First things first.  The most important thing to growing any plant is the soil that you are going to grow it in.  If you have poor soil then you cant expect to get healthy plants…Common sense really!!

Tomatoes are not really fussy about soil but I always add some organic compost to mine, usually a grow bag or two.  If you have your own compost heap, even better.  Unfortunately mine is not very good at the minute as we are building some new compost bins.

Always plant tomatoes where they will get lots of sun (wishful thinking!). Try and plant either early morning or the evening if the weather is warm so that they don’t get transplant  shock.

Carefully take your tomato plant out of its pot (you might have to squeeze the pot slightly if there are lots of roots).  Make the planting hole deeper than you would normally do as we need to bury the tomato plant right up to the top few leaves, this will enable the plant to produce more roots along the stem and make a much stronger plant.

As tomatoes are hungry plants and need lots of nutrients you can add a couple of extra things into the bottom of the planting hole, although this is not essential and additional nutrients can be added if needed as the plant grows.

For magnesium, which promotes plant vitality and productivity, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of Epsom salts into each hole.

For Calcium, add a handful of crushed egg shells which helps prevent ‘Blossom End Rot’ which I will explain in more detail later on this blog. 

Now add a little organic compost into the planting hole before putting the tomato plant in.

Remember to take off all the ‘side shoots’/leaves right up to the top few.

Put the tomato plant into the hole so the lowest set of leaves is at soil level then fill the hole with the compost/soil.

Press the soil down around the plant gently but firmly to remove any air pockets, LABEL and water well.

As soon as you see the first ‘trusses’ (flowers) then you need to start feeding your tomatoes with a good quality tomato feed which is available from any good garden center and some super markets.  There are alternative, cheaper home-made fertilizers to feed  the tomatoes which I write about soon.

Hope that this information, along with the video will help you to plant your tomatoes successfully.

In my next blog on tomatoes I will explain a little more about nutrient deficiencies and will show you some photos as most tomato growing problems happens to the best of us…..INCLUDING ME!!

REMEMBER THAT TOMATOES  ARE HUNGRY FEEDERS AND NEED FEEDING EVERY WEEK, OR EVEN TWICE A WEEK DEPENDING ON WHERE THEY ARE GROWING!

(Please read the instructions on your tomato feed bottle).

There is so much more to this vegetable/fruit.  I will help you along with growing your tomatoes and ensuring that you grow strong healthy plants and also what you can do with those yummy tomatoes, including, relishes, salsa, sauces, sun-dried, preserving including freezing etc etc etc…..Stay Tuned!!