Answering the question, “How Do I Grow Tomatoes” starts with the soil. Preparing the soil before planting the tomatoes and maintaining it will give you a bumper crop year in and year out regardless of if you are growing tomatoes from seed or purchasing seedlings. Getting the soil prepared is really quite easy once you know how.

The chemistry of the soil must have certain attributes to get the most out of your tomato plants. First, ensure the PH of the soil is somewhere between 6.2 and 7.0. Ideally, the PH would be in the even more snug range of 6.5 to 6.8. PH stands for part hydrogen and is a measure of the acidity of the soil. You can test the soil with an inexpensive test kit and adjust the acidity with some easy additives.

How do I grow tomatoes with the proper nutrients? In addition to the PH, you will want to be aware of three other components: the Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), and Potash (K). Each of these should be in the right proportion to each other and in the right amounts. Like the PH, the nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash can all be measured and can easily be adjusted if they do not fall in the correct range.

Plants take nutrients out of the soil in which they grow. Different plants require different nutrients and take nutrients out in different proportions. The ideal solution to the decreasing nutrients is to rotate plant locations so that the plants growing in a place this season will replenish the nutrients that were taken by the plants of last season.

Most gardens, however, are not large enough to allow enough seasons of replenishment to make rotation fully effective. To overcome this, adding compost before and during the growing season is a good option. Instead of putting plants that have only partly been composted, wait until the compost is black and really smells. Tomatoes love this.

How do I grow tomatoes in the best soilOnce the compost is added to the soil, it is time to plow. Tomatoes grow in proportion to the size of their root system. To maximize the root system, tomatoes like to have loose and light soil. Roots can grow to a depth of up to two to three feet, so it is important to plow as deep as possible. If you can plow to a depth of two feet, you'll be in really great shape.

Answering the question “How do I grow tomatoes” is the first step in having a successful garden. Growing tomatoes from seed is a fun and rewarding hobby that will be most successful if the PH and nutrients of the soil are carefully controlled.