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10 Steps to Growing Tomatoes for a Bountiful Harvest

It is Labour weekend here in Aotearoa and as is tradition, that makes it tomato planting time. I’ve been growing tomatoes in my kitchen garden for over twenty years now, and I also learnt a fair bit about them in a four year stint working at a tomato farm here in Karamea. Although tomatoes are one of the easier summer crops to grow, there are a few things you want to get right to make sure they get off to the best start in life. So here are my 10 steps to growing tomatoes for a bountiful harvest. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or tips to add!

Heirloom tomatoes sitting on a rustic table

1. HARDEN them off

If you are planting your tomatoes in a different environment to where they have been raised, you will need to harden them off. This first step is often overlooked, but it could be the difference between happy, healthy seedlings or plants that sulk and make slow growth. Chances are, if your tomatoes have come from a garden centre, they have been raised in ideal conditions complete with temperature control and round the clock attention. Your newly bought plants will need time to get used to the environment you are offering them before they get transplanted, so they aren’t having to deal with both environmental change AND transplant shock. If you have reared your tomatoes from seed you sowed yourself, they still will need to adapt to the site you are planting them in. To harden tomatoes off, simply place them in the area you intend to plant them for a week or so before transplanting.


2. NOURISH the soil

While you are waiting for your plants to harden off, the next step is to prepare the ground you will be planting them into. Tomatoes prefer a light sandy loam that warms up quickly and has had plenty of broken down organic matter added to it. They also require good drainage ~ cold sodden ground that retains too much water is a tomatoes worse enemy! Sheep pellets, well rotted manure, organic compost, blood and bone, and worm castings are all beneficial additives that will nourish the plants as well as help to lift the structure of the soil. Don’t dig it in too deep ~ just shovel it on top of the garden then lightly work it into the top layer of soil using a twisting motion with a garden fork. If you have heavy soil, the more organic goodness you can put in before planting the better.


3. ADD milk powder to the planting hole ~ yes, milk powder!

Although step three is slightly unconventional, it really will improve the condition of your fruit. Adding calcium to the planting hole helps to feed the plants, as well as being a preventative measure to help avoid blossom end rot. Add 1 heaped teaspoon to the bottom of each planting hole, and once plants are established sprinkle sparingly to the top of the soil a couple of times throughout the growing season. If you have already planted your tomatoes you can still add milk powder now ~ just sprinkle 1 teaspoon around the drip line. Do this prior to mulching so you don’t encourage curious creatures.


4. PLANT deep

As a rule, I always plant my tomatoes right up to their bottom leaves, burying the stem underneath. If the bottom leaves are looking a bit manky and the plant is tall enough, I sometimes remove those leaves and bury even deeper. The reason for this step is simple and logical ~ once the stem is buried it will grow feeder roots, which will in turn nourish the plant; the more feeder roots, the better the plant can sustain itself. Planting deep also aids with stability.


5. SUPPORT your plants

This step should be done straight after planting, so you aren’t trying to poke stakes or wire loops into the ground once the plants have lots of roots to damage. For our undercover tomatoes, we use strings which hang from horizontal runs of wire overhead. We gently twist the vines around the strings as they grow. This is a system I learnt from a tomato farm I once worked at, but if you don’t feel confident twisting the tomatoes, you could clip or tie them to the string instead. The string is held into the ground by wire U-shaped loops. Just wind the hanging string around the loop a few times, or tie it on, then push the loop into the soil next to the plant. Tomatoes also grow well inside teepees, along trellis, or, if you are growing rows of plants, you can build a criss-cross bamboo structure similar to how you would for beans.


6. WATER with intention

Watering needs will change over the course of a tomatoes life, so it is important to water with intention, rather than as an afterthought. In the early days when the plant is still young, seedlings benefit from thorough watering every few days, but don’t overdo it, and certainly DON’T water little and often ~ tomatoes respond much better to drying out ever so slightly between soakings. Always try to avoid wetting the tomatoes foliage, as excess water on leaves and flowers will prevent pollination, encourage mildew and cause disease, so make sure you use a hose or watering can rather than a sprinkler. As the plant grows, you will need to water less often but much deeper. A good test to know when to water is to push your finger into the soil. If it feels dry as far down as you can reach, it is (just) time to water. Once your fruit begins to ripen, you want to reduce watering even more ~ by midsummer I’m only watering my plants about every 7-10 days at the most, which helps to give me sweet tasty fruit.


7. COMPANION PLANT with herbs & marigolds

Tomato plants LOVE the company of friends, and their best friends are soft herbs like basil, coriander and dill, and flowers ~ especially marigolds. Of course having your basil growing right next to your tomatoes is also quite handy, being that they go hand in hand in the kitchen. Marigold flowers attract hoverflies, parasitic wasps and other insects to your garden which helps to control aphids, while their roots release chemicals that repel the hatching of root knot nematodes, a parasitic pest that can be detrimental to tomatoes. We also grow strawberries along the northern edges of the tomato rows where they act as a ground cover.


8. POLLINATE like a bumble bee

Another step that can get overlooked or put into the “too hard” basket is pollination, but trust me when I say that this is so simple it will become second nature, and it really will increase your harvests. Tomato flowers are pollinated by the frantic fluttering of bumble bee wings as they fly close by. This vibrates the pollen loose from the stamen, which is the male part of the flower, to the stigma, the female part of the flower. If bumble bees are scarce, a simple way to replicate this action is by alternating your fingers in a quick up and down motion on the tops of the open flowers. Buzzing is optional :) You want to do this in the middle of the day when it is hot and dry ~ tomato flowers usually release their pollen between 11am and 3pm, so use this timeframe as a guide. Make sure the flowers are dry as this will aid pollination; another reason to avoid wetting the tomato foliage. As you pollinate you may see plumes of yellow pollen puff out of the flowers – this is a good sign and means you are on the right track.


9. PRUNE your tomatoes

Old bottom leaves (plus any that are shading fruit), spent trusses, misshapen fruit and some laterals should all be regularly pruned off your tomato plants while they are growing to direct energy into fruit production and increase airflow around the plants. A good pruning regime also minimises whitefly and aphids, and generally improves overall plant health. I used to diligently prune every lateral off and train each plant to a single stem, but these days I am a bit more forgiving, leaving some laterals on to train up extra strings. Although there is a mixed school of belief about the benefits of lateral pruning, I find that taking most of them off encourages fruit swell, helps with airflow and light, and gives the plants more structure.


10. HARVEST early

The last step I take for a bountiful tomato harvest is to pick the fruit BEFORE it is fully ripe. Doing this will promote more tomatoes on the vine to ripen, which is especially important at the beginning of the season when the plants are just getting started. It will also ease the load; your plant will instantly begin ripening the next fruit in line, as well produce more flowers followed by further fruit set, resulting in more tomatoes in the long run. There is a misconception that early harvesting will affect the overall flavour of the fruit, and that is true of fruit that comes from commercial tomato farms, where it is harvested with just a blush of red, then kept in cool dark conditions until sale. But if you allow your tomatoes to half ripen on the vine before placing them in a warm place such as a sunny windowsill, they will go on to be just as juicy and sweet as if they were kept on the vine.  


A young tomato plant growing in a greenhouse with laterals that need pruning
This young plant has laterals that could be pruned off - I would take the bottom laterals off and leave the top ones

Tomatoes growing with companion plants marigold and basil
These tomatoes are underplanted with basil and marigolds

Summer harvest basket with tomatoes, green beans, courgettes
The tomatoes pictured here are Black Krim and Costoluto Fiorentino



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"In this time of fast foods and instant gratification, when even some health foods are highly processed, we could all benefit from taking the time to bridge the gap between the kitchen and the garden, so we can better nourish ourselves and our families."~ Aby  

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