How and when to plant tomatoes at home

have you proposed eat your own tomatoes? With a little patience you can achieve it, although you should know that the tomato is one of the plants most prone to problems. If you still want to, we hope so, you know that planting tomatoes at home is rewarding -when they come out- and the process is even fun.

The tomato is a vegetable with many properties beneficial for health, especially for its antioxidant vitamins C, E and A, as well as those contained in the B Group, especially B1, B6 and above all folic acid.

Another of the great benefits of tomato is its content in lycopene (about 3,000 mcg/100 g), which also has antioxidant effects and is precisely what gives it its red color.

Contrary to what one might think, the best way to take this lycopene is in cooked products and not in raw tomatoes. When cooking, for example, in a sofrito with onion and garlic, tomato lycopene is absorbed three times as efficiently because the heat breaks down cell membranes and allows it to leak out.

The greatest sources of lycopene are purees, and especially sauces or concentrates, and even more so if they are made at home with ripe seasonal tomatoes and olive oil.

If you want to have your own tomatoes at home, you should start by getting to know this vegetable a little better. The first thing is that in the world more than 20,000 varieties. You can find tomatoes in almost all shapes, colors, and scents. But there is two big categories that you must distinguish before getting down to work with your personal garden:

types of tomatoes

1. Bush tomatoes (or determinate tomatoes). As its name indicates, they are bush type. This variety, which does not usually need a guide or trellis, stops growing when it reaches adulthood. Among its characteristics is that it does not need to be pruned and that it is ideal for growing tomatoes in a pot. On the other hand, this type of plant gives the tomatoes all at once, that is, they tend to bear fruit for a short period of time. The most commonly planted tomatoes are:

– River Tomato

– Cherry Gold Nugget

– Roma tomato

2. Vine (or indeterminate) tomatoes. These plants are the ones that produce tomatoes that are harvested late in the season, throughout the summer and until the first frost. Their production tends to be spread more evenly throughout the season. This plant really needs a tutored and it is also necessary and cutting the suckers. Remember that, unlike the previous one, this plant grows in an unlimited way according to its vital conditions. Among these tomatoes are:

– Tomate Black Cherry

– Marmande tomato

– Mushroom tomato

– Tomate Green Zebra

To be successful growing tomatoes you need to have a rich and fertile land or a fertilizer for pots without peat, as well as a sunny place and protected from low temperatures. Water the plants regularly and when they start to flower, add potassium-rich compost every week.

How to plant tomatoes in pots

1. The pot. It has to be a large size, the more, the better. Fill the pot with good quality soil and make sure the container has good drainage.

2. Deep planting. Tomatoes need a deep hole in the ground to be able to develop strong roots.

3. Irrigation. The success of growing tomatoes depends on maintaining constant humidity. If the soil drains quickly, consider using a water-retaining additive, a self-watering container, or checking the soil for moisture daily. Ambient heat around a container can warm the land faster than plantings in the ground. If a tomato plant gets too little water, it will wilt and wilt, and the tomatoes could develop blossom rot. If plants receive irregular watering, tomato fruits can crack or split. During sweltering summer days or hot, windy days, you may have to water your plants twice. Watering your plants in the morning to provide moisture throughout the day and allow the foliage to dry is one of the best things you can do. It is important to apply the water directly on the soil and avoid wetting the foliage: this can favor the appearance of fungi.

Another crucial rule: the soil must be moist but not soggy. Too much water can cause the plant’s roots to rot. Make sure the container has several drainage holes.

4. Cover the earth. In relation to the above, when you are ready to plant, keep the soil at least one centimeter below the edge of the pot, in order to add a layer of mulch that helps keep the moisture in the soil. You can also use traditional mulch materials, such as straw, shredded bark, shredded leaves, or newspaper.

5. The temperature. The soil must be at a minimum of 15º before planting. There are very cheap soil thermometers that will be of great help to you. When you transplant into warm soil, the plants adapt better, absorb nutrients better and grow much faster.

6. The sun. Tomato plants need full sun, that is, at least 6 to 8 hours a day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. You can use a measuring device like a solar calculator or go outside to inspect how much sunlight the place receives during the day. If they don’t get enough sun, move the tomato pots to a spot where they do.

When to plant tomatoes

Surely what you are wondering now is when is the best time to put everything you have learned into practice, when is the best time to plant tomatoes. The answer varies depending on where on the planet we are located, of course, but the Golden Rule is that the tomato needs a ttemperature between 20-35º for flowering and development. In addition, it requires between 6-10 hours of sun to grow.

For all these reasons, in Spain the best time to grow tomatoes at home is spring and summer. The optimal months to grow tomatoes are: from March to June for the northern hemisphere and from October for the southern hemisphere.