I’ve already written a lot about tomatoes, but this is the time of year when everyone is putting tomatoes in the ground near me so I wanted to give you as much info as I can that I didn’t already cover and get you prepared for this season!

So if you’re in a rush to get tomato plants into the garden, this one is for you.

Here are my two previous articles on tomatoes if you’re interested:

Tomatoes (Pt 1)

Tomatoes (Pt 2)

If you’re in a hurry to get plants in the ground, you are probably not growing from seed. This is totally fine!

There is nothing wrong with buying plants if you have to!

If you don’t live near a local tomato expert (I happen to be lucky enough to live near Plants With Stories who is an expert if ever there was one!) then I recommend looking for a local farm to buy plants from.

The main reasons I wouldn’t buy from big box stores (Walmart, Lowe’s etc) are:

A farm is most likely going to solve all of these issues if not at least give you more options.

When you get your tomato, wait until night time air temperatures are at least above 50°, and the soil temps should consistently be 55°-60°. The best rule of thumb in the midwest is going to be wait until after Memorial Day (although I planted before that this year).

When you plant, pick off the leaves with only the top bunch remaining, and bury the plant up to it’s neck in soil. The little hairs on the plant are able to form into roots, so you are setting up your tomato for success by giving it a chance at a bigger root system early on. This also helps it brace itself against the wind better.

For trellises, I would honestly just keep it simple: wooden stakes with string/twist ties/tomato clips. This is the most reliable and simple method of tomato trellising, and they love it. This maximizes sunlight exposure, airflow, and fruit production for most varieties.

I would AVOID the tomato cage trellises for most tomato varieties unless they are a smaller compact variety! They tend to get unruly and make harvesting unnecessarily hard.

For pruning, I recommend pruning at least a few times per year (especially right after a rainstorm).

Trim all branches that are less than 1ft above the ground, and any that are dead, dying, or diseased.

If you’re growing a large variety that gets tall (like most indeterminates) then I might even prune 2ft or more up the plant as they grow taller. This just increases airflow and decreases the chances of mildew and fungal diseases.

Often after rain you’ll notice little branches sprouting from the middle of the forks between other branches. These are referred to as “suckers”. A lot of people will tell you to prune suckers, others will tell you to leave them alone and to prune the older branches first, but I honestly haven’t noticed enough of a difference in sucker pruning to say one way or the other. I’d just go with your gut on this one.

Tomatoes are heavy feeders and respond pretty well to heavier fertilization than some other plants do.

That said, they really like phosphorus, calcium, and then later on, potassium.

Phosphorus early on is what drives root development and fruit set, calcium is a preventative that keeps away blossom end rot, and potassium is what really helps fruit size and quality.

Nitrogen is obviously a vital nutrient for most plants, but I would go easy on it for tomatoes. They need some but if you give them too much then they’ll just grow tons of leaves and less fruit.

I have used many practical techniques for tomato fertilization, and this year I’m trying one I haven’t actually used yet.

One technique that genuinely works well is about a month or so before planting your tomatoes, bury a dead fish (or fish guts) about 1-2ft below where your tomatoes will be planted. When they grow big enough roots they’ll find those nutrients and go crazy!

I have also done fermented plant water which works, but it does take way more fertilization to get the same effect that animal outputs have.

This year I’m actually using an old mixed manure that supposedly works very well so we’ll see.

One major thing to avoid is using fertilizer that is too “hot”.

Most manures that you’ll find (chicken, pig, cow) release a lot of nitrogen at once (which is that ammonia smell) which can burn the plants. If you use manure, make sure it’s older and partially broken down to avoid this issue.

Some manures such as rabbit are actually very nutritious without being very hot so they tend to be popular choices in the garden.

Tomatoes can be thirsty plants since they’re doing a lot of work to grow fruit, but like most plants they prefer well draining soil that can hold some moisture.

I would avoid watering shortly before and after rain if you already have fruit ready to ripen since this can cause cracking on your tomatoes. I personally don’t care too much about that since the tomato is still perfectly edible but if you prefer pretty fruit then keep this in mind!

To avoid the plants drying up too much in the heat, I’d mulch them. For more on mulching see my previous article here.

Tomatoes all have different ripening times depending on variety and climate. Around here you can expect tomatoes around July at the earliest for short season varieties.

There are also differences between determinate (a tomato that grows to a predetermined height, sets fruit, and is done after a short time) vs an indeterminate (grows continuously throughout the season, and bears fruit until frost).

If you want to save seeds from a tomato variety, the best practice is actually to take the seeds out and put them (yes, even along with whatever mush they come with) and put them in a small jar of water for a few days.

This ferments the seeds and actually separates them from the mushy tomato flesh which reduces mold potential. Afterwards, simply set them out on a paper towel to dry and later put them in a bag or envelope.

The fermenting process is actually important here because tomato seeds will get naturally fermented when the fruit rots on the ground, so this actually increases germination rate with seeds.

Determinates can bear fruit earlier and you’ll usually get a heavy yield all at once, but I personally tend to prefer indeterminates. I like the continuous harvest and the variation in growing habits since I don’t do much tomato canning at the moment.

You basically want to choose determinate varieties if:

There are genuinely a lot of reasons to love determinate varieties and I recommend them for people who’s needs they fit!

Choose indeterminates if:

Here are a few of the over 10k+ varieties I’d recommend trying, some of which I’ve grown and some of which I’ve just heard good things about:

Indeterminates:

Determinates:

Also see my articles on other garden favorites:

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