore you will need to water your tomatoes less often.

Since you are looking to grow tomatoes without having any outside land, you can place the containers on your porch, as they will be close to sunlight and fresh air. Just make sure though, that the tomato plants are not exposed to outside conditions, such as frost. If you cannot find space on your porch, then place them in a room where the tomatoes will be close to a large window. You should keep curtains open so that maximum sunlight can enter the room.

Be sure to get yourself some high quality planting soil. Most gardening stores will sell organic growing soil, and this is a great option as the soil has all the nutrients you tomatoes will need to grow big and juicy. Avoid flower potting soil, mainly because of the fact that their ph and nutrient levels are not conducive to growing veggies.

Now that you know it is possible to grow tomatoes without yard space, you can finally attempt to grow your tomato plants. Just remember to get a large container (if you are not going to be using a tomato planter), organic tomato growing soil.

Why are my Tomato Plants Wilting every day?

2010-12-17T10:43:00.000+02:00

Have you ever found that the very next day after watering your tomatoes they wilt? So, what causes tomato plants to wilt every day? If, after you water your tomato garden, your plants are fine, but the next day they start to wilt, then this post is for you. In this post, I will look at some of the causes of tomato plants wilting a day after watering.

Very hot weather
If you live in an extremely hot climate, or have just had a few weeks of higher than average temperature, then your tomatoes may lack the constant water that they need to remain firm and upright. If you find that the plants perk up by the following day, then this is the most probable cause. A simple way to overcome this problem is mulching. You can either make your own mulch, or purchase a readymade one. If you are making your own, then try shredding up some newspaper, or even better, some hay. Just apply a thick layer of mulch at the base of your tomato plants. This not only traps moisture in the soil for longer, it also aids in preventing tomato diseases from spreading.

Not watering deeply enough
This is the most common cause for tomato plants wilting every day. If you are watering your tomatoes too shallow, then the plants will develop root hairs close to the surface. This will increase water loss, as temperatures are higher near the surface. It is vital that you water your tomatoes to about an inch deep. A simply way to measure this, is to place a dry plastic ruler into the soil and then water a bit at a time. Constantly pull the ruler from the soil, and see how much of it is wet.

Watering your tomato plants too deeply
Overwatering your tomato garden may also cause the problem of wilting plants. You see, the root hairs will be damaged if you over water the tomatoes, and this will reduce the amount of water the plant takes in. this problem will naturally sort itself out after a while, as it takes time for new root hairs to grow back. In the future, just be careful to not water your tomatoes too often.

There are other reasons which may cause your tomato plants to wilt every day, but the ones I have mentioned are the most common. Now that you have more information, I hope that your tomato garden will flourish with great tomatoes.

What causes home grown tomatoes to remain small?

2010-12-15T10:41:00.000+02:00

Are you an avid tomato gardener who loves growing tomato plants? Well, if you are, then you would have surely experienced that your tomatoes are sometimes small, even though you bought high quality organic tomato seeds. If you have, then you will certainly want to figure out the reason, so that your next batch of tomatoes grows large and juicy. So, exactly what causes home grown tomatoes to remain small? In this post, I will look at some of the major causes for tomatoes not growing to full size.

Small variety tomatoes
Even if you have used store grade, organic tomato seeds, some varieties of tomato plants will just not produce large tomatoes. Certain types of seeds will produce tomatoes that become fully mature at a small size, and these tomatoes will ripen like normal tomatoes. Your local gardening store may only supply seeds for the smaller varieties (like cherry tomatoes). If this is the problem that you have, then try purchasing your organic tomato seeds online. By buying them this way, you will have a wider selection of tomato seeds to choose from, and you can be sure to find seeds which will produce larger tomatoes. I suggest that you try to get the big boy variety, as the tomatoes are huge and full of flavor. They are also one of the simplest types to grow.

Lack of water
This is another major factor which causes home grown tomatoes to remain small. You may be using seeds which are supposed to produce bigger tomatoes, but if you do not know how to water your tomato plants, then you may get small tomatoes. You need to ensure that your tomato plants have adequate water to produce large fruit. Remember that most of a tomato is water, and therefore a lack of it will cause stunted growth. Try to water your tomatoes every day if you live in a hot climate. The best time to water you garden is early in the morning, so you plant can absorb all it needs, and excess water can evaporate.

Now that you know what causes homegrown tomatoes to remain small, I'm sure that your next crop will not have any problems. Just keep in mind that you need to choose a type of tomato that naturally grows bigger, and that you need to water your tomato garden daily. Follow these simple steps, and you can have huge tomatoes, right in your own garden.

Growing Tomatoes Indoors-3 tips for a Bumper Harvest

2010-12-13T10:37:00.000+02:00

Growing tomatoes indoors are super fun! They are easy to grow, don’t require too much attention and they are relatively maintenance free. There are however, some common things that you need to be area of when you are growing tomato plants. In this article, I will give to you 3 tips that will assist in ensuring that your tomato plants are healthy, and the tomatoes are full and plump!

Choose a crack resistant variety of tomato plants- They grow better indoors
Most gardening stores sell a wide variety of tomato seeds. When you are growing tomatoes indoors, you should ask you dealer which type will produce be the most resistant and hardy plants. Remember that although you can control most of the conditions indoors, a hardy tomato plant will have a better chance of producing that bumper crop.

Buy seed starting soil mix - Has balanced nutrients and ph
A simple tip for both beginner and more experienced tomato gardeners alike is to start off your indoor tomato garden with buying starting soil. This is basically a well mixed soil, which has the correct balance of soil nutrients and a favorable soil ph. This will ensure that your young tomato plants are healthy sand grow well. Starting soil for tomato gardening is inexpensive, and it will go a long way in giving you a great batch of tomato plants (which mean tastier fruit).

Plant tomato seeds in small trays first, and then move to indoor pot (germination)
If you are going to be growing you indoor tomato garden from seed, then you need to first germinate the seeds before you transfer them to the actual growing container. There has been a lot written about germinating tomato seeds, but I will simply the process a little here. Ensure that you use a high nutrient content soil (preferably organic) to plant the seeds in. plant your seeds shallow, about half a finger deep. Water the seeds thoroughly the first time and then leave the seed tray in a warm, dry area. Once the seedlings are about 5 cm tall (above ground) you can move them to their growing container and begin your indoor tomato garden.

There you have it folks. Three quick tomato growing tips that will help ensure that your indoor tomato garden is healthy and full of delicious fruit. Hardy tomato varieties have a better chance of survival. Using a high quality starting soil mix will ensure healthy tomato plants. Germinating seeds before planting is a must if you want a bumper harvest.

Growing tomatoes from seeds–5 things you must know before you begin

2010-12-12T10:33:00.000+02:00

Enthusiastic tomato gardeners know that there is a certain thrill you get from growing tomatoes from seeds. If are considering doing it to, and you want to get nice, big red tomatoes, there are a few things that you need to know before you begin.

It’s a very time consuming process
Before you begin growing tomatoes from seeds, you need to understand that it’s a long and sometimes difficult process. You need to have the time to spend monitoring their growth, ensuring that the soil is well watered and has adequate nutrients, and you need to constantly be on the lookout for tomato disease.

What type of soil is best for germinating tomato seeds?
This is the first bit of information you need to know. When you are growing tomatoes from seed, the type of soil that you use is vital to the success of your tomato plants. The best choice you can make when it comes to soil for organic tomato seeds, is to purchase staring soil. Most store sell a variety of these mixes and you can choose from organic, or not and also choose a soil that will best suit the type of tomatoes you will be growing.

How to germinate organic seeds
Once you have your soil, you will need to learn how to germinate your seeds. Although this sounds like a simple plant and it will grow process, there are a number of variable that need to be taken into account. The temperature of the soil for example, needs to be kept fairly warm so that the seeds can germinate. You need to ensure that your tomato seeds have adequate water, but don’t allow the soil to become soggy, as the young seedling won’t grow.

How to transplant tomato seedlings
Once you have your little seedlings, you have to transplant them into their growing containers. This is a very delicate task, and you need to be careful that you don’t damage their young and tender stems. A good idea is to transplant the seedlings with their soil into the new tomato pot.

If you are inexperienced your seeds may not germinate
Although practice is the only way to get better at growing tomatoes form seeds, be prepared if your first crop isn’t a bumper harvest. If you want to be certain that you get a good crop the first time round, you need to be very careful. This is not to say that you should attempt growing tomatoes form sees if your still new to tomato gardening. On the contrary, the experience will make you a better tomato gardener.

Know that you have more information on growing tomatoes form seeds; you can decide whether or not you should try. I recommend that you do attempt it, as it’s quite interesting to watch toes go through the different stages of growth.

Growing Tomatoes from Seeds–4 reasons you should

2010-12-11T16:35:00.000+02:00

When growing tomatoes you have a major choice to make, before you even consider gardening style. Are you going to grow your tomato garden from seeds or seedlings? In this post, I will look briefly at 5 reasons that you should growing tomatoes from seeds. There are other advantages; however I believe that these 4 are the most important.

If you are a new tomato gardener and want to become more experienced, nothing beats growing tomatoes from seed. Yes, your first batch may not produce a bumper harvest, but the valuable experience you get will carry you far in the future. By growing tomatoes from seeds, you will learn to be a much more cautious gardener.

1) Can have a Fully Organic Garden
When you purchase organic tomato seeds, you can be sure that your tomatoes are full organic. This is important to many people, as most of them are looking for a healthy tomato gardening which produces healthy tomatoes. Unless otherwise stated, many tomato nurseries growing these seedlings using chemicals.

2) Cheaper to Buy Organic Seeds than Seedlings
When you purchase seedlings, you need to understand that a lot of time, effort, and resources were put into ensuring successful germination. Starting soil can be expensive, and often time, you will pay indirectly when you are purchasing the seedlings. If however, you germinate your own seedlings, you can do so at a fraction of the cost (you are not going to be paying for someone’s time).

3) Keep your Tomato Garden Disease Free
By purchasing high quality organic tomato seeds, you can almost ensure that they will be disease free. This is important, or you could be introducing a disease that will ruin your entire tomato garden. If you are buying tomato seedlings you cannot be fully sure that your tomato plants will be disease free. If however, you buy the seedlings from a reputable source, you shouldn’t have too much to worry about.

4) Extra pleasure when your Tomato Plants Grow Tomatoes
Few things else can give you the pleasure of knowing that those lovely tomatoes in your fruit salad were grown from seeds, and that you put in all the hard work to grow them. It’s just pure joy when you bite into a juicy home grown tomato. I don’t know about you, but this can be quite a confidence booster.

As you can see, there are a number of benefits to growing tomato plants from seeds. It not only gives you satisfaction, it also saves you money, and is a healthier alternative when it comes to the large juicy tomatoes it will produce.

Staking tomato plants-3 Options

2010-12-10T07:51:00.000+02:00

True tomato gardeners know the value of staking tomato plants. If you are still new to growing tomato plants, then this article will be of extreme help to you. I will discuss three of the most popular ways one can use in staking one’s tomato plants.

Using wooden stakes
This is the most common method for staking tomato plants. Tomato stakes come in a variety of materials and can be bought in many different sizes. For the sake of this article, I will look at the more common bamboo stakes. These can be purchased from most nurseries or can even be made at home. A major advantage to way of staking your tomato plants is that it saves space. It’s a sort of a vertical gardening technique and allows you grow many tomato plants close to each other. You can also prune your tomato plants so that all your tomatoes grow of a single stem. If you do have the space however, I suggest that you use multiple stakes per plant, so that you can stake a few of the stems instead of cutting them off. This usually allows you to get more tomatoes per plant.

Using a tomato cage
This is another one of the old, traditional favorites when it comes to tomato gardening. Many gardeners swear by growing tomatoes using cages. There are a number of advantages to this method, a big one being that it allows you to grow your entire tomato plant without having to prune too much. It’s also handy in that it keeps your pet away from your tomato plant. I recommend that you build your own tomato cages however, as most so the store bough ones are very strong. This method is ideal if you have many tomato plants growing close to each other, as you can cage a few of the plants at once. This will also give the appearance of a more lush tomato garden, which is quite eye-leasing.

Using a piece of string
This has to be one of the simplest methods when it comes to staking your tomato plants. All you need to do is to tie a piece of twine to the upper part of the plant, and the other end of the sting can be tied onto a fence post, or something similar. Your tomato plant will grow (with a bit of your help of course) around the twine, creeping its way up. This method can be implemented on a tomato plant of almost any size, just as long as it hasn’t yet started to bear fruit.

Growing Tomatoes in Hay Bales is Cost Effective

2010-12-09T12:12:00.001+02:00

Are you looking for an inexpensive way to grow great tomatoes? Well then, growing tomatoes in hay bales might just be perfect for you. In this article I will tell you about some of the many reasons that make growing tomatoes in hay bales cost effective. Other than its cheapness, growing tomatoes in hay bales have a unique set of advantages. The purpose of this article however, will be about the cost effectivness growing tomatoes.

When you are planning on growing tomatoes in hay bales, there isn’t much that you need in terms of materials. Well, you do of course need hay! You see, unlike many of the other, more traditional tomato gardening methods available, when you are planting your tomato plants in hay bales, you will be faced with a very different set of requirements.

The first and foremost item that you will need is a good quality bale of hay. Now, it’s not very easy to get this if you don’t know where to look, but let me just give you the most common place to get your hay bales from. Stores which sell animal feed! Hay bales are traditionally for feeding horses etc. so this store will be your most reliable source.

When you are going out to purchase you hay, you need to be aware that normal hay for feed can be costly. The trick here however, is to make your intentions know to the store owner. Tell them that you will be using your bale of hay for tomato gardening. They may have a few bales which were not bundled as neatly or are not as fresh, which they can sell to you at a much reduced price.

Since we are going to be growing tomatoes, which we will later eat, in the hay, our bale needs to be free from any chemicals. This is usually not a problem if the hay is being sold for animal feed, as more often than not means that the hay was grown organically. If however, you get your hay from another source, then be sure to check that pesticides and other harmful toxins were not sprayed on the grass.

Unlike normal tomato gardening, when you are growing tomatoes in hay bales, you won’t require soil and fertilizers. In fact, all you need is your hay, organic tomato seeds, and some stakes for staking your tomato plants.

There you have it folks, you now know how to go about growing tomato plants in hay bales in a cost effective manner. Just remember to tell the store owner why you want the hay, and you should get it a cheaper price.

Tomato Fertilizers-5 Organic Wastes that you can use

2010-12-08T20:35:00.001+02:00

If you are new to growing tomatoes, and would like to grow you tomato plants organically, this article will definitely benefit you. A lot of inexperienced tomato gardener rush out their nearest gardening store to purchase ready-made organic tomato growing soil, but there are a number of other options that you have. Use these 5 organic wastes as tomato fertilizers.

Seaweed fertilizer
This is one of the most common organic fertilizers used in growing tomatoes. Seaweed fertilizers are usually sold as a liquid which you use when you are watering your tomato plants. There are a number of brands to choose from, and most of them work equally well. Depending on the concentration of the product, you may have to use the liquid anywhere from twice to four times a week.

Fish emulsion
This is also a popular type of organic waste to feed your tomatoes with. Fish emulsions can sometimes be bought from a store, but the easiest place to get them is from your fish tank (or your neighbors). This type of fertilizer is rich in nitrogen and will give you huge tomatoes that are super juicy.

Compost tea
This option requires that you put in a little effort, and it takes a few days to make. You need to collect a variety of different organic wastes (like veggie peels) and place them in a composting bin. When the matter starts to decompose, you add it to a large container of water. Stir the mixture thoroughly, and leave the container closed overnight. Do this for about three days, and you will have a nutrient packed organic fertilizer to feed your tomatoes with. Just be sure to use normal water as well, or the soil will become too nutrient rich.

Animal manure
Most gardening stores sell compost that is made primarily from animal manure. I recommend that you purchase it from a store, as opposed to trying to make you own, as it could pose a danger to your health. It is inexpensive to buy animal manure compost, and it will help fill your tomato garden with juicy tomatoes.

So, there you have it. These types of organic tomato fertilizers mentioned will give you some really awesome results. All of them are great for feeding your tomatoes with, and since they are all organic, you can choose any one of them.

How to make organic compost that tomatoes will love, in 12 weeks-composting-part 3

2010-12-06T21:30:00.003+02:00

Hey there tomato gardeners, hope your tomatoes are juicy as ever? This is the third and final part of the series on making organic compost that tomatoes love. In this post, I will sum up how to make our organic compost, and talk about the actual composting process.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the other two parts to this series

How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks- Collecting Organic Material- Part 1

How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks- Shredding and Getting Soil- Part 2

Okay guys, time to make our organic compost.

Firstly, we need to add all of our chopped up materials to the soil. Simply get a large composting bin, and fill it up with the soil that you are going to use. Thorn you add all of the material, and mix it up properly with the soil.

You should leave your compost bin a warm area away from your house. Under a tree in your backyard should be fine. The reasons for this, is that the compost heap will start to smell once it begins to decompose, and the odor and be really strong. By keeping the bin in a warm area, it will speed up the decomposing process.

After you have set up your compost bin, you need to periodically mix up the soil and organic material. With the modern compost bins available, you can simply shake the drum and the soil mixes. If you have the older type however, then you have to put some hard work in. use a large gardening fork, and dig the soil, then twist the fork, while it is in the soil, to mix up the soil.

By aerating your tomato compost, you will allow decay microbes to function at their optimum, thus speeding up the composting process (remember, our aim is to have it ready in 12 about weeks). Aerating the soil also prevents the buildup of gases in the soil, and this is important when you are mixing it in with your gardening soil.

Every few days, add a sprinkling of water to your compost heap. Just enough to dampen the soil, but not too much, or the soil will become waterlogged. The added moisture also helps to speed up the decomposition of the organic matter.

And there you have it folks, your very own, homemade organic tomato compost, that tomatoes will love! Even though it is a long and tiresome process, your tomatoes will benefit, and you in turn, will get some great tomatoes! I hope you enjoyed this series, and that you are now more aware of how to make your own tomato fertilizers.

How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks-Shredding and Getting Soil-Part 2

2009-12-09T15:36:00.009+02:00

Hey again tomato guru’s! Hope the garden is going well. As you already know (well, you probably don’t seeing that I’m the only loyal follower of this blog so far!), yesterday I started off writing a series called How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks, you should read it first if you haven’t as yet. This is part two and in this article I will delve deeper in this topic and lets see how far I can go.

Again, I have not yet completed this series and am writing as it comes to me, so forgive me if the structure is not perfect. I would rather write this article and concentrate on providing solid info as compared to worrying about the technical details. Hope that you feel the same way!

Don’t forget to read part 1 on How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks-Collecting Organic Materials first.

Just to quickly re-cap yesterday, I spoke about what you should use in your tomato gardening compost heap, and what you should not use.

Very briefly:
USE: Leaves, hedge stems, woody twigs and dry branches, tree bark; Grass cuttings and weeds; Old cardboard boxes and newspaper; And the best off all Cut Tomato Plants.

DON’T USE: Any cooked food and dairy products, and human faeces.

Okay then tomato gardeners, shall we get our hands messy? Yes? Great! You should put some gloves on first. You do know why right? To keep germs off your hands off course!Get ready to make organic compost that tomatoes love! I’m done babbling sorry, time to get to work! Lets make some great organic compost that tomato plants will absolutely love. They may even reward you with some great tomatoes! Oh, no I’m babbling again aren’t I…

1) Shredding all of the organic matter into smaller pieces:
Since the aim of this project is to make compost really quickly, we need the matter to decompose as soon as possible. Shredding up all of the branches and twigs will greatly reduce the time that it takes to breakdown and release stored nutrients.

There are two ways of getting the shredding done, and NO, I don’t mean getting someone to do it for you! You could either use a metal shredder that you can purchase from most gardening stores. I’m not really sure about the price of them coz’ I don’t use them. They are however, apparently much more quicker to use and therefore may be great choice for you if you have the money to spend. Also, they cut up the branches into much smaller pieces and this will help it to decompose faster.

The cheaper method is to manually chop up the branches into finer pieces. You can do this by using the side of a spade like a jackhammer. The edges of a spade are usually quite sharp and with some force it will easily rip through a small tree branch. I recommend that you lay the braches and twigs flat on the ground and then start chopping away. You should do this in a vacant piece of garden soil as a miss with the spade could easily damage a concrete floor. Take note though, this method is really hard work!

Now that you have all of your materials in small pieces, we can move onto the next step of making organic compost that tomato plants really love…

2)Getting soil to mix with the rest of the organic matter:
the next thing that you need to get is soil for your compost heap. You can just add all of the organic matter into a compost bin and expect it to decompose! I suggest that you get as much soil as you can (well, a barrel full should be enough. Don’t be a “real” tomato gardener and order a truckload!). I suggest that you get se good quality topsoil, which you can get from most gardening nurseries or even from your own garden. The reason we need top soil is because it will have microbes in it that play a vital role in decomposing the organic matter. Wherever you get the soil from you need to make sure that it doesn’t have Any weeds in it or even any seeds as they will grow and spoil your tomato gardening compost. That’s why I suggest that you get the soil from a nursery, as it will probably not have this problem.

Okay tomatoes, and that’s it for today. No, its not that I’m lazy to write more its just that its human tendency to NOT take action if given too much of information at once. For today you will need to shred up all of your gardening materials and then get some topsoil for your organic tomato compost heap.

Tomorrow I will try to close up this series on How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks. now that you have collected the materials and are going to cut it up, all that’s left is to actually make the compost. That’s the fun part and also the easy part! I’m going to tell you about a way that will allow your organic matter to decompose as quick as possible.

I hope that you are enjoying this series so far? Am I doing this blogging thingy right? Do I need to provide more info? Should I have just turned this whole series into one Long article (around 2500 words)? Please give me some feed back tomato gardeners, I really Do want to provide solid info that benefits all of you guys! Chat tomorrow guys, don’t forget to water the tomatoes!

Check out the final part of this series, How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes will Love, in 12 weeks-composting-part 3

How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks-Collecting Organic Materials-Part 1

2009-12-08T13:52:00.007+02:00

Hey all you tomato gardening fanatics, how’s the tomatoes growing? Well, if they look a bit down and dreary rest assured you can help! I wrote this article to walk you through the steps that you need to take to make your own tomato gardening compost that your favorite plants will just love. The best part of this all? You can have your organic, and nutrient rich tomato growing compost ready in as little as twelve (yes, 12) weeks. Never again will you have to worry about your tomatoes being well nourished, and producing poor crops.

This article will probably span out into two or three parts, I’m not sure because I want to write as it flows. In this part (part one) of the series, “How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks” I will tell you about the types of materials that you can use in your tomato heap and will also tell you what you should not use.

The thing that I really like about making my tomato gardening compost compared with buying it is that you get to control what goes into the heap and what stays out. If you don’t want to add something to your compost heap, no problem, its totally up to you!

Another great thing about making your own organic gardening compost for tomato plants is that it saves money, a lot of it! Now every body wants to save a buck or two, or maybe even three or four, so why not try making your own tomato planting compost before you rush out to buy it.

Lets start off by looking at what you COULD use in your organic tomato heap:
- Grass cuttings and weeds. You’ve heard it before but its so true! But, what you probably haven’t heard is that they are nitrogen rich and will do a world of wonders for your tomatoes. You have to have grass cuttings in a compost heap for this process to work, and honestly I don’t see any excuses you as to why you can’t get any. You could mow your lawn, or better yet mow the neighbors’ lawn! You’ll get grass for your garden and a thumbs up from the neighbor’s, it’s a win-win situation really. Wherever you get it from, just make sure you have some for your tomato-composting heap.

- Leaves, woody branches and twigs, hedge prunings (like rose stems), and even tree bark. These contain carbon and are essential for the healthy growth of your tomato plants. However, since they decompose super slowly, you need to keep them to a minimum if you want your tomato gardening compost to be ready in twelve weeks.

- Cardboard, newspaper, and egg cartons. This is one of the simplest types of materials you can find and will work well in a tomato compost heap. The reason being is that they decompose fairly quickly and they are environmentally friendly so that makes them pretty cool to use for

tomato gardening. A note here: Don’t use any thing that has to much of color on it, as the color ink is not so environmentally friendly. Also, shy away from the glossy types they take much longer to decompose.

- Old tomato plants themselves- The Granddaddy of compost material for growing tomatoes in. did you know that old tomato vines are one of THE BEST materials that you could use in a compost heap for tomatoes? Well, its true! Tomatoes just love growing from the nutrients provided by decomposing tomato plants, I don’t know why, but they do. To use tomato vines for a compost heap, you need to first shred the vines up into smaller pieces so that they can decompose faster and be ready for the tomato gardening in around twelve weeks.

Now, let us go on to the material that you should not use for your tomato garden, I’m just going to list them very briefly as there is much to say except, DON’T USE THEM. They are: Meat (raw or cooked); dairy products like milk etc.; cooked food fruit or vegetables included; dog or human faeces (you’d be surprised at how many people think that you can, but you CAN’T); and anything inorganic like plastic, glass etc.

That’s’ it for this article folks, now its your turn to get involved. How about we set a challenge for today. Try to gather as many and much of the things that you are going to be using for your tomato compost heap today, and tomorrow we will go into how to use them. Get some grass cutting, leaves anything that will be going into your tomato gardening compost heap, and you can put them into a plastic bag for now, or a compost bin if you have one. But, before you do that, why not tell me what You think should go into our tomato gardening compost heap? I’d be glad to et your opinions in the comments section. Oh, and check back tomorrow for part two of this series in making organic compost that tomatoes will love.

Read part 2 of: How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks-Shredding and Getting Soil.

Or, check out part 3: How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes will Love, in 12 weeks-composting-part 3

Growing Tomatoes In a Tire-Its Fun, Easy and Interesting

2009-12-07T16:20:00.000+02:00

If you live in a climate that is warm but dry, and often experiences frost-growing tomatoes in a tire is for you! This is a simple method of gardening that allows you to grow large, round, juicy and tasty tomatoes without having to spend a lot of money or time. Also, it works well when conditions are not so favorable to tomato plants like wind and heavy rain. You will soon be able to overcome these problems however by growing tomatoes in a tire.

It’s really simple to start growing tomatoes in a tire and its very inexpensive. I will go through the steps that you need to follow when you are using this style of tomato gardening. If you want to grow great tomatoes all the time, then this technique will suite you quite nicely.

First let me explain exactly what I mean when I talk about growing tomatoes in a tire. It basically requires you to place old tires around some organic, nutrient rich compost and then planting your tomato plants in the compost. The tire surrounding the plants acts as a barrier to the elements.

To start growing tomatoes in a tire, you need to gather up a few old and large tires (which you can get for free if you politely ask the guy at your local service station). Depending on how many tomato plants you are growing, you will need two tires for each plant. The larger the tire, the better for your tomatoes, and it also enables you to grow up to three tomato plants per tire.

The process of growing tomatoes in a tire is really a simple one. First, you need to add some compost to a small area (just a little larger than the circumference of the tire) of ground and mix it in thoroughly. Then you need to place the tire onto the ground and slightly push it into the ground so that it stays firmly in place.

You will now need to plant your tomato seeds in the compost. The depth of planting will be the same as regular tomato gardening so I will not go into detail here. If you chose a tire that is fairly large, then you will be able to comfortably plant about three tomato plants.

After you have sown the seeds in to the ground, you will need to fill some water into the sides of the tire. On almost all tires, there is a sight “trough” around the inner part of the tire. You need to fill this part up to the brim with water, but don’t let it overflow as it will make the soil soggy.

Now, you will need to cover the top of the tire with a plastic bag/ sheet. I suggest that you use clear plastic so as not to interfere with the tomato plants ability to absorb the radiant energy from the sun and produce large sweet tomatoes. You just need to pull the plastic sheet over the top of the tire and then you can pin the overlapping sides into the ground. You have to make sure that no moisture can enter the tire so and no heat can escape.

The plastic over the tire creates a warm moist environment for the tomatoes to thrive in. during the day; the tire will absorb the heat energy off the sun therefore warming up the air in the tire. The water will also warm up. At night, the warm water will cool slower than the surrounding air (this is because water is transparent and stationary unlike land which is opaque which only allows the top layer to be warmed) and will therefore keep the tomato plants warmer for longer.

Once your tomato plants start growing and blossoming, its time to remove the plastic so that the plant can get fresh air and produce healthy tomatoes. You can still leave the tires around the tomato plants if you want, as they will continue to protect the tomatoes form the elements and possible damage.

There now, its not that difficult to start growing tomatoes in a tire is it? If you follow my advice, you will surely be able to grow great tomatoes all of the time and enjoy having a tasty and nutritious snack available at any time that you or your family desires, or I Could Follow Your Advice, Do You Have any Ideas/ Tips to Share. What’s you experience with growing tomatoes in a tire?

Fertilizer For Tomato Gardening-Make Your Own Or Buy It

2009-11-14T16:58:00.000+02:00

If you have or are planning on starting a tomato garden, then you will know that you have to choose the correct fertilizer for tomatoes to ensure that your plants will grow healthily and disease free. Many people make the mistake of not deciding on which type of fertilizer they will use beforehand and as a result often end up with a bad crop.

There are two main options when it comes to fertilizer for tomatoes, and in this article I will discuss them both so that you have the necessary information to make the right choices when you are ready to use fertilizer for tomatoes. Below, I will provide my opinions on making your own fertilizer for tomatoes and buying it.

1) Making your own fertilizer for tomatoes, its hard work but its super fun!
This option is the cheapest method and is therefore a popular choice amongst many tomato gardeners. Like the name suggests, you simply make you own fertilizer for tomatoes instead of buying it. There is a wide variety of materials that you can use to make fertilizers for tomatoes, and some of the LESS COMMON options are to use horse manure, egg shells, bon meal and even worm castings. Each of the types of organic compost come with their own pros and cons and I would like to write a few posts in the future about how to use the different types. If you have any experience with any of these types or others, please feel free to share them in the comments section.

The biggest advantage of making your own organic fertilizers is that you can save a lot of money. The disadvantage however, is that it can be fairly hard work to consistently make the compost so that you can regularly add them to your tomato garden. If you plan on making your own, you will probably have to dedicate entire days just to do it. If you have enough time, and the will to do it, then making your own fertilizer for tomatoes is a great idea.

2) Purchasing the fertilizer, the easy way out if you don’t have the time and can afford it
This option is a better one if you do have the money to spend, and would prefer not to go through the tiresome process of making your own tomato gardening fertilizers. Note however, most of the compost that you can buy is not organic so you will be causing the environment harm and the fertilizer for tomatoes may have been made using harmful stuff. But, there are quite a few fertilizers for tomatoes that are organic and this is a much better choice. You will be paying a higher price though, but I believe that its worth the extra buck.

As you can see, the comparison that I have made above is not an in-depth one between buying and making your own tomato gardening fertilizers. It is however, the most important things that you need to consider, as it will have an impact on your garden and gardening later on. Do You Buy Fertilizers For Your Tomato Garden, Or Do You Make Your Own?

Growing Tomatoes Indoors-The Good, The Bad, and The Tasty

2009-09-15T11:16:00.000+02:00

There are many pros and cons of growing tomatoes indoors and in this article I will provide you with some of the main things that you need to consider. I personally enjoy the idea of growing them inside as you can watch them grow and its quite interesting to watch how they ripen, slowly but surely.

Firstly, whether you grow tomatoes indoors or outside, they are great plants, fairly easy to grow and provide you with some DELICIOUS fruit. However, since this article is about growing tomatoes indoors I will not go into detail about other gardening styles here.

The advantages and disadvantages that I have listed are just the basics things that you need to consider when you are growing tomatoes indoors.

1) Advantages of growing tomatoes indoors:
- It is easier to maintain, as you will be working with a smaller area. This means that there is less hard work involved and you will not need as much time to tend to you tomato plants.
- You can decide whether or not you enjoy it. Growing tomatoes indoors means that you can try it out for the first time just to see if you like it or not (although I am pretty sure that you will!). If you don’t enjoy it, then you would not have wasted a lot of money, time and effort into it.
- Requires minimal space. A major reason that many people are growing tomatoes indoors is because it doesn't require too much of space. In fact, you can grow quite a great tomato garden from your own kitchen!

2) Disadvantages of growing tomatoes indoors:
- Space is limited. Unless you have a huge kitchen, growing tomatoes indoors will mean that you are only able to grow one or maybe two trees. This is not necessarily a problem though, as one healthy plant will produce many tomatoes.
- You need the right conditions in your home (sunlight). You will have to place your tomatoes planting pots in a place where they will receive adequate sunshine and warmth. The best place may just be on your windowsill.
- Not much exercise. A lot of people engage in gardening as a form of exercise and relaxation. When growing tomatoes indoors however, you are not going to be doing much hard work and will be inside, defeating the relaxation purpose.

More often than not, most people start of growing tomatoes inside as its much easier to do and allows one to gain experience. As you get better at tomato gardening, you can confidently take on the challenges that come with regular outdoor tomato gardening, challenges that are both fun and interesting.

Planting Tomato Plants-3 Tips to Help you Grow Better Tomatoes

2009-08-28T11:18:00.000+02:00

In this article, I will give you some information on how to start planting tomato plants. I will go through the soil requirements, and provide some tips/ advice on planting tomato plants that are healthy. Tomatoes have been a long time favorite to many gardeners, and many of them have actually started gardening by planting tomato plants.

The points listed below is just some basic information that you should consider before you start planting tomato plants.

1) Indoors or outside:
You have two choices before you start planting tomato plants and those are to have your garden either outdoors or inside.

If you choose to plant outside, then you will have to put in more work, as there will be a larger area to cover. You will however, be able to grow a variety of different types of tomatoes. This is a good idea, as you will have a wide variety of choices on which tomatoes to use on any particular day.

Planting tomato plants indoors will limit you on space, but there is much less work involved and you can control the conditions in which your tomatoes are growing. This means that a bad spell of weather won't be able to wipe out all of your hard work.

2) Planting tomato plants Organically- or not:
You can either use organic compost and soil or you can use regular soil when planting tomato plants. Regular soil may be cheaper, but there you may be growing your tomatoes with harmful chemicals. These chemicals may harm the ground in which they are used, and how safe do you think they are for the tomatoes that YOU are going to eat? I certainly don’t like taking those kinds of chances!

If you are going to buying organic compost, then you will need to spend quite a bit of money. There is another option however, and that is to make you own organic fertilizer for tomatoes. If you are planting your tomato plants in this soil, you are pretty much certain to get tomatoes that are healthy and full of nutritious goodness.

3) Best season:
If you are planting your tomato plants outside, then you will need to take this factor into major consideration. If your growing tomatoes indoors, then this won’t be as much of a problem. Probably the best time to start planting tomato plants is mid spring. The temperatures are starting to warm at this of year and the tomatoes should start growing by and ripening towards the end of summer. Although many people will argue on the best time to start growing tomatoes, I would say that mid-spring is a fairly safe option.

Planting tomato plants are great fun and they provide us with some tasty fruits. It is however essential to research the specific type of tomato that you want to grow and the best time to grow them in your area. I hope that the information in this article will help you when you are ready to start planting tomato plants. But first, share you experience with growing tomatoes in the comments sections, I’m interested to hear your opinions.

Watering Tomato Plants-A Few Things You Need to Know

2009-08-19T11:04:00.000+02:00

How often you should be watering your tomato plants has been a topic that is constantly being debated. In this article, I will provide you with the method that I use when watering tomato plants. I have had success with this method more often than not, so I hope that it will be able to help you too.

There are two main things to consider when deciding on when you should be watering your tomato plants and I have discussed them below.

1) Temperature:
This factor goes hand in hand with the season. During summer, you will need to be watering your tomato plant around every two days. This is because the sun will dry up the soil fairly quickly and your tomatoes will start to wither and wont produce healthy fruit. This rule is not set in stone however, and there are times when you will need to water your plants twice a day and times when you don’t have to water for a week.

Natural rainfall is a great example of this. Its nature's way of watering tomato plants, and if there is enough rain then you wont have to manually water your garden. Also, its a better idea if you water your tomatoes early in the morning during mid summer and maybe around mid-day during the cooler months. The reason for watering your tomato plants early is so that they can absorb the water and stay hydrated. Also, there is less evaporation taking place in the morning so your plants can absorb the most amount of water. It’s usually fine to water around midday during the cool months however.

2) Indoor or Outdoor Tomatoes?
If you are growing tomatoes indoors, then you will only have to water your tomatoes every third or fourth day as the soil remains most for a longer period of time. If you are growing tomatoes outside, then you will need to follow the information that I provide under "temperature". If your home is very warm inside however, then you may need to be watering your tomato plants more often. Also, keep your tomatoes in a place that has enough sunshine if you are planting tomato plants inside.

Whether you are growing tomatoes in containers or outside, when you are watering tomato plants you should soak the soil thoroughly. If in a container, then water until the water starts to seep out the drainage holes at the bottom of the container. If in a normal container, then add, as much water as you think is required to soak the ground right to the roots.

I hope that the information above helps you in making the rights choices as to watering tomato plants. The tips above are ones that I use, and they work quite well most of the time. However, there may be a few things that you need to do differently when watering tomato plants, depending on your climate. How often do you water you tomatoes? What time of day do you water them? Feel free to share your tips in the comments section and I’m looking forward to learning what YOU do.

Organic Tomato Gardening-3 Three Things You Must Know

2009-08-08T11:15:00.001+02:00

If you are considering organic tomato gardening, then this article may just have the information that you need! Whether you are new to gardening or are an old timer who wants to conserve the environment, organic tomato gardening is a simple way of providing healthy and nutritious tomatoes right from your own back yard! In this article, I will provide you with three things you need to consider before starting organic tomato gardening.

1) Indoors or outdoors:
You have two choices when doing organic tomato gardening, and those are having your tomato plants inside or having them outdoors. I will quickly go over the pros and cons of each option, and allow you to decide on which method to use.

Indoor organic tomato gardening will mean that you need to plant your tomatoes in a container. This will limit the space that you have. The biggest advantage of this option however, is that you will be able to easily add compost to the soil and its not hard work to maintain.

Outdoor gardening gives you the option of growing many tomato plants at a time. This is sometimes better as there is a higher chance that at least one of your trees will grow healthy and produce great tomatoes. It is however, harder to maintain and control so you must have quite a bit of time to devote towards your garden.

2) Type of tomatoes:
When you are doing organic tomato gardening you can quite easily grow either cherry tomatoes or large tomatoes. Both of them will grow healthy and be nutrient packed, as you will be using natural and healthy soil. Whichever type of tomato you choose to grow can be made according to what you want to do with the tomatoes. Generally, growing cherry tomatoes adds a nice color to your garden, while the organic tomato gardening of larger tomatoes will provide you with fruit (you did know that tomatoes are considered as fruits and not veggies?) that can be used in the kitchen.

3) Budget:
Your budget will play a large role on your organic tomato gardening endeavors, so you will need to plan wisely so as to make the most of it. Now, unless you are planning on spending a wheelbarrow full of cash you cannot just rush out and buy everything that even mentions tomato gardening on it! The most important investment that you will make will be in buy organic tomato seeds. This is usually a once of investment however, as you can use the seeds of the tomatoes that you grow. You can even make your own compost from home (a much cheaper idea if you are doing organic tomato gardening).

The three things that I have outlined above should be given some thought if you are going to start organic tomato gardening. I feel that this method of growing your own veggies is great as you can have fun, save money and also save the environment. What Do You Think About Organic Tomato Gardening, Have You Tried It?

About This Blog

2009-08-08T11:01:00.005+02:00

Hey Dudes and Dudetts (males and females…)! I’m The Tomato Dude, and do I love tomato gardening! I really enjoy getting out there in the garden and playing with sod, Don’t you? What’s more fun than rolling around in a mass of compost, or jumping face first into the compost bin!

I created http://planting-tomato-plants.blogspot.com (this blog) as a place to share my tips and experience with other tomato gardeners in the hopes that I will teach and learn at the same time. Writing about tomato gardening is a fun pastime to me and I would love to share my knowledge with all you Tomatoes (please don’t get offended, okay I’m sorry!), so get ready to be informed!

My aim for this blog is to turn it into a tomato gardening community in which we can all share our experiences, knowledge, questions, answers, tips, successes and even failures! I would love it if YOU joined OUR community! Please feel free to jump right in, the compost heap is in the back yard :)

I suggest that you follow me on Twitter, subscribe to my RSS feed and become a regular commenter on Our blog. Share your ideas and the rest of us would be glad!

I hope that this blog helps you to grow better tomatoes as that’s my goal, for YOU and ME both to grow great tomatoes every time. I believe that we can do it! How about you?

Disclaimer For This Blog

2009-08-08T11:00:00.001+02:00

planting-tomato-plants.blogspot.com is a blog created for the purpose of providing information about tomato gardening, tomato gardening tips, tomato gardening information, tomato gardening equipment, tomato gardening tools, tomato gardening methods etc. The expressions and views in this blog are solely of the owner’s/author’s/ bloger’s opinion and therefore the accuracy and completeness of the information cannot be guaranteed.

The author will not be held liable for any loss or damages to you directly or indirectly as a result of you use of the information provided in this blog.

I hope that you will succeed in growing tomatoes. Tomato gardening is really a great pastime and can provide you with no only exercise, but also a tasty fresh snack. I really enjoy tomato gardening and I know that you will too.

Whether you are new to tomato gardening or are already taking part in this great hobby, I’m sure that this blog will teach you something new. I hope that the information in this blog is not only interesting but also informative to you.

Privacy Policy For This Blog

2009-08-08T10:56:00.006+02:00

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