Choose your own adventure and grow summer’s finest at home
A house is not a home until a tomato is grown.
The versatile fruit is a garden staple. It is also a frequent cause of anxiety for inexperienced growers. Online advice insists on the necessity of open spaces and endless sun, and engages in complex debates about potting and pruning.
The truth is simpler. Tomatoes will sprout and thrive nearly anywhere, including outdoor spaces such as patios, porches, and decks that might at first seem too shady or small.
Location
Any spot with a view to the north sky will be the best choice, ensuring the maximum amount of sun in the middle of the growing season. Place the pot away from walls and any other object that might cast an early shadow. A bit of midday or afternoon shade can be a benefit, especially here in the South where the hottest mid-summer days are hard on tomatoes.
Easy: Place tomatoes close to where other flowering plants grow well. Adjust based on trial and error.
Elevated: Keep track of sun in the yard for a year, noting the position and the total hours of light (including full and partial). Use the data and observations to choose the optimal spot.
Tomato selection begins as a binary choice–determinate (bush) or indeterminate (vine). Some tomato plants grow to a specific size and deliver a concentrated harvest. Others grow to whatever size conditions allow and produce consistently over a long season. Within these two types are thousands of varieties producing fruit of all colors and sizes.
Easy: First-timers will find success with a determinate, cherry-sized variety purchased as a robust seedling from a local garden store.
Elevated: Select seeds of a curious and impressive heirloom variety, starting them indoors about six weeks prior to the last freeze. Gift conversation-piece tomatoes to friends and family all summer and fall.
Pot and soil
A common error is using a pot or planter that is too small. Use a container that will hold at least five gallons of garden soil per tomato–just less than a cubic foot. Plant the seedling as deep as possible, burying all but the top branches and the crown (it is typically best to snip off any branches that will be below the soil). Tomatoes will grow more roots from the covered stem, increasing water and nutrient absorption.
Easy: A five-gallon, food-grade, plastic bucket with up to a dozen 3/8-inch holes drilled in the bottom is the simplest and least expensive solution.
Elevated: A large clay or concrete planter that is at least two feet wide and deep inside will provide plenty of room for the tomato, plus a smattering of beneficial companions such as basil, nasturtiums, or bush beans.
Support
A large tomato cage, or set of five-foot stakes with loops of twine, will suffice for most determinate varieties. Indeterminate varieties require greater heights or careful training. All tomatoes need supplemental support–usually sticks or poles to which tomato branches are attached with string or twine.
Easy: Find bamboo poles and a natural twine such as sisal or jute. Both are readily available at any local garden center.
Elevated: Build a custom trellis or overhead support, shaping your thriving tomato into an impressive and striking feature by summer’s end.
Watering and fertilizing
Water the soil deep at first planting, then follow up with occasional deep waterings rather than daily sprinklings. A mulch layer of leaves, hay, or wood chips will keep the top of the soil from drying too quickly between waterings. An organic liquid fertilizer, such as fish emulsion, is ideal for tomatoes. A diluted dose of nitrogen-heavy fertilizer will encourage growth early in the season, while a mix with more phosphorous and potassium will assist with flowering and drought resistance as the plant begins to fruit.
Easy: Buy quality garden soil with plant food already mixed in and keep it damp but not wet.
Elevated: Use organic liquid fertilizers and supplements, chart growth and production every year, and carefully adjust the mixture of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, and magnesium to maximize success.
