So if you haven’t already cultivated your tomato plants from seed you will have to go and buy some tomato plants and quickly. Because they need to be in the ground, a growbag or a 12″ plant pot this week or certainly no later than next week.

You also need to consider how long the tomato plants take to mature, they tend to come in 3 groups

• early season varieties, no more than 60 days
• mid season varieties, no more than 75 days
• late season varieties, no more than 90 days

It is the size of the tomatoes that primarily dictates how long they take to mature, cherry tomatoes generally slot into the early season variety, mid size such as plum tomatoes tend to go in the mid season grouping and larger tomatoes like beefsteak fit in the late season group. It’s a good idea to have plants from the different varieties to ensure that you have tomatoes maturing throughout the whole season.

Taking into account when you are likely to see the last frost of the winter, you can actually stagger when you get your plants into their final spot to further extend the season. Realistically you are probably only going to be able to steal another month because even after April has passed there is still a bit of a chance of a late frost.

We actually saw snow this year in the South of France during the first week of May, a bit of a disaster from the tomato growing perspective, especially if you are planting straight into the ground. So as they say in Yorkshire, ‘ner cast a clout till May is out’ which means don’t remove any clothes until May is out (out meaning arrived) so literally you need May to have arrived before you can consider the cold weather has completely finished. this year being an exception to that rule; so much for global warming.

So in summary the time to plant tomatoes in the UK is during the month of May, but taking care not to be caught by a late frost at the beginning of May. Seeds need to be being cultivated around 4 weeks to 6 weeks before that, depending on variety which puts you at the middle of to the end of March. In the UK that might mean you need to start your seeds indoors or in a heated greenhouse to get the ideal germination temperature of 16C (61F), but hopefully by then you will be OK.

Of course if you have the facilities available such as a heated greenhouse, you can start seeds much earlier perhaps around the end of January, but you will need to be able to protect the subsequent plants from frost as they are likely to be ready at the beginning or middle of March. They will also need some reasonable periods of sun, ideally at least 6 to 7 hours a day, not always easy to come by during March, but still feasible although they may be a little slower maturing.

Even now you will need to be vigilant, but as we are rapidly approaching May, then there is a good chance that all the spring frosts are behind us. If you want to be ultra careful, what you can do is to plant your tomatoes in pots (12″ diameter is the best size for tomatoes) and if there does happen to be a warning of a frosty morning, you can bring the plants indoors overnight and protect them. Bit of a pain, but better than losing them all to our chilly friend.

If you haven’t grown your own plants from seed, it’s not too late but with an average time of 6 to 8 weeks from seed to plants large enough to plant out, and a short season in the UK, it is getting pretty close to the time when you will have no option but to go and buy your tomatoes in plant form. Choosing smaller varieties will help you in this direction because they don’t take as long to ripen as the larger beefsteak varieties.

When you do plant them out, make sure you pick the best location for your tomatoes and take care of the basic needs. You can remind yourself of what you need to do when planting tomato plants using the link provided.

It has seemed like the longest winter ever this year but April going into May really is the best time for planting tomato plants in the UK. Good luck.

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• Planting directly in the soil
• Planting in a pre-prepared container

Planting Tomatoes Directly in the Soil

For the best results consider preparing the soil by digging a trench about 18″ deep and long enough to accommodate your tomato plants. The plants will normally require to be spaced about 18″ apart.

To help with water retention you can place a thin layer of a suitable mulch in the bottom of the trench, something like a layer of newspaper would be a suitable choice. Then fill the trench with a mixture of nitrogen rich compost and top soil. The all purpose compost should be well rotted and matured to ensure an adequate supply of nitrogen to the plants.

It is also a good idea to warm the soil slightly for tomato growing, this can be achieved by placing a dark layer over the ground that absorbs the heat from the sun and transfers it into the ground. Once the soil has warmed a little the plants can be put in; typically in the UK this would be in the early part of April, assuming there is no further risk of frost.

Once the plants are in, many people like to add a further layer of mulch over the top of the soil. There are advantages for doing this, but also disadvantages. The advantages are, that depending on the mulch selected, not only will the mulch prevent proliferation of weeds but can also supplement the plant feed if a nitrogen rich mulch is selected.

A disadvantage is that certain mulch types can keep the soil from being warmed, so look for a suitable compromise. You can visit Tomato Mulches for more detailed information.

Planting Tomatoes in Containers

The term containers has been used loosely here, because it refers to both pots and growbags. If you use a plant pot then ideally it will be around 12″ in diameter. Growbags tend to come in 35 or 40 liter sizes and the recommendation is that you would put 2 to 3 plants per growbag ideally. Visit Tomato Containers for a range of options.

Before using a plant pot you should clean the inside with a dilute solution of disinfectant, Jeyes fluid would be a good choice. Then fill the pots with a good quality, well mature, nitrogen rich compost to about an inch from the rim of the pot. Once the plant is established, you may find that you need to top up the compost a little as time goes on.

The main source of contaminants to a tomato plant is from the soil it is planted in, particularly after several seasons. That is why using containers is a good option and also why digging a trench and then renewing the soil in a trench can save you quite a lot of grief. You could probably get by with renewing the trench perhaps every 2 or 3 seasons, unless of course you have experienced any problems.

Many of the problems people encounter with their tomato crops arise from irregular watering and or extremes of temperature. These include blossom end rot, split skins, flower shedding and ripening problems but there are more.

Many people these days can lead very hectic lifestyles and are constantly under time pressure to get everything done, so taking care of the garden can sometimes drop down the list of priorities. For those people I would say that considering an automatic garden watering system of some sort is a good way of making sure that you address at least one of the tomato care factors that is very important for ensuring a full and healthy crop of tomatoes.

There are a number of options available that vary in both price and efficiency to suit your budget and the level of assistance you need. These can range from a simple roll mat that sits under your plant pots to a full blown Micro Water Irrigation System.

Two of my favorites are the ‘Big Drippa Watering System’ and the simple water spike which you just fill and leave, topping up periodically as and when you get the chance, just make sure they don’t run dry. You can purchase the water spikes ready made as below or you can adapt your own version, maybe from an old lemonade bottle which you puncture to allow the water to leak out into the surrounding soil. There are obvious benefits to using something designed for the job, but as long as you take a little care there is no reason why you cannot get your own self fashioned version to work equally as well.

I have included a couple of the better automated systems in the options available, one that runs off a large storage tank for longer periods of watering and the other that runs off your tap for a fully automated system that really does take the pain out of watering if you do have one of those very busy lifestyles.

A word of warning before we finish this post, there are other factors to consider when growing tomatoes, such as pest control, pruning etc. If you do decide on a fully automatic system don’t forget that you will still need to check your plants for other problems so that you can nip them in the bud, so to speak. Sorry about the pun.

A very common tomato pest is the aphid, on their own these little beasties look fairly innocuous and harmless, unfortunately they are not stone kickers and when they arrive, seemingly out of thin air, they arrive by the droves.There are also hundreds of different species of aphids.

There are loads of different ways to treat aphids and if applied at the right time they will work pretty effectively. A small but significant problem however is their ability to multiply, without having to mate and their persistence.

They see out the winter as eggs which hatch in the spring to turn into the winged females that go looking for nice juicy sap filled plants where they can lay their eggs. The eggs once laid only take about a week to hatch and the resulting aphids, which have a piercing bite will start to feed off the plant and produce young of their own and so the cycle begins.

Each aphid can produce up to 100 offspring so its not hard to imagine that within a very short time frame you could be faced with dealing with several thousands of these little creatures. When the food supply starts to get exhausted the young then start to appear with wings ready to fly off looking for fresh plants and food but by that time it is likely that their relentless feeding on the sap of your tomato plant will have killed off the plant and any chance of tomato fruit.

The symptoms – leaves start to curl up an turn brown, there will be secretions of honeydew which will tend to foster fungus which often looks sooty and black in colour.

Prevention – use Aphid Traps, they should be placed in position in your garden early in the spring ready for the aphids winter eggs hatching and probably before you have actually planted tomatoes. Aphids are more resilient to the cold than tomatoes are and will happily feed off any plant that will provide sap while they are waiting for the nice tasty tomato plants to arrive.

Treatment – aphids can be killed using a similar method to the ones used for whitefly, Savona is a safe alternative to chemical insecticides and which I have provided a link to above or you can use a mix of 1 part insecticidal soap with 4 parts of water applied using a spray gun, this will generally see them off.

Like whitefly they hide on the underside of leaves so make sure you lift the leaves up and give the underside a good soaking. They also gather near the base of the plant so don’t forget to get right down to spray around the base. The soap mix unfortunately doesn’t last too long so will have to be re-applied quite regularly until you are sure they are completely eradicated.

If the Savona or the soap solution doesn’t work you could try something a little more drastic, use either a deltamethrin dust or permethrin dust.

For best flavor choose Heirloom they don’t travel well but it shouldn’t be too far from your garden to your table so that doesn’t really matter and don’t worry what they look like if you are after flavour.

The tomato is one of the most popular plants kept in home gardens. They are easy to grow and provide food for your family. Tomatoes do need to be cared for to grow though.

The tomato is actually a fruit even though most people think of it as a vegetable. At one time, people thought it was poisonous to eat and they were only grown for decoration. They were referred to as “love apples” then. There are literally hundreds of varieties to choose from for your home garden and all of them have different size, color, shape, season of maturity, disease resistance and taste. Choose a variety that you will enjoy having!

Tomatoes can be either determinate or indeterminate. Determinate means that they develop a flower cluster at the terminal growing point. The plant will stop growing at this height. Indeterminate plants do not form this flower cluster and will continue to grow taller indefinitely. Indeterminate tomatoes also produce very flavorful fruit, but are usually late to mature. Most of the older varieties of tomatoes are indeterminate. Determinate vines are easier to control but they also have ripe fruit for a shorter time period than indeterminate plants.

Tomatoes do not tolerate freezing temperatures, so it is best to plant them once the weather is warm. For adequate harvest room, you will need to space your plants apart. The spacing for each variety is different, however. For dwarf plants, they will need to be twelve inches apart in the row. Staked plants will need to be 15 to 24 inches apart. Some indeterminate varieties even need four feet of space between them in the rows and five to six feet in between rows.

When you plant your tomato plants, you should fertilize them right away. You can also cultivate shallowly or hoe to keep the weeds down without doing damage to the roots. Mulching is highly recommended, especially if you want to have your plant for the full season harvest. Organic materials or black plastic is okay to use for mulching. However, don’t put down organic materials until the soil has warmed up all the way. If you put it down too early, the plant will not grow very well.

You will need to water your tomato plants regularly and thoroughly. If you are keeping your plants in containers they may need to be watered every day or even more. You will also need to feed your plants with a liquid tomato fertilizer once every two to three weeks until the end of August. The fertilizer should be high in potash. Once September arrives, just feed it with a regular fertilizer that is high in nitrogen. Weed around the plants as much as you can to prevent bugs and diseases from getting to your tomatoes. As the plant grows, you will also need to use stakes to support it. Tie the main stem to the stakes.

If you give this plant the care it needs, you will be rewarded with delicious tomatoes. Tomatoes are the best after they have just ripened so for the best taste eat them as soon as they are ripe. This is a great plant to keep at your home!

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Gardening

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell
http://EzineArticles.com/?Tomato-Plant-Care&id=209539

The purpose of mulching is to prevent loss of moisture from the soil, reduce leaching of the fertiliser, suppress weed growth and keep the fruit off the ground helping to ensure that there is less risk of disease and fruit rotting.

Other advantages associated with mulching are that there is less need for cultivation of the soil as weeds fail to come through the mulch layer, same applies to having to apply chemical weed killers. Also when you water there is a reduction in the level of evaporation, the soil consequently retains moisture better and has less tendency to develop a surface crust.

So clearly there are advantages to mulching when growing tomatoes, but one slight disadvantage of using traditional mulching methods for tomatoes is that mulch tends to prevent warming of the soil, which tomatoes like, so it is a good idea to warm the soil before applying the mulch consequently ensuring that the soil conditions tomatoes really like are established.

An alternative to traditional mulching is to use a breathable black plastic membrane mulch, this lets water and air through but prevents weeds growing underneath it along with the other mulching benefits. Use this method and you will have all the normal benefits of mulching plus the added benefit of warm soil for your tomatoes. So this is, in my opinion, the best mulch for tomatoes.

If you still prefer the more traditional methods of mulching plants, then at the end of the growing season, providing there has been no obvious problems with contamination and disease the mulch can be dug into the soil to increase the level of organic matter content in the soil.

The recommended thickness of mulching is between 3″ to 4″ ensuring that the mulch works at its optimum efficiency without preventing the air reaching the roots of the plant. That is unless you are using coffee grounds which have a tendency to cake but are rich in nitrogen. For coffee grounds the recommended thickness is 1″

Mulches on tomatoes that require special care are:

• Bark
• Newspaper
• Sawdust
• Wood chips

All of the above have a high carbon to nitrogen ratio and if used need a nitrogen fertilser application to compromise for this.

Visit Growing Red Tomatoes for more tips and advice on tomato growing in a greenhouse and to get access to expert advice that could double or triple the size of your crop of tomatoes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_R_Stephens
http://EzineArticles.com/?Mulching-For-Tomatoes-Helps-With-Water-Retention-and-Weed-Control&id=2560020

Selecting the right variety of plant is probably the first and most obvious thing you need to do, there are 2 basic types of tomatoes (3 if you want to be picky), which are vine or bush tomatoes.

Bush tomatoes stop growing when they reach a certain size and produce their fruit pretty much all at the same time. Vine tomato plants will just keep going and need to be controlled by pruning in order to make sure you produce good quality fruit over an extended period.

Make sure you select a sunny spot for your tomato plants, they will need a minimum of 6 hours and any less will hamper the production and ripening of the fruit.

Make sure the plants receive enough water, but don’t over water. Tomatoes like moist soil conditions and can’t be allowed to dry out. But keep them with persistently drenched feet and they will not be able to get the air from the soil to the roots and they will suffer as a result.

Keep your plants free of pests, whether you take an organic approach or use a pesticide it is essential to make sure that your plants do not get infested.

Disease also needs to be avoided and one of the most common sources for disease is the from the soil, keeping the lower part of the plant away from the soil by pruning or using a mulch barrier will greatly reduce the risk of disease.

Visit Good Tomato Growing for more tips and advice on tomato growing in a greenhouse and to get access to expert advice that could double or triple the size of your crop of tomatoes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_R_Stephens
http://EzineArticles.com/?Common-Mistakes-to-Avoid-When-Growing-Tomatoes&id=2560825