Planting Your Tomatoes: Mickman Brothers Garden Center

Tomato plants in the garden.

You've chosen your Tomato varieties based on:  growing habits, disease resistance, uses, color, flavor, etc. and after much careful consideration you've chosen the very best!  Now, let's get them growing in the garden!  Take the time to ensure proper light, tomatoes like at least 8 hours of sunlight per day; soil condition, do you need to add any compost or other nutrients to the soil; and irrigation, they need to receive water on a regular schedule to prevent disease.

Plant tomatoes deep in the soil.  Their stems have the ability to grow roots when they're buried, making the plants stronger, which is important if you've chosen indeterminate varieties that grow tall.  There are two good ways to plant tomatoes: by digging a deeper hole, or by laying them on their side.

Pull off the leaves at the bottom.

If you choose to dig a deeper hole, just make sure part of the tomato plant is still above ground.  Pull off the leaves on the part of the stem that you'll be burying, leaving the leaves on top intact.  Pop the pot off (unless it's in a plantable pot) and place in the hole, bury with the soil and water in!

Laying the tomato plant on its side is pretty easy too.  The trench needs to be big enough for the root ball on one side, and long enough to fit the tomato, again leaving part of the tomato plant above ground.  Just turn the tomato plant up at the end and hold it while you fill in with soil, the stems are fairly flexible.  Planting a tomato on its side gives it a lot of support as well, and the roots will be able to absorb a lot of water and nutrients with the added root surface area.

Planting a tomato in a trench.

Add cages or other means of support to your tomatoes right after planting them so you don't disturb their roots or break off stems after they've matured.  You can see in the pictures that my husband constructed some interesting 'tomato troughs' from some 1x4 unfinished pieces of wood.  They've worked really well!  Other support structures include the popular tomato cage, or bamboo stakes. 

Next week, we'll get your tomatoes on a regular watering schedule! 

Sara Laning
Mickman Brothers Marketing (and Gardener)