How To Grow Tomatoes From Seed To Harvest
Learn how to grow tomatoes from seed to harvest in your own home garden with this step-by-step guide showing you all you need to know from planting through harvest and even preservation. Learning when and how to plant tomatoes has a lot to do with how they grow, and how many pounds you’ll have at harvest time. Tomatoes are fairly easy to grow providing they have good soil, are trellised properly and kept free from weeds. Growing tomatoes is also an important step in growing the food to fill your pantry. If I could only grow one vegetable, it would be tomatoes. I can nine different kinds of tomatoes and tomato sauce for my homestead pantry, and from these jars of tomatoes I make many different meals to feed my family.
Cost: 1
Equipment
- 1 tomato plants
Materials
- Landscape Fabric Optional
- Propane Torch Optional
- Drip Line Optional
Instructions
Seeding Tomatoes
- Place 2 seeds in each soil block or cell of a seeding tray. Cover with a ¼" of soil and water gently.
- Cover with a dome or plastic bag to hold in moisture and put trays in a warm place until the seeds germinate.
- Once seeds are germinated, place them under lights on plant racks, keeping the lights 2 to 3 inches above the plants.
- About one week before time to transplant your seedlings outdoors, harden them off by putting them outside in the shade for part of the day. Slowly introduce them to the sun so they get used to it.
Transplanting
- Lay down your landscape fabric and burn holes in it for the tomatoes to grow in. (Optional) If you’re not using landscape fabric, just mark out your rows using a stringline, and start planting.
- Dig a hole using a drill or your hands large enough for the plants roots and surrounding soil. Plant tomatoes deep enough below the soil surface that the bottom part of the stem below the first set of leaves is covered in soil. Snip off the lowest set of leaves.
Watering and Weeding
- Water the plants a little bit everyday for the first week to encourage new root growth. Then slowly scale back the watering to about 1 inch of water per week. If it’s really hot, they might need more, but be careful not to overwater your garden. Cultivate or weed once a week, and the weeds will be easy to keep up with. If using the fabric, I typically only have to weed them once or twice during the season.
Pruning and Trellising
- Prune off the suckers and trellis using the florida weave method.
Harvesting
- Pick tomatoes when they are fully ripe. The color of the tomatoes may be different depending on th variety.
- Eat fresh or preserve for use during the winter months.
