I am new to gardening, and I want to start growing some vegetables. I was thinking of starting with tomatoes in containers. Any suggestions? SC

It’s not surprising that you want to start with tomatoes since tomatoes have to be the #1 crop for home gardeners. However, there are so many different types, it can get confusing. Let’s de-clutter the thought process on growing tomatoes a little bit.

When selecting which variety of tomato, you want to grow, the first decision you will likely need to make will be deciding if you want to grow determinate or indeterminate tomatoes. Determinate tomato varieties produce a single crop, usually all at the same time. After they have produced this crop of fruits, they are done. Indeterminate tomatoes continue to produce fruit all season. Determinate tomatoes are good if you plan on canning your tomatoes or making a bunch of salsa to enjoy the rest of the year. Indeterminate varieties provide you with tomatoes for most of the growing season, maybe slowing down a little bit in the dog days of summer, but then picking up again until fall. If you really like tomatoes, plan on growing some of each.

Next up on the decision tree will be deciding between heirloom and hybrid tomatoes. Heirloom varieties are those that have remained essentially the same for many years. These are the ones whose seeds get passed from generation to generation. Hybrid tomatoes are those that have been cross bred to help increase production or perhaps increase disease resistance. Seed packets will have a variety of codes on them indicating resistance to certain diseases in tomatoes. If you want to increase your chance of success as a beginning gardener, maybe go with the hybrids for now and then graduate to the heirlooms as you gain more experience as a gardener.

Tomatoes are a sun loving plant, so when planning on growing tomatoes, be sure you have a location for them where they can receive 8-10 hours of sun per day. If you don’t have a spot that gets this much sun, you can still grow tomatoes in locations with 6 hours or so of sun, your plants just won’t be as robust as they would have been in a full sun location. Also, a little protection from the late afternoon cooking sun is always a good idea.

If you are going to grow your tomatoes in a container, just make sure to fill with a high quality garden soil. And don’t forget to put drainage holes in the bottom of your container so your plants won’t suffer from root rot.

Tomatoes do best with a fertilizer that is low in nitrogen, so start them out with a little sprinkle of 10-20-10 or a similar fertilizer, about a tablespoon per plant. This quantity of fertilizer will not carry them through the growing season so plan on adding about 2 tablespoons per plant when the first fruits are about one third grown, then again about 2 weeks after the first fruits ripen and then again about a month later. Water the plants thoroughly after fertilizing.

When deciding how many tomato plants to grow, a good guide is about 3 - 5 plants per person if you are wanting fresh fruit season long. If you are wanting to can or process your tomatoes, 5 - 10 plants per person is a good guide. All this depends on how many tomatoes you want your plants to produce.

Spacing of your tomato plants is critical and varies with variety. When growing tomatoes in container, just be sure to give each plant some space. When planting in the ground, 2-4 foot spacing is recommended.

Most tomato plants will need some type of support and there are a variety of ways to accomplish this. Most of us are familiar with the standard tomato cages. Tomato cages work best with determinate tomato plants since they tend to be bushier. In contrast, indeterminate tomato plants can get 4 to 6 feet tall, and cages of this size can get expensive. A staking system of some sort works well for these large indeterminate tomato plants. We have a video on the Vegetable page of our website (www.tulsamastergardeners.org) that goes into a variety of ways to stake tomato plants.

Water is something else you need to stay on top of with tomatoes since they can easily get stressed when they don’t get enough water and stressed plants are more susceptible to disease and other growing challenges. During May and June, plan on giving your plants at least one inch of water per week and then in July, August, and September up that to at least two inches of water. This will vary depending on your growing location and soil conditions, but tomatoes will tell you pretty quick when they need water so try not to stress about it.

If you follow these tips, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying tomatoes all season long, unless of course you planted a determinate variety then you’ll have a great crop all at once. See you in the garden!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org.

Photo Courtesy: OSU Division of Agricultural Resources