Knowing when to grow tomatoes is a key factor to your tomato gardening experience. Choosing the right time to grow tomatoes is essential to the yield of tomato plants and to when you will be able to harvest your tomatoes. If, you plant your tomatoes too early you could risk losing your plants to frost damage. But then, on the other hand, if you plant them too late in the season you will have less of a crop of tomatoes and less of a chance of all your tomatoes ripening on the vine. We all know vine-ripened tomatoes are sweeter, tastier and have way more nutrients than if they were picked green and ripened away from the tomato plant. If the question, of knowing the right time of when to grow tomatoes is preventing you from growing the best tomatoes you have ever tasted then following these few necessary key factors will help you take the leap into tomato gardening.

So When Is the Right Time to Grow Tomatoes?

As Spring arrives and the trees are budding, people's thoughts are on getting outside and enjoying the fresh air. It is at this time that many people try their hands at a little gardening. For most people, the first fruit or vegetable that comes to mind is the tomato. Now, if you are a novice to tomato gardening but, you would really love to be picking some plump, juicy tomatoes off your own tomato plants this summer, then, the burning question of when to grow tomatoes may be knocking the fun out of your plans. There is really no need to let this question stop you as long as you follow few of important factors.

If it is spring and your trees are already budding, it might be a little late to be starting your tomato plants from seed. The time that it takes to germinate your tomato seeds to the time you transplant your tomato seedlings outdoors is about 6 to 8 weeks. So, if that kind of knocked the wind out of your sails, no worries, you can always visit your local garden center and purchase started tomato plants. Started tomato plants may be more expensive, but in a pinch, they work really well. The one advantage of starting your plants from seeds is that it gives you a wider selection of tomatoes to choose from. There are nearly 10,000 different tomato varieties.

The Right Outdoor Temperature to Grow Tomatoes

Tomatoes are heat-loving plants and require at least 8 hours of full sunlight. So it is important to check that your outside temperature stays constant at no lower the 48 - 50 degrees, day or night for 10 consecutive days. When this happens, you can consider putting your tomato plants outside, but it would be even better if several of those days the temperature reached above 60 degrees.

Does the Temperature of the Soil Matter When Growing Tomatoes?

When you are, thinking about when to grow tomatoes it's really important that the soil you place your tomato plants in should also be at least 50 degrees for a week or two before placing your tomato plants into your garden beds. If you plant your tomato plants in the soil too early, before the soil temperature reaches 50 degrees, your tomato crop will be small, and your tomato plants will be more likely to be susceptible to disease.

So in conclusion, the question of when to grow tomatoes can be answered quite easily, if you give a little thought to these few points. Just keep in mind that tomatoes love heat both in the soil and in the air around them. Knowing this should lead you to having a successful tomato gardening experience.