Growing tomatoes? Here is a simple to follow guide to the 7 areas that you need to get right to have a thriving tomato garden.

1) Sunlight: Shade gardening is a bad practice for tomatoes. They need at least 10 hours of full sunlight to do their best. Choosing a location that will allow for that can be one of the hardest parts to get right as a home tomato gardener.

2) Space: Give it to them... the tomatoes that is. Don't look at how big your bush is think about the roots and the space that they need to grow. Typically a full grown Indeterminate tomato plant can have a root radius of three feet in either direction. This means that the typical advice of 2 feet between plants will see them fighting between themselves for nutrients.

3) Organic methods: Organically grown vegetables (tomatoes included) grow better, taste better and are better for you than chemically treated ones. Getting organic growing right can be a challenge but it is one that is well worthwhile.

4) Raise your beds: Raised beds are generally used as an answer to poor soil conditions when there is no other solution however raising your beds can be of benefit to your tomatoes even under normal conditions.

Tomatoes are heavy feeders and have deep root systems. Often the limiting factor on the roots is the space that they can effectively invade. Whilst there is a practical limit it is rarely, if ever, reached in your typical tomato garden. Raise your beds and help to give them a little extra room you may be surprised at the results.

5) Double Dig: Likewise double dig your soil. Apart from aerating the soil deep down it will allow the roots further room to grow easily into and will encourage microbial life. Sure it is labour intensive but again the results are worth the effort.

6) Nutrition: All green growing plants require Nitrogen... that is a given. However the high Nitrogen formulas that I see promoted as tomato food are just plain wrong. Tomatoes are a flowering plant and do best on balanced formulas. You can increase the Nitrogen levels as the season goes on and the plant grows but don't start them off that way.

7) Disease Prevention: Once your plant has a disease it is generally too late to do anything about it. Learn and understand the causes of tomato plant diseases. You will find that most are avoidable if you prepare and maintain your garden correctly.

If it seems like the above advice is a little 'soil-centric' you are correct. The soil is the life and death of your tomatoes. All of the routine maintenance and care you do will be completely wasted if you don't get your soil right in the first place.