How to Grow the Best Tomatoes

If there is one thing that captures summer it's a big juicy vine ripened tomato. The best tomatoes are juicy, sweet and tender; the more concentrated the flavor the better. In order to grow the best tomatoes yourself there are some things you must do when planting your tomato seedlings.

With good planning, growing your own tomatoes is easy and you will have a bountiful harvest that you can enjoy and be proud of at the end of the season. Here are some tips to help you grow the best tomatoes.

Deep Roots

The best tomatoes have a good and deep root system. In fact you do not want to do a lot of surface watering for tomatoes, instead you want to make sure the soil where your tomato plants will be growing is well worked so that the root system is able to spread out and establish itself.

Make sure you dig deep when planting, start with a hole that is a foot deep and add a healthy shovelful of compost to the bottom of the hole. Place your seedling in the hole and fill in with a mixture of compost and soil. Bury the tomato plant up to the first set of leaves that branch off the main stem.

By making sure that your tomato plants establish a deep root system you are ensuring that the tomatoes do not retain too much water, resulting in the loss of flavor. Another benefit of encouraging your plants to get their water from further below ground is that it limits the chance of mildew and disease killing the plant.

A little tip: When I am worried about there being enough water in the heat of summer I have a pre-planned deep watering system set up for my tomato plants. When I plant my seedling I bury a washed out milk gallon, that has holes pricked into the bottom and sides, in between my plants. If it has been dry or I am going on vacation I fill all the milk gallons with water and they slowly let water out into the soil underground.

Choosing Seedlings

One of the most important parts of ensuring that you grow the best tomatoes is choosing the right seedlings. Healthy seedlings are the best way to ensure that your tomato plants will grow to be productive and healthy.

When looking for seedlings to take home don't rush to get the biggest and tallest plants in the nursery, bigger is not always necessarily better. Look for seedlings that are compact instead of taller plants with lots of space between branches. Also check the root systen to make sure that it is well developed. A seedling that has a compact body and well developed root system will grow faster and be able to bear fruit better than tall spindly plants.

Smart Planting

As I already explained earlier, making sure that the hole dug for planting is deep enough is extremely important in guaranteeing that your tomato plant will be productive. There are a couple other things besides the depth of the hole that need to be taken into consideration as well.

Before planting your tomato seedlings remove the lowest set of branches with pruners. This way more roots are encouraged to grow from the stem establishing a larger root system.

When you have finished planting your tomatoes you will need to provide some support for the future growth of the plant. Add a tomato cage around the plant or a trellis that it can lean against.

Use these simple tips for proper planting and you will be enjoying your own tomatoes this summer.