There are two types of people in the South, says Garden Magik presenter, Melissa Allman: “You get people who have grown tomatoes and those who will grow tomatoes.”

The inference here is that Southerners love planting and eating tomatoes and therefore have a bit of an edge when it comes to both. In this longish (8:07) video, entitled Back to the Garden, Miz Allman, attired in denim shorts and a tomato colored top, tells us how it’s done, deep in the woods of Georgia near Monroe, where the deer still roam free.

There are a number of considerations when growing tomatoes:

* Garden size. If your garden is small, consider planting a determinate type bush (i.e. small, busy, limited in size and easy to manage) rather than an indeterminate type (i.e. rangy, vigorous, requiring pruning and staking/caging).

* Fruit size. Decide if you want small cherry type tomatoes such as Sweet Hundreds or Sweet Millions, large fruits such as Big Boys, Better Boys and Rutgers, or extra large fruit, which really are huge. A Giant Belgian weighed in at 5 lb. and a Delicious at 7 lb 12 oz.

* Seasons. You can plant tomato plants in one of three seasons: early, mid and late. In the early season you plant when the night temperatures are 70 degrees and up. Early Girls and First Ladies are suitable for the early season plantings, and there will be time to plant again after harvest in July and later for harvest in September and the fall. For the mid season, which lasts 60 to 75 days, you plant Big Boys and Better Boys to produce delicious fruits for sandwiches. Late season plants include Abe Lincoln and Arkansas Traveler.

*Soil preparation. Fall is a good time to prepare the soil as it is more friable. Tomatoes like acidic soil in the 6.5 pH range. You should add lime to the soil, preferably dolomitic lime as this contains magnesium, which is good for the skin of the tomatoes. By adding lime you avoid calcium deficiency in the soil and therefore the plant. A lack of calcium leads to plant diseases and other troubles – conditions such as leaf curl and blossom end rot.

*Planting method. Dig deep holes for the plants and put lime at the bottom. Plant 75% to 80% of the plant so that just the top leaves stick out. The stem under the ground will put out out roots to create a strong and vigorous plant. Fertilize the plant when you place it in the soil, with a fertilizer having a 15/15/15 analysis of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. Fertilize it further every six weeks with fertilizer with a 5/10/15 analysis. Use 1 lb of fertilizer per roughly three plants. A low nitrogen content in fertilizer is good for tomato plants. Too much nitrogen and the plant will not be able to absorb calcium.

*Protection. If you live deep in the Southern woods, build a fence around your tomato garden or the deer will get the tomatoes before you do.

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Third generation flower grower and sustainable gardener Yolanda Vanveen of Kalama, Washington imparts bunches of confidence, standing as she does in her kitchen with jars of beautiful flowers behind her. In this compact video (2:39) she gives a potted lesson in planting tomatoes in the garden or in containers.

There are a number of tricks to planting tomatoes, says Yolanda. The first is to plant them in full, hot sun as they need lots and lots of heat. Another trick is to use good seed. She likes Sweetie and Roma, which are small varieties that are great in salads.

Start the seeds indoors in spring. Plant them in seed trays, with 2 or 3 seeds per container. Use a seed starter mix with plenty of vermiculite. Keep them warm and indoors.

When the little seedlings start to emerge, select the dominant plant in each container. You can plant that in a bigger pot if you like. (Throw the others in the compost bin.)

You can plant your little tomato plant outside after the last freeze, when the weather has been 70 degrees plus for at least a week. That’s important. Plant them in a flower bed or up against the house with a black plastic bag around them to generate heat.

Or you can plant them in a container, even a garbage can, or even in a hanging basket. That’s the way to get lovely tomatoes produced outdoors or indoors.

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Third generation flower grower and sustainable gardener Yolanda Vanveen hails from Kalama, Washington. In this short video (1:53) she demonstrates how you can plant a tomato plant in a hanging basket. This is an interesting variation on the usual theme of growing them in ordinary containers on the patio, or simply in your vegetable garden outside.

The trick, says Yolanda, is to choose the right tomato variety. Naturally the smaller varieties, such as Sweetie, are suitable. The large beefsteak ones are simply too heavy. The Sweetie variety makes a cute little vine that produces lots of tomatoes.

Plant 2 or 3 seeds in containers in a seed try after the last freeze, using a good seed starter mix. Plant the seeds just beneath the surface and make sure the soil remains moist. But don’t create a bog or the seeds might just rot.

When the little plants are an inch or two tall and have two or three leaves, plant the strongest one in a hanging basket. It can be on its own or with other plants. Trim out any dead leaves as time goes on and keep the hanging basket in full sun. Don’t over water.

In no time at all you will be making spaghetti sauce using your own tomatoes from your own hanging garden tomato garden.

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Dave of Dave’s Garden fame doesn’t think much of what he calls “fake, store bought tomatoes with their thick skins”. That’s why so many people choose to grow their own sweet and tasty tomatoes at home, he says. Dave’s video (4:29) offers some useful tips, mainly for getting the tomato plants in the ground and how to manage their growth. Remember that most tomatoes are vine varieties and can get out of hand if you do not trellis them properly.

Dave’s quite right in saying you can’t just throw seeds in the ground and expect them to grow. You can buy plants from a garden center or nursery, but Dave believes you should take advantage of the thousands of heirloom, open-pollinated seeds available and sow them yourself. This should be done six to eight weeks before the final frost in your area.

You should plant the seeds in potting soil in plastic containers and place the containers under a growing lamp indoors, in a shed, laundry or kitchen — anywhere you can find space. Put the light as close to the containers as possible. Keep the soil moist (not sopping wet) and maintain a good air flow in the vicinity of the containers. In six to eight weeks you will have beautiful little tomato seedlings.

Locate your tomato garden where the plants will get a minimum ten hours sunlight per day. Take into account that tomato plants need consistent irrigation — not too much, not too little. Make a generous, deep hole for each plant and plant the seedling right up to its neck so that only top cap of leaves shows. This encourages the stem to sprout roots and leads to a healthy and robust plant.

Dave warns against just leaving the tomato plant to grow. It would simply spread all over the ground and what fruits it produced would simply rot. You have to raise them off the ground. There are three ways: staking, fencier staking and caging. A stake can be simply a piece of bamboo. You train each plant up a stake. A fencier stake is a fancy metal one which allows you to tie the plant to the stake. Dave’s favorite, though, is a cage, which is simply a bit of rolled fencing. Dave says he made 40 of these from a $100 roll of fencing (that’s $2.50 each) and they last “forever”. You have to use a length of rebar to weight it down and secure it in the soil so it doesn’t blow away in high winds. And obviously you have to prune away superfluous growth to prevent the tomato plant from spreading. Look at this great video about pruning tomatoes.

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As summer draws closer, it’s time to start putting out your garden. And no matter where you live or how big your garden is, almost every gardener plants out tomatoes. Tomatoes are adaptable; they work well in almost any sunny area, if they’re planted correctly to begin with.

Knowing how to plant your tomatoes can make the difference between weak plants that just do okay, and strong, healthy plants that actually thrive. The strong plants are the ones that get the best head start. Here are some instructions and tips for getting the most out of your tomato plants.

1) Choose your tomato plants by roots, not foliage.

A tomato plant may be well leafed out, and look good up top, but if it doesn’t have a sturdy root system, it won’t grow well. There are a number of ways to check a plant’s root system. The easiest way is simply to lift the pot or cell pack and look at the bottom. If there are fine white roots trying to peek out the drainage holes, you have a plant with a healthy root system.

Another way, although not quite as reliable, is to gently hold the stem between your thumb and forefinger, being very careful not to bruise or break it, and tug lightly. If it gives, it isn’t well rooted in. But never tug too hard, or you’ll end up uprooting and damaging even a healthy plant.

2) Dig a deep enough hole for your tomato plant.

With many plants, when you plant them from a pot into the ground, you want your hole to be the same size as the pot the plant just came out of. Tomatoes are different. When you plant your tomato, you want to bury all but the cluster of leaves at the very top. Look at the stem of the tomato plant. Do you see the fine hairs on it? When buried, those hairs turn into roots. This gives the plant a jump start on a healthy, established root system.

What if you have a tall tomato plant, or your ground is too shallow to be able to dig that deep? It’s not a problem. Instead of digging a deep hole, dig a trench, as deep as you can make it, and long enough to hold all but the top cluster of leaves. When you plant the tomato, you’ll lay it on its side in the trench, with the top curving gently upwards to poke above the soil.

3) Puddle it in.

Instead of planting the tomato in a dry (or even lightly moist) hole, then putting more dry (or lightly moist) soil around it, then watering it in, give your tomato the best possible start by puddling it in. The extra water will help the tomato get over its transplant shock faster.

4) Mulch your tomato plants.

Adding two or three inches of hardwood bark mulch around the tomato keeps the soil moist longer. Tomatoes don’t like to have their roots too wet for too long, but they don’t like to completely dry out, either. Mulch helps create this essential balance between too much water and too little.

These four tips will give your tomatoes the best possible start. So what are you waiting for? Get those tomato plants started!

By Keesa Renee DuPre

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This video is by Insightful Nana, who has started YouTube series on everything from making popcorn to container gardening. The idea is to promote Better Living for Today’s Woman.

Dear old Nana. She makes a song and dance about putting a Celebrity tomato plant in a container and projecting what the plant will do. In this video (9:09) all that Nana really says is:

1. You can grow tomato plants in containers — all kinds of tomato plants whether bush types or vines
2. Use potting soil in the proportions 11 parts Fruit & Veg Growing Soil to one part Perlite
3. Get a plant from a nursery and plant it up to its neck in its roomy container, burying the lower branches
4. Give your tomato plant it 8-9 hours sunlight a day, moving it around on a plant caddy if necessary
5. Keep the soil moist and give the plant plenty of air
6. Pinch off the suckers to prevent excessive green growth
7. Stake the plant with a stick, securing it with nylons
8. When the tomato plant is tall enough, curtail the bushy growth on top, which encourages fruit production
9. Enjoy your tomato crop

Be warned: the sound quality on this video is not fantastic.

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This is a scary little BBC cartoon video (1:08) for people who haven’t a clue about planting tomatoes. What’s more, watching this video they are unlikely to get one either. The message is this: Once indoor tomato plants have emerged, leave them outside to acclimatize. Then plant them in a growbag or a container or in the ground, about 20 inches apart. They need to be in a sunny, sheltered spot. Pinch off new growth. Stake them with a garden cane or stick. Water them well and you will get a crop. That’s it.

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Considering what an abstruse art most ordinary folk find tomato pruning to be, as evidenced by tens of thousands of viewings of this video (1:41), Mr Greenthumb aka Stan de Freitas delivers a startlingly short and simple lecture.

Standing in the St Petersburg, Florida garden center where he is the resident pruning guru, MGT says you prune for a couple of reasons, namely to get rid of suckers (that’s nursery speak for new shoots) and to cut out problem areas such as leaf mite, mildew, fungus etc.  He doesn’t say why you want to get rid of those suckers but presumably it is to limit the ranginess of the plant.

MGT makes a big deal out of making a quick, clean cut. He doesn’t say if tomato plants are sensitive to pruning speed. That seems unlikely. It could be that the retired folk in Florida fall asleep with their sheers in their hands when pruning their plants and he feels the need to warn frosty-top tomato growers that they need to guard against this real and present danger.

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This is a sweet little Australian video (6:36) without much visual interest (locked off camera showing Greg planting seeds in seed trays) but it contains some interesting information about planting tomato seeds “chemical free.”

Greg places seed raising mix in trays, but he says you can also plant them in little pots. As a horse is heard clopping by, Greg informs us that he is planting Rama tomatoes this year. At the same time he is planting some marigold seeds. These plants, along with garlic and basil, he will plant among the tomato plants to ward of nematodes (soil borne germs that are fatal to tomatoes) and also insects.

As Greg’s dog Jenny starts yapping in the background, Greg reminds us that it is best to have clean hands when working with seeds and seed raising mix. Once the seeds are nicely planted, you spray them thoroughly with water from a plastic spray bottle and place them in warm part of the house. In 5 or 6 weeks the seedlings will be ready for planting.

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Mr Greenthumb aka Stan de Freitas of Willow Tree Nursery in St Petersburg, Florida is so clever when it comes to horticulture that it’s scary. In a video just 1 minute and 34 seconds long he explains the techniques of organic tomato growing.

What is organic? asks this bon vivant and provides an instant answer: It’s growing plants without using chemicals.

Which doesn’t mean you aren’t going to use anything at all. Instead you are going to use nursery products that are friendly to the environment and not harmful. Of course these will contain chemicals, but of the natural kind and not out of the factory.

Mr Greenthumb says you should use Black Kow cow manure, which is not very high power when it comes to fertilizing, with a make-up of just .5 (N), .5 (K) and .5 (P). But it’s very good at “keeping the good stuff in the soil”. Also you should use peat moss to retain the moisture and the good stuff, and you should also use fish emulsion “because it’s organic”. Presumably none of those fish were contaminated in any way by chemicals.

Stan then puts a positive spin on organics by asserting that the Amish have wonderful gardens because they improved the soil with organic matter. So save all those grass clipping, kitchen waste, coffee grindings and feed them into your soil like a man in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, says Mr Greenthumb. He ends by adding that you should start your plants healthy with Hi-Yield Dipel Dust. What is that stuff? Hope it’s organic.

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