When to grow, what to grow, where to grow and how to grow, pests, diseases and controlling them
Please note – this is written in a way to assist those that have a limited amount of gardening knowledge but at the same time there will be information in this article that will be of use to the most seasoned gardener. I have tried to keep the information and tips as simple as possible and orientated towards those without glass houses and planting the most popular of varieties.
Tomatoes – a brief introduction: Tomatoes belong to the same family as potatoes, capsicums, eggplants, cape gooseberries, tamarillos and the deadly nightshade!! (Tomato leaves do contain some poisonous substances)
They are warm season plants very susceptible to frost.
Botanically, tomatoes are regarded as a fruit because the ripe tomato is in fact a giant berry. Anyway who’s bothered, there is nothing more satisfying than producing your own and eating them fresh.
I do love the name the French gave to tomatoes – “pomme d’amour” – love apple.
When to grow: You need to wait until you are fairly certain there are no more frosts. Of course you can start them out under cover or in a small glass house or you can start them out from seed if you can be bothered but unless you have nothing else to do not many of us have the luxury of that much spare time.
What to grow: Basically this is a matter of personal choice or experience. I have listed below all the popular varieties and their main characteristics. This list includes the Super Tom varieties – whilst more expensive they do give a greater yield.
Big Tomatoes
Big Beef – big, tasty and high yielding – produces early.
Grosse Lisse – fleshy large smooth tomatoes – popular for home gardens.
Revolution – meaty very large tomatoes, easy to grow and tasty.
Medium Size
Alboran – flattish tomato, vigorous variety which is tolerant of lower temperatures.
Aragon – another vigorous number, tomatoes set well.
Ashkar – a high production plant, very strong and open aspect, the tomatoes are round with a flattish top.
Best of All – very popular tomato and good for cooking. Tomatoes are medium to large.
Early Girl – delicious taste, heavy crop of large to medium with excellent colour and flavour.
Kakanui Choice – somewhat unique flavour, produces round and very red tomatoes. Good for glasshouses as well as outdoors.
Kakanui 2000 – ideal for cool season production. Tomatoes maintain size to the top of the vine.
Moneymaker – one of the most popular for home gardeners, produces good crop of tomatoes mid season, globe shape and deep red.
Potentate – these have an excellent flavour and produce large globe shaped tomatoes with a smooth skin.
Pinnacle – strong compact plant with globe shaped tomatoes.
Russian Red – very hardy with bright, red, round tomatoes. Tolerant to cooler temperatures.
Super Son – extra vigorous fellow with a high yield. Tomatoes are of excellent quality.
Taupo – cold tolerant variety, high yield and early maturing. Disease resistant.
Cocktail shape and bite size varieties
Cockatoo – this is a cracker of a tomato and one of my favourites. Good size for salads. Large numbers per truss and they ripen evenly – this is a tomato for the connoisseur and you should plant at least two of these little beauties.
Sweet 100 – Lovely long trusses which can bear up to 100 small sweet tomatoes. Very flavoursome.
Super Sweet - oval shape, small, bite size tomato. Early maturing and very sweet.
Low Acid
Dr. Walter – smooth, medium to large very meaty tomato with good flavour – this is moderately acid free.
Roma – pear shape tomato, Italian style / type, Good home garden variety.
Riverview Ruby – another Italian style similar to Roma but possible better flavour – medium to large tomatoes.
Where to grow them: This will not take long. Pick the sunniest spot in your garden. A spot that gets sun all day is the most preferable.
If you can plant them up against a wall or a fence even better.
The soil must be well drained and apart from digging in a lot of compost which tomatoes love you are best to apply a side dressing of specialised tomato fertiliser. They also like sheep manure but buy a processed bag from your garden centre as the fresh stuff is full of weeds.
So warmth and heat will be the influencing factor – if you have not got a spot that will provide at least a half days sun you are probably wasting your time!
Note that tomatoes can be grown in containers but make sure it is big enough to nourish the roots.
You can also plant them straight into a bag of tomato mix if you are short on space – I can assure you that you will get a very healthy crop this way.
How to grow them: Now to the important bits.
Once your soil is prepared with lots of compost and tomato fertiliser dug in, place your plants approx. 15 inches / 375mm apart and hammer in a suitable size stake into the ground. (It is best to do this before planting as you can damage the roots if you do it after you have planted).
If you are planting in rows then the rows should be 1.2 metres apart.
Tomatoes need air to circulate to stop the spread of fungal disease.
Stakes should be around 2 metres out of the ground and stable enough to support the grown plant – nothing worse than seeing everything collapse just when things are looking good. Of course if you are planting up against a fence or wall you can use trellis which makes it easy for supporting the plants as they grow.
Tomato roots should be mulched to keep them moist and as an alternative to a good mulching material such as pea straw etc (definitely NOT grass clippings as they can promote disease) think about laying down some black weed matting over the area you are going to plant in. Hammer the stake through it and cut a cross where you intend to plant the tomato, folding the edges back after planting. This not only keeps the roots moist but keeps the weeds away as well.
Now dig a deep hole because when you plant the tomato, plant it up to the first set of leaves – remove these leaves and use this as a bench mark as to where you want the soil line to be.
The reason for doing this is because it creates a stronger root system which will ensure the plant grows faster.
Next tie the plant to the stake – I know you will probably use twine or string but I would absolutely recommend that use what is called “Plantlok” – you can buy this by the metre or if you have lots of dosh buy a packet of it.
You cut it to the length you want and then it locks into itself. It is gentle on the plant, you can loosen it off or tighten it up and you can re-use it.
From this point on until the fruit starts to set there are two things you must do.
- Watering – tomatoes love water and they thrive if the roots are kept moist. However you will get better results if you water early in the morning before the sun is too hot on the plant or early evening when the sun is not directly on the plant. Some water twice a day but a good soak once a day should be enough particularly if you are using a mulch.
- The other thing you must do to ensure that all the growth is going into the plant and then subsequently the trusses of tomatoes is to “pinch” out the laterals. Laterals are the shoots of growth that appear where the leaves grow out of the main stalk of the plant. Wait until they are long enough to deal with – around 20mm long and using your thumb and forefinger “pinch” them out from the plant. If you leave them growth will be distracted and ultimately if there are a lot of them you will end up with small fruit and the plant will look very untidy.
Once the trusses with tomatoes on are starting to develop and colour, be on the look out for leaves that are shading the tomatoes. Do not be afraid to remove these leaves – you don’t want to denude too many as this will cause damage because the plant needs leaves to absorb and provide nourishment to the plant.
Once you have six or seven trusses of tomatoes chop the top off the plant to push all the growth into the tomatoes that are ripening on the plant. You could let it grow but most of the tomatoes at the top of the plant will never ripen before summer is over.
Tomatoes ripen better on the vine but don’t leave them on there too long because the birds will get into them and if you get a lot of rain they will split. Once picked store them at room temperature because they will lose their flavour if stored in the fridge.
When April arrives and you still have trusses with tomatoes on them, cut the trusses off and store the trusses in a warm place to ripen.
Pests and diseases:
Tomatoes are susceptible to fungal diseases, whitefly and caterpillars. Depending on what part of the country you live will determine the scope of what will affect your plants. In Canterbury with tomatoes grown in the garden, three major problems are more than likely to be fungus, green looper caterpillar and whitefly.
One of the best remedies to fight off the pests is to plant what are known as “companion plants”. These plants will either attract insects that attack pests that affect tomatoes or they can repel insects that attack tomatoes.
Such plants are basil, beans, carrots, chives, garlic, parsley, marigolds and bay trees. (Of course I prefer Marigolds)
Fungus can be minimised by removing any rotting matter from around the plants and avoid getting water on the tomatoes when watering. Some of the symptoms of fungal attack are yellowing leaves, black mould or spots appearing on the leaves or the tomatoes and the leaves wilting.
Avoid using a commercial spray if you can because it affects other plants around the tomato. There are organic alternatives for both fungus and pests – talk to the staff at the garden centre but do tell them you would rather seek an organic solution.
Marigold Botanicus House & Garden Church Corner
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