Growing Tomatoes: How to Grow Tomatoes Organically and Growing Tomatoes Upside Down

Step-by-step instructions on growing tomatoes organically including upside-down tomatoes.

Learn about soil conditions, sun hours, spacing your tomatoes, watering, transplanting tomatoes and a whole lot more for this super food.

For a quick overview on how to be successful at growing these vegetables you need the following:

• 8 hours of full sun a day

• Deep, free-draining, fertile soil

• Regular feeding and mulching

• Shelter from strong winds

• Regular staking

• Consistent watering

• Constant attention

© Kathy Wynn | Dreamstime.com

Straw is also good to use when your plants are fruiting in the spring and summer. This keeps the fruit off the soil preventing them from spoiling and away from chewing insects who might get round to spoiling a good part of your crop.

When growing tomatoes organically always make sure that your soil is rich in organic material and has a PH balance of between 6.0 - 6.5 as these vegetables love an acidic soil. The soil should be kept moist at all times, but it should be free-draining, never water-logged. Because tomatoes have a large root system, they benefit from being grown where a winter green manure crop has been grown and dug in and left to decompose. If it is inhabited by earthworms then you know that you will have a great crop!

The soil should not be too rich in nitrogen. If it is, you will get leafy and leggy plants with very little fruit. Too little nitrogen and your plants will be stunted and their leaves will be yellow. Good sources for nitrogen are well-rotted manure, compost, fish-emulsion, blood meal, and legume cover crops.

Phosphorus promotes strong roots and the formation of flowers, fruits and seeds, and helps the plants resist disease. If the soil is poor in phosphorus your plants will stunted, with thin stems and a purple tinge to the leaves on the underside. Good sources of phosphorus can be found in bone meal and poultry manure.

Potassium is important for your plants to grow well and to resist disease. Too little potassium will result in stunted plants, poor yields and yellow leaves. A good source of potassium can be found in wood ash and greens.

Calcium is vital in building strong celled-walls and also prevents blossom-end rot which is a common problem in tomato growing. Natural sources of calcium include wood ash, crushed egg shells and bone meal.

Certainly tomatoes should never be grown during a time when frost is about. They are very sensitive to frost and the ideal temperature for growing this vegetable from seed is when the temperatures are between 20-30°C (68-86°F).

The ideal temperatures for the fruit to set is between 17-25°C (62-77°F). If temperatures exceed 28°C (80°F) then the fruit will be softer and orange and yellow in colour, especially if there is not a lot of leaf cover.

For most people's needs buying seedlings is more controlled as you know just how many plants you are going to need for your own consumption. For any small family having more than 5 plants of a well-cropping variety would be wasteful unless you intended to make tomato sauce or freeze the bumper crop. If you are growing tomatoes organically, make sure that you have bought organic seed, free of chemical treatment.

There are 2 different varieties of tomatoes which will give you different cropping results and which will either need staking or not, depending on what you have chosen to plant.

Determinate Tomatoes

These are small, compact plants that grow in bushes that don't need staking. Because they set their fruit at roughly the same time, cropping time is fairly short, and these varieties are excellent for canning.

Indeterminate Tomatoes

These grow to quite some height and definitely need some form of staking, using either wire cages or bamboo tee-pees. This variety is long cropping, with the fruit setting over a long period of time, stopped only by the early autumn frosts. They mature later than the determinate type and the yields are heavier.

Heirloom Tomatoes

For those of you who want to know how to grow heirloom tomatoes these are varieties that have stood the test of time and are the old fashioned varieties that are not always perfect in shape, but have masses of flavour. Heirlooms are open-pollinated and come in all sorts of colours. The most interesting of them all, and one of my favourites is the Black Russian Heirloom Tomato.

Tomatoes will need at least 8 hours of full sun a day to set and fruit. However, you will also be amazed at how other plants can affect the way your tomatoes will develop.

Here are some common ones:

Never plant tomatoes within a 50 foot radius of any walnut trees. The walnut tree leaves contain a toxin that is deadly to tomatoes and they will wilt and die. This happens when it rains and the chemical is washed off the leaves and onto the soil.

Never plant your tomatoes near beets. Beet leaf-hoppers can carry a virus called curly top to your tomatoes.

Never plant your tomatoes near brassicas or carrots. Brassicas and carrots will inhibit your tomatoes' growth and they will not do well.

Good plants for Companion Planting with tomatoes are marigolds, basil, garlic, chives, asparagus and parsley.

You can plant these seed either directly in your beds, or in a seed box. You will need to make little drills or rows about 5 mm deep and about 35 mm apart. This can be done with the edge of a straight piece of wood being pressed into the soil at the correct depth and spacings.

The seeds should now be placed carefully in the depressions making sure that you are not planting too many seeds per row. Once you have finished, you will need to cover the drills with either some more sterilized soil, river sand or vermiculite. Firm it down lightly and water the seed bed with a fine spray making sure that the soil is well dampened.

Initially place in a shady location. If you are starting your seeds off in the beds you can cover the soil with sheets of newspaper and keep this and the soil underneath it damp. As the seedlings begin to emerge, remove the paper. For those seeds that you have planted in seed boxes, you can harden them off by exposing them to more and more sunlight before it is time to transplant them.

Most seedlings are ready to be transplanted when they are about 75 - 100 mm in heights and usually between 4 and 8 weeks old.

Reduce watering your seedlings 10 days before transplanting. I am not saying don't water them, what I am saying is just don't water them as much as you have been doing so in the past. If the weather is very hot, then your reduction of water should really be over 5 days. The last 2 days water should be withheld completely. However, on the day that you are going to plant them out, you should water them thoroughly 6 - 12 hours before hand. Make sure that where you are going to transplant them to has also been well watered.

The best time to transplant your seedlings is late afternoon, early evening when the heat of the sun has gone. This then allows your plants the night to re-establish themselves before the next day.

Choose your seedling wisely. Although you will be tempted to plant them all out, only choose those that are strong, and discard the others. Lift your seedlings out of the seed box with a garden trowel and lay them at the recommended intervals given to you on the original seed packet.

Dig a small hole and carefully place the seedling inside. When transplanting tomato seedlings always plant them with the first set of leaves below the soil line. Your plant will send out roots from the buried stem which will encourage a strong root system. Firm the seedling gently by pressing down around the stem. When you have finished, water the transplants well.

Know the spacing conditions for the type of variety you have planted. Some, like cherry tomatoes can be planted as close as 18-24 inches away from each other. However, larger varieties may need up to 3 feet and more in space.

As your plants grow you will need to remove the side shoots to improve cropping. This is done by removing the shoot that develops between the leaf and the stem. Remove this gently with your thumb and forefinger. Watering and regular feeding will result in a bumper crop.

Tomatoes are voracious feeders and so they should be fed when the first fruits are about to set - say 4 - 5 weeks after transplanting. Give them an application of organic liquid manure every two weeks.

This is another tip for your plants. Not only do tomatoes love this but roses and green peppers do too - mix 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts to 1 gallon of water. Spray it on your plants when they start to flower.

After a couple of weeks of transplanting you can mulch your plants with a dressing of compost. This will not only keep the moisture in your soil and discourage the growth of weeds, but it will also give the plant added nutrients which is far more beneficial than other mulches like grass clippings or straw.

Some tomato cultivars will benefit from staking, especially those that are indeterminate types or vine tomatoes. However, staking is easy. Just get yourself a cane, such as bamboo and place it close to the stem of the plant and push down into the soil. If your plants are large you can cut up lengths of 2x2 which will give your plants better support.

Tie the plant to the stake with either strips of old cloth, old stockings, scooby-doo wire or raffia. Purists will want to prune the plant into a single stem which will reduce your crop. I don't bother. I just make sure that the plant is upright and well-supported with more access to the sun, which it wouldn't have had if it were lying on the ground. Staking also makes harvesting your crops a lot easier.

Growing tomatoes upside down has become the latest in growing tomatoes in small spaces, and it also has a number of other benefits as well. First of all, you can prevent your tomatoes from going rotten from soil contact, you can protect them from cutworm and other little beasties that will attack your tomatoes, there is no weeding involved, nor do you have to bend down to pick the crop!

So how do you grow tomatoes upside down exactly? Well, some people modify plastic buckets to plant their tomatoes upside down, or you can get a purpose-made upside down plant grower, that makes things very easy. Just how easy? See for yourself in the video below. Growing tomatoes upside down just became a whole lot easier!

Throughout the world there are thousands of cultivars and strains of tomatoes. I prefer the heirloom tomatoes, however, there are also others that are well trusted such as Oxheart and Ponderosa for their large size and meatiness. The Beefsteak tomato is an heirloom and belongs to these large varieties.

However, the plants are not heavy yielders and the fruits are often of poor shape because of their susceptibility to several physiological disorders.

The plum tomatoes are elongated and are excellent tomatoes for canning and making sauce. The Roma tomato is a well known Italian variety for this. They are usually wilt-resistant and are heavy fruiters making them very popular with homesteaders. The Reggae is the highest yielding and needs staking. The San Marzanois an ideal variety for growing in pots, and is self-supporting.

Cherry tomatoes are very popular too as they make a lovely addition to salads. The are a smaller variety and sometimes more sour than their bigger cousins. However, there is a variety called 'sweet bite' that is a vigorous grower that fruits abundantly and is sweet in taste. It is a tall variety that will need staking.

The Early Girl tomato is popular with home gardeners because of its early fruit ripening. It is known as a globe tomato due to the fact that it is fairly round and smooth, unlike the beefsteak varieties. It is tall growing and needs support as the plant grows. Plants are reliable and prolific with fruit of a bright color and good flavour. Time from setting out transplants to first crop is about 52 days - compared to as long as 80 days for beefsteak types. 'Early Girl' also is an indeterminate variety, so it keeps producing all season long.

My favourite heirloom tomato is the Black Russian. With its dark fruit it looks great in a salad and has an excellent sweet taste with spicy and smoky undertones that are enhanced when dried. The flavours really are deliciously intense and the other great thing about this variety is that it is resistant to most diseases, fruits early and is a heavy producer. What more could you want in a tomato?

Blossom-end Rot is largely caused by a lack of calcium in the soil, erratic watering habits, temperature extremes and root damage. One can help minimize the effects by mulching the plants to keep moisture in the soil, and spraying with a seaweed extract will boost your plants.

Verticillium Wilt, causes yellowing and wilting of leaves, especially older ones. In some plants the leaves may even curl up. Prevent future infections by sterilizing all gardening tools, clean up garden debris and buy wilt-resistant varieties and practice crop rotation.

Smoking or handling tobacco and then working with your tomatoes can help spread Tobacco Mosaic Virus in susceptible plants. Leaves show yellow, white and green patches and puckers along the vein. Make sure that you wash your hands well after using tobacco products or have been with tobacco plants.

See the online magazine below for more information on how to grow tomatoes. You can even grow tomatoes in containers! Please wait for it to download, it may take a little while.

Look Inside >>  May 2009