How To Grow Tomatoes

My personal Favorite, and probably the most popular vegetable of summer gardens. And nothing taste better to me than a home grown tomatoes. Growing them is Simple, choose a breed suited to your climate, and with a little care you well have plenty of the tasty treats for yourself.

The way you care for your tomatoes is determined by their growth habit, Determinate, vigorous determinate, or indeterminate. This info is found on the seed packet or on the plant ID tag.

Determinate tomatoes: These varieties, sometimes called dwarf varieties, grow into bushy plants that need no support and develop clusters of blossoms and fruit at the stem tips. They mature early and ripen within 1 to 2 weeks.

Vigorous determinates: Also called semideterminates produce a heavy crop all at once and well produce a second crop if you prune them back and fertilize them.

Indeterminate tomatoes: These tomatoes produce a summer long stream of flowers and fruit. The tall lanky plants require support from stakes, a trellis, or wire cages. Their fruit usually has excellent flavor, and plants remain productive until frost, insects, or diseases kill them.

How to start From Seeds: You well to plant your seed in small containers 6 to 8 weeks before your last spring frost date. Tomato seeds germinate best at 75 to 80 degrees. Keep near a window or supplement with a grow light. Fertilize seedlings once a week with half strength liquid Fertilizer. Transplant them to larger pots as they grow. Its a good ideal to take your plants outside on nice days (above 50 degrees at night) to get them use to full sun light, and wind. When you are ready to transplant to the ground. Make sure you choose a spot with full sunlight, and place them about 2 feet apart. If it gets cold again remember to cover your plants with something, a plastic bag would work.

Pruning and Staking: Every Stem of a determinate tomato will produce fruit. do not pinch or prune them off. Keep determinate tomatoes upright by surrounding them with circular wire cages or by placing wood stakes between plants and weaving plastic twine between the stakes and plants in a figure-eight design.

Indeterminate tomatoes are so lush and rangy the you should either prune them and tie them to stakes or support them with wire cages. Prune them according to the weather in your climate. Where summers are hot you may want to leave the plants unpruned so that the leaves shield the fruit from Strong sun. In cooler climates pinch out some of the secondary stems called suckers to open the plants to sunshine and ripen faster.

Things to remember

Site: Full sun, well drained fertile soil slightly acidic and high in organic matter. Consistent moisture prevents blossom end rot.

Planting: Sow seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before transplanting. Plant outside 1-2 weeks after average last frost.

Spacing: 2 feet apart

Care: Stake, cage or trellis indeterminate and semideterminate varieties. Staking is optional for determinates. Pinching off side shoots is necessary only when stake training. Mulch to maintain soil moisture to prevent blossom end rot. Supply consistent moisture When rainfall is less then 1 inch per week.

Harvest: 50 to 80 days. As fruit ripens and is firm and fully colored. Before the frost, harvest all full sized green fruit the are nearly mature. Set in warm location to continue ripening.

For more on other vegetables check out my site at http://www.getitdonegardening.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Sanders

Tomato varieties are roughly divided into several categories, based mostly on shape and size.

"Slicing" or "globe" tomatoes are the usual tomatoes of commerce, used for a wide variety of processing and fresh eating.
Beefsteak tomatoes are large tomatoes often used for sandwiches and similar applications. Their kidney-bean shape, thinner skin, and shorter shelf life makes commercial use impractical.
Oxheart tomatoes can range in size up to beefsteaks, and are shaped like large strawberries.
Plum tomatoes, or paste tomatoes (including pear tomatoes), are bred with a higher solid content for use in tomato sauce and paste and are usually oblong.
Pear tomatoes are obviously pear shaped and based upon the San Marzano types for a richer gourmet paste.
Cherry tomatoes are small and round, often sweet tomatoes generally eaten whole in salads.
Grape tomatoes, a more recent introduction, are smaller and oblong used in salads.
Campari tomatoes are also sweet and noted for their juiciness, low acidity, and lack of mealiness. They are bigger than cherry tomatoes, but are smaller than plum tomatoes.
Early tomatoes and cool-summer tomatoes bear fruit even where nights are cool, which usually discourages fruit set. There are also varieties high in beta carotenes and vitamin A, hollow tomatoes and tomatoes which keep for months in storage.