Tomatoes are one of the easiest plants to grow at home and there are a number of options for growing tomatoes at home even if you do not have a decent sized plot of land to use.

Many people grow tomatoes in containers that they can sit on a patio or perhaps, if space is very limited, they hang them from a support frame or convenient rafter. I can leave you to use your imagination as to where the best options are, all you have to ensure is that there is sufficient sun light for your tomatoes to flourish.

Also selecting the right varieties will help with the limited space problem, dwarf plants and cherry tomatoes can usually be accommodated in smaller pots and hanging baskets which makes them ideal as home grown tomatoes.

Selecting the right varieties also applies to extending your growing season, select a mixture of early and late blooming tomato plants to ensure you have tomatoes available over an extended period. Again this important for growing at home because you do not want too many tomatoes all coming at the same time and to an extent where you cannot use them all, although if you do find yourself with too many you can always looks at ways of preserving them, tomato chutney is a good example.

Once you have chosen the way of growing your tomatoes and the variety you want to use, it then becomes a question of proper preparation and care. All tomatoes pretty much need the same things to allow them to flourish and this revolves primarily around selecting the right location for sun, soil preparation and then watering.

There are other aspects to consider but for the most part, take care of these 3 primary aspects and you will be well on the way to being able to grow delicious tomatoes.

The following sowing and transplanting methods are available to the amateur gardener who wants to grow tomatoes outside without the use of a greenhouse.Tomato seeds can be sowed directly into a seed bed. However, this is by far the riskiest method in temperate climates. It is only suitable for those areas which have a last frost date in MARCH. In all other areas, the soil is unlikely to be warm enough at a time which will allow the tomato plant to develop and fruit. The soil temperature must be at least 15C (60F) at the time of sowing and during germination. It is possible to utilize a cloche or cold frame. This will warm the soil prior to planting and protect the plants in their early stages. Using a trowel, dig a shallow drill 2.5cm deep (1in) deep in the prepared bed. Place two seeds every nine inches in the drill and cover the seeds to a depth of 2.5cm (1in). Water well if the conditions are at all dry.The seedlings should emerge in about 10 days. When they are 5cm (2in) tall, thin to one plant every 45 to 60cm (18 to24in).Sowing tomato seeds indoors is one of the commonest methods and produces good results. Sow each seed (two if you have a surplus) in a 7.5cm (3in) pot, lightly covering them with potting compost. Ensure the compost is moist but not waterlogged. Place them in a warm (up to 27C or 80F) draught free place – the seedlings should emerge in 7 to 10 days time.Immediately this happens, move the plants to a light position (a light windowsill is ideal), but out of direct sunlight to avoid burning the leaves. Where more than one seed has been sown per pot, thin out the least healthy seedling as soon as they are large enough to handle. When the roots start to come through the base of the pot (about 4 weeks after sowing), transfer the plants to larger 12.5cm (5in) pots. The plants will be large enough to transplant outside about 7 weeks after sowing the seed.Sowing tomato seeds outdoors in pots is similar to sowing the seed indoors in pots with the exception that the pots are stored outside whilst the seed germinates. The advantage over indoor sowing is that space is not a limiting factor to the amount of plants to be raised.Timing and position of the plants are the key factors to success. Keep the pots in the warmest part of the garden (against a house wall is ideal) to hasten germination and subsequent growth. The use of cloches will assist greatly in retaining heat. Timing is the most difficult aspect of this method – keeping the plants under cloches and or against a house wall will raise the temperature and permit earlier growing, but it is not an exact science. The basic rules of no frost and a minimum soil temperature of 15C (60F) must be achieved.One combination which can work well is to sow the seeds inside (where they do not have to be in a light position) and the transfer them outside when the seedlings emerge.Just before transplanting the tomato plants to their final position drive a strong stake into the ground 5cm (2in) from the planting position. The stake should be at least 30cm (1ft) deep in the ground and 1.2m (4ft) above ground level – the further into the ground the better the support.Where tomato seedlings have been started in pots, they should be transplanted into their final positions when they are about 15cm (6in) high. Two to three weeks prior to this, the plants should be hardened off.For each plant, dig a hole (45cm / 18in apart) in the bed to the same depth as the pot and water if conditions are at all dry. Ease the plant out of the pot, keeping the root ball undisturbed as far as possible. Place it in the hole and fill around the plant with soil. The soil should be a little higher than it was in the pot.Loosely tie the plant’s stem to the support stake using soft garden twine – allow some slack for future growth.

Looking for ways to improve your tomato yields? Or maybe you don’t have a traditional garden, and are looking for a way to grow tomatoes on your porch, or maybe an apartment balcony. Growing tomatoes is almost a national pastime, and we are always on the hunt for better ways to grow tomatoes. So let’s take a look at some of the advantages of growing tomatoes in hanging planters.First, as we mentioned, a hanging planter can be used in many places where a traditional garden is out of the question. For a condo or apartment dweller, some type of balcony planter is the only option, and a hanging planter is probably the most efficient use of space. This can work for a patio as well.You have very few problems with weeds and a hanging planter, as you control the soil mix yourself, and can even use a soil less mix if you want which will also control many diseases as well. And you can change it out every year to further reduce soil borne diseases. The limited surface area of a planter controls weeds, too.Since the plants are hanging, and the vines grow down, the whole issue of needing tomato cages and stakes is virtually eliminated. If you use a determinant variety, even the need for pruning is reduced.You can extend your growing season as well, since you can move the plant inside for those nights at the beginning and end of the growing season that are just cold enough to kill the plant, but if you can get through one or two of them you can get an extra week or two of growing season.The thing to keep in mind with any container gardening is to water well, as this will make or break the success of your tomatoes in a planter. And of course some planters work better than others for this.

Almost anyone can grow tomatoes in their garden, and it’s quite popular. It’s no mystery why, as anyone who has sliced a fresh tomato on a sandwich, or popped a Sweet 100 in their mouth while still standing in the garden knows that the taste of commercially grown tomatoes doesn’t compare to a fresh garden tomato.

Tips for Improving your tomatoes:

Start with where you plant your tomatoes. Are you planning on growing the tomatoes in the garden or in a container. In either setting, a well drained, loamy soil is preferred, with a pH of somewhere between 6 and 7, which is slightly on the acidic side. Work in some well rotted compost, if it is not thoroughly decomposed it will rob nitrogen from the soil, and the tomatoes will suffer. If you going to use the garden, it may be preferable to use a raised bed garden to ensure proper drainage. It will also allow you to create the soil that your tomatoes want.

If you are looking at container grown tomatoes, there are several choices. A large self watering container, like the commercially available Earthbox is a great choice, as it solves one of the biggest problems with container grown plants, which is the tendency for them to quickly dry out.

Supporting your tomatoes is critical to their optimum production. This can be done with stakes or cages. But one other approach is to use hanging planters. By letting the tomato vines hang down from the planter, they are supported on the top end, and the need to stake or cage is eliminated. This is true for the upside down tomato planters as well, which also relieve the stress on the vine as it drapes over the edge of a traditional hanging planter.

Hanging planters have other advantages like eliminating the need for bending or stooping to work on them. And all the container approaches let you put tomatoes in places that normally can’t hold a garden, like and apartment or condo, or just the back patio or deck.

There are many other tips to great tomato gardening, like the proper selection of tomato varieties, the type of fertilizer to use, proper pruning, and plant spacing, when it’s best to plant, and more…

Tomatoes are among some of the most popular vegetables to grow in your backyard. Rightly so too, because for some reason, homegrown tomatoes taste about 500% better than store-bought ones. In fact, for a period of time when the tomato prices were unusually high, my husband and I boycotted store-bought tomatoes because they were simply a “cardboard tasting” habit for sandwiches. However, once summer started, we decided to grow our own beefsteak tomatoes. It was just too weird to have a burger without a tomato on it! If you’re interesting in growing some good-tasting juicy tomatoes as well, here are some tips to help you on your journey.
1. Starting the seeds. Tomato seeds germinate in temperatures 65F/18C or higher. They grow pretty easy from seeds. You simply get some small pots, put some potting soil in them, and bury the seeds according to the seed package directions. Keep the soil moist and keep them in a warm sunny spot where it can get at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. In a few days, you’ll see your seeds starting to sprout!
2. Starting from plants. The easiest way to start growing tomatoes is to get some tomato plants from the nearest home and garden center or nursery. Select dark green plants that look strong. Make sure it doesn’t have any tomatoes already growing on it, because that will keep the plant from growing to its fullest size. When you get home, re-pot the plant into a huge outdoor pot or simply place it in the ground where you want to grow it. It’s good to bury the plant all the way up to the top leaves so that it develops a good solid root base. Few plants can handle being planted this way, but for tomatoes, it works well. Be sure to plant your tomatoes in a place that gets full sun at least 6 hours a day throughout its growing season.
3. Watering your plants. Keep your plants moist, but don’t over water them. Over watering can do as much damage to them as under watering!
4. Fertilizing your plants. Fertilizing might be a bit of a pain, but it’s highly important. Most soil these days simply doesn’t have enough nutrients to produce nice sweet and healthy produce. You can get some good fertilizers at your local nursery or home and garden center that is made specifically for tomatoes. This works well because it’ll be sure to give your plant the most nutrients it needs.
5. Harvesting your tomatoes. The tomatoes will be ripe when they are nice and deep red. Don’t pick them green if you want the juiciest and sweetest tomatoes, however, they do last quite a long time if you need to harvest them early. Simply wrap them up in newspaper for long storage.
Enjoy! There’s nothing like home grown tomatoes!