Growing Perfect Tomatoes

By: Lynn Ocone (Page 1 of 8)

Rob Cardillo

"There's only two things money can't buy. That's true love and homegrown tomatoes," wrote singer-songwriter Guy Clark. Those of you who have tasted a lip-smackingly ripe tomato fresh from the vine will agree with Clark.

Rob Cardillo

Tomato sizes range from grape and cherry to truly giant. Literally hundreds of varieties are available through seed catalogs and nurseries

Walter Chandoha

'Early Cascade' bears ripe fruit just 55 days after transplanting. Here, a single stake supports the tall vine, which is attached loosely with twine.

Walter Chandoha

There are many types of tomato supports, including homemade bamboo tepees (above), stakes with string guides (below left) and space-saving tomato spirals (below right), which cost about $4.50 each

Neil Soderstrom

Healthy homegrown seedlings with deep roots, bushy tops and no flowers or fruit are ready to plant. Plant tomato seedlings deep with soil up to the first set of leaves, as indicated here by the cultivator.

Rob Cardillo

BLOSSOM-END ROT results from wide fluctuations in soil moisture and calcium deficiency in the plant.

Rob Cardillo

Minimize growth cracks by planting resistant varieties, and keep soil moisture uniform as fruits develop.

Walter Chandoha

A doomed tomato hornworm carries white cocoons of braconid wasps that will parasitize and ultimately kill it.

Browse Images

Browse Yard & Garden Tools Galleries:

View All

How-To Video

Browse More

How to Test Soil

In this how-to video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook discusses the benefits of testing soil

Watch The Video

On Newsstands Now

In the Magazine

Easy Upgrades That Say Welcome Home

What You'll Learn:

Tomatoes are the most popular crop for backyard gardens—about 90 percent of vegetable gardeners grow them. Even folks who don't have vegetable gardens grow tomatoes. A half-dozen plants thriving in pots on a sunny deck can supply a family of four with a summer of good eating. Follow these gardening guidelines for your best crop yet.

Picking the Right Type
There are countless varieties of tomatoes available, each of which differs from the others in taste, the size, shape and ripening time of the fruit, as well as in the plant's disease resistance.

To get an idea of what's out there, check out print and online seed catalogs. Two good sources are Totally Tomatoes and Tomato Growers Supply Company; both feature hundreds of varieties. Local nurseries offer an ever-expanding array of tomatoes. You'll find the newest disease-resistant hybrids alongside some of the old-fashioned favorites, such as 'Brandywine', prized for luscious taste.

When deciding what to grow, choose varieties proven to perform well in your area. Talk to neighbors and check with your extension service to learn the local favorites. And, if you're a novice grower, choose at least a few varieties designated as All-America Selections winners. This nonprofit group tests new varieties all across the country and awards only those with outstanding growth and flavor. Their logo appears with plant descriptions in most catalogs.

It's always a good idea to experiment with a few plants of several varieties to determine the ideal tomatoes for your garden and taste buds. What's more, growing different varieties is an insurance policy of sorts -- a disease that strikes one variety might not harm the others. These are the qualities to consider when selecting tomatoes for your garden. Growth forms. Tomatoes are classified as either determinate or indeterminate. Determinate, or bush, varieties grow to a set height (from 18 to 36 in.) and then form tomatoes at the ends of their branches. All fruits ripen during a concentrated period, usually within four to six weeks -- good if you cook vats of tomato sauce. These plants don't necessarily need staking, and the true dwarf varieties among them, such as 'Patio' and 'Tiny Tim', fit perfectly in pots.