5 Quick Tips for Planting Tomatoes

Image: Jolly Janner 

Before heading out to plant your tomatoes, pick a spot in the garden that receives full sun, a good 6-8 hours a day, and one that has fertile, well-draining soil. Then, set your seedlings up for success by following these 5 tips for planting tomatoes.

Tip #1: Pinch off Bottom Leaves of Tomatoes

Pinching of the bottom most leaves of tomato plants encourages them to grow bushy and full rather than tall and thin. Pinch off only the bottom leaves, leaving the true leaves intact. True leaves are those that are main branches and have two to three sets of leaves per branch already.

Tip #2: Sprinkle the Ground with Egg Shells

In the weeks leading up to planting time, save your egg shells. Crush them up and sprinkle them in the holes in which you’ll be planting your tomatoes. Egg shells give the soil a boost of calcium, something your tomatoes will be thankful for. Make sure the shells are clean and crush them up before sprinkling them.

Tip #3: Size and Depth of Planting Holes

Holes should be twice as wide as the root ball of tomato seedlings and deep enough to plant tomatoes up to their first set of true leaves. Planting tomatoes at this depth gives them the support they need as they grow tall and wide, helping to keep their roots anchored.

Tip #4: Gently Loosen Root Ball of Tomato Seedlings

Gently loosen the root balls of tomato seedlings to entice the roots to spread out and anchor themselves once they’ve become established. It’s okay if some of the roots break. Loosen the ball about 3/4 of the way up, leaving the top of the ball intact.

Tip #5: Cage Tomatoes from the Start

After planting tomato seedlings, cage them right away. Doing this from the start is much easier than trying to slip a tomato cage over a mid to full-size plant and it’s many branches and leaves. You can also make your own support systems out of garden stakes and twine. 

Do you have any tips to share about planting tomatoes?

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Gibby's Garden Diary Entry #4: Hardening Off Tomato Plants

May 22, 2013

Over the weekend, I went to my favorite local garden nursery and snapped up a bunch of tomato plants. Though I won’t be planting them for another week or so, I wanted to make sure I got the varieties I wanted this year. Last year, by the time I got around to buying my tomato plants, they were practically sold out of the varieties I wanted and I didn’t get any sauce tomatoes.

This year I plan on canning my own tomato sauce so I went a little overboard on the tomato plants. For sauce tomatoes I choose “Vita Italia” and “Roma.” I also picked up a couple of “Beefmaster” plants for slicing as well as a couple of cherry tomatoes for snacking.

The tomato plants I bought were still nestled in a nice, warm greenhouse so I need to harden them off a bit before planting them in the ground. I left them outdoors on Sunday for a good 4 hours after bringing them home and continue to do so while bringing them in at night.

I plan on leaving them outdoors during the day for 4 hours at a time for the rest of the week. Come the weekend I’ll start leaving them out for 6-8 hours depending on the weather. I keep them in a semi sunny spot and out of the wind. When I’m ready to plant, my tomatoes will be hardened off and not shocked by the outside temperatures.

The funny thing is, I don’t even like tomatoes unless they come in sauce or ketchup form, but the rest of my family loves them so I always make sure to plant plenty.

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