Step 1: prepare the soil Step 2: prepare the plant Step 3: planting technique Step 4: continuing care Step 5: harvest time These Views are from personal experience and years of learning. 1. prepare the soil: Tomatoes are a good easy to grow plant for most, but like any other planting your plants survival greatly depends on good soil. If you have poor clay or very sandy soil you need to correct it. The best medium I've found is 50/50 dark rich top soil and composted cow manure. You are what you eat, tomatoes are no different. To achieve a great crop you need good deep soil for root propagation, Try to have at least good soil 2 feet around and at lest 1 foot deep. Also keep on hand a fertilizer that is higher in phosphoric acid and potash Than nitrogen. An 8-15-15, 6-24-24, 15-30-15,(Miracle grow) or a 19-19-19 will work too. Loosen the soil throughly. 2. Preparing the plant is simple. I prefer using plants one foot or taller. Trim off the lower leaf stems up to about 8 inches from the root base leaving only the top few sets. 3. Planting is easy as is gets with good soil. place the tomato 6 inches down. yes I said 6 inches. The entire stem of the tomato will propagate roots quickly when in contact with soil. This gives an outstanding root structure for Vigorous plants. DO NOT LET THE TOMATO LEAFS TOUCH THE SOIL OR BURY THEM IN THE SOIL. This is a sure fire way to pick up a pesky disease or fungus. 4. Continuing care after planting is important. hydrate with your fertilizer solution. Miracle grow is the simplest for liquid feeding every 2 weeks between regular hydration. For larger crops this gets cumbersome and expensive. The granular fertilizer will be a better method. Make sure to prune your plants. keep all leafs 8-12 inches off the ground after the tomato begins to grow tall enough. Cage your tomatoes After planting to keep the plant from wind damage, or just falling over. Prune the side shoots (sappers) also, these will steal the energy from the main stem and your crop will be yield less. Hydrate throughly but let the top of the ground dry before the next watering. you have a 6" root base from the manner of planting. 8 hours of direct sun a day at least, any less is not going to promote a healthy plant. You can also use 1 table spoon of epsom salts to 1 gallon of water every two weeks with you fertilizer. This will add Magnesium and sulphur to the soil(good for the tomatoes). Watch out for yellow/brown spots on the lower leafs, could be fungus. Remove the affected area. Hydrogen peroxide 3% is a great anti-fungal agent for all who choose organic gardening. Just spray on the affected area. 5. Harvest time depending on your climate and preferences will very. keep all ripe tomatoes picked immediately. Also as most of us know over watering a tomato at harvest will cause the tomato to split open on the vine. If a heavy rain is expected you might want to pick the ripe and close to ripe ones before the down pour. Please remember these these are my views and experience. But they Yield good results! Take a look at my garden photos under my fathers tomatoes. these are the results from this method. 6-7 foot tall Jubilee tomato loaded up.
