We All Love Tomatoes

Everyone I know wants to grow tomatoes in their own garden. Homegrown tomatoes always taste better. So how do we do it? What's involved? We will begin to discuss The different aspects of growing your own Tomato Garden. The location, soil, types of plants, insects, water, fertilizer, compost and more.

First of all it is "not too much trouble" as you may hear some people say. BUT there is some hard work involved especially in the beginning.

First Pick out a LOCATION that is out of the way of traffic (people traffic) and that has a good amount of SUN all day. That is, not shaded half a day by that beautiful tree in your yard.

Assuming your yard or area is fenced or can be,

The next step is SOIL PREPARATION

Start digging. You can DIG by hand, with a shovel and a spade, with a rototiller which you might borrow or rent for a few hours from the local equipment store or have someone do it for you. Depending upon the type of SOIL, you may only be able to dig down a few inches. The deeper,the better. If your Soil is heavy,for example,has a lot of clay in it, getting down even a few inches may be very difficult. Break up the soil after it has been dug up .Take out rocks,as many stones as possible and remove any clumps of clay (at least the larger ones). The planting soil should be as fine as possible and it may take 2-3 years of raking and planting to get it the way you want it. Some people may be very lucky and have wonderful soil to start with.

Do I grow SEEDLINGS or buy PLANTS?

At least in the beginning buy plants.You will have enough to do the 1st year or so, so make it easier by buying plants. Look for healthy ones with out spotted leaves, broken branches, small tomatoes on them or extra heavy roots coming out of the bottom. Every area has plants that are grown to be hardier for the local environment and insects. Plant them as deep as possible with compost if possible. In the next article we will discuss more about how to grow great tomatoes .

WATER very often in the beginning and then keep the ground moist. Mulching will help.

TAKE CARE of your plants as they grow and then you will be able to enjoy growing tomatoes in the garden.