Either way, Tomato plants produce a lot of fruit which is also easy to preserve (canning) for long term storage (up to 2 years of done correctly) , you can make Tomato Sauce ( Ketchup ), Soups with very ripe tomatoes etc! Tomato plants also have fewer pests than other vegetables and fruits (depending on your country).
Purchase Organic Non-GMO tomato seeds and I would recommend you get 3-4 different varieties, a good pot tomato (Such as the Minibel Variety) would be great to put as an upside down hanging plant (I will post an article on those soon and include the link here) so if you have limited ground space at home you can always drill a few holes and put up a hanging bracket on a good wall which gets loads of sunlight!
You will need:
- A few packs of different varieties of Organic Non-GMO seeds,
- Good pack of Compost or potting soil (peat free),
- Calcium or finely crushed egg shells,
- Seed tray or reused small yogurt containers etc,
- 500 ml water bottles cut in half (keep tops and bottoms)
- Small, Medium and Large Plastic or any material Pots,
- Water Source,
- Plant Feed (Preferably tomato feed and get a non chemical one if possible)
- Watering Can,
- Bamboo Sticks, Stake or an actual Support Cage.
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| Tomato Cages in a Raised Veg Bed |
Steps:
- Place the desired amount of seeds in a small tub of water and leave overnight (this greatly reduces the germination time),
- Fill the small containers / seed tray with compost and using a pencil or your finger, make a small hole about 1 - 1.5cm deep - lie seed sideways in hole,
- Cover with more compost so hole is filled, now water well.
- Place one of the half cut water bottles so the cut side is resting on the compost and providing a teepee like shelter to the area above the seed (this provides extra warmth and prevents water evaporation),
- Keep on a warm windowsill and in a few days the seedlings will emerge,
- Once the seedlings are about 3 - 5cm tall you can transplant them into the prepared small plastic pots or you can actually jump straight into a medium pot if you have an abundance of compost,
- To transplant just squeeze the sides of the small container / seed tray and there should be no trouble if the compost is nice and moist, you can gently pull the seedling but if you are a beginner I would turn the pot on the side / slightly upside down to let gravity bring it down, now dig a hole big enough to place the seedling with the soil around the roots inside the new pot,
- Allow to grow and give good sunlight and water,
- Once you see roots coming out the drainage holes at the bottom of the chosen pots, it is time to move into a larger pot or into the ground space that is prepared (Dig hole and place a hand full of calcium or the 3-5x finely crushed egg shells in the bottom)
- Cut off the small ''first leaves'' (see small leaves in below plant diagram) and put plant deep enough inside new pot / bed to cover the cut leaves so that the soil level is now sitting an inch below the lower ''true leaves'' (The plant will be okay and it will actually spurt new roots from buried shoot / stem)
- Before the roots grow too much, it is time now to place the cage, stake or bamboo supports around the plant (these will support the plant and its branches which sag when the fruit gets heavy)
- Water the plant more regularly if it is in pots (you may need to water twice a day if it's a very hot day for the pot plants) water 1 - 2 times per week if it's in the ground,
- Feed Once a week with tomato or other vegetable type feed (follow pack instructions)
- Prune some leaves once in a while when the plant gets bushy, especially the bottom set as they are closer to the soil level and can get diseases from the splashing when watering - these will normally be the first to change colour etc.
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| Tomato Plant Diagram |
Look out for future posts such as: Canning / Preserving your vegetables & Hanging Vegetable Garden / Plants!
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