How to have beautiful tomatoes?
Tomato is a very popular and easy to grow fruit vegetable in the garden for home gardeners. Simple and quick, I personally love growing tomatoes in the garden, but also in pots on the balcony.
To help you, here are my best grandmother’s tips and tricks for having beautiful, big tomatoes in the garden this summer.
1. Choose the right tomato plants to start with
The first thing to do to have beautiful tomatoes to grow is to choose the right tomato plants to transplant to the garden.
Here are some tips for choosing the best tomato plants:
- Check the diameter and length of the stem of the tomato plant. Choose seedlings with a diameter of at least 40 mm and a length of 10 to 15 cm.
- Check the roots of the plant. Indeed, even if the plant has beautiful green leaves, it is important to check the condition and size of the roots of the tomato plant.
- Choosing the Right Tomato Variety. Of course, it is important to choose the right variety of tomato according to your tastes. The prettiest of tomatoes won’t necessarily taste the best to you. ?
2. Sow your tomatoes late in the garden
To prevent the plants from being too advanced during transplanting in the garden, it is better to sow quite late. Transplanting its tomato plants from May 15 is also a tradition among Parisians. Of course, depending on where in the world you live, you may have to wait until June to transplant your tomato seedlings.
Germinate Tomato Seeds in Cotton:
If you decide to germinate tomato seeds indoors, I recommend the cotton ball trick. It is a quick and effective way to quickly germinate tomato seeds before transplanting them into the ground.
Sowing the tomatoes in a terrine:
Sowing in a terrine allows the seedling to stay warm (inside the house or in the greenhouse) until the first shoots come into the world.
3. Plant in full sun to have beautiful tomatoes
A tip for having beautiful tomatoes is to grow your tomato plants in a very sunny place.
In effect, tomatoes love the sun and heat, so take care to carefully choose the best location for growing tomato seedlings. Whether potted on the balcony, indoors or in the garden, always choose a warm and sunny place to have beautiful tomatoes this summer.
Protect the tomatoes from the wind!
On the other hand, it is important to choose a place sheltered from the wind or at least to protect your tomato plants from high winds. It is for this reason that we often notice tomato plants planted near the walls of houses.
4. Plant basil with tomato plants
To promote the rapid and healthy growth of your tomato plants, I know a great trick from Grandma… Basil!
Indeed, basil planted near tomato plants (and other aromatic plants and herbs) is an excellent thing to try to have beautiful tomatoes in the garden.
Protects your tomato plants from pests!
In addition to protecting tomato plants and other vegetables or fruits from harmful pests and insects, basil will give your tomatoes a fresh and unique taste this summer.
5. A stake to help tomato plants grow straight
To have a good harvest of tomatoes, you have to take care of your plants and one way to achieve this is to install a very solid stake to ensure straight and solid growth.
Install a stake high enough!
It is preferable to install a stake high enough from the start so as not to have to replace it during the season. Personally, I use stakes about 1.5 meters high and this is sufficient for the majority of tomato plants, including cherry tomatoes which generally reach 1 to 1.2 meters in height.
A PVC pipe as a garden stake!
By installing PVC pipes as stakes, you can water directly at the foot of the plants and reuse the stake the following year. You can drill small holes at the base of the pipes to ensure proper watering of your tomato plants.
6. Deep watering of tomato plants
Another tip for having beautiful, big red tomatoes this summer is to promote deep watering of the plants.
Since tomatoes grow in heat and full sun, it is very important to water the tomato plants regularly. Be careful, however, not to water the leaves, only the soil around the tomato plants.
Make an automatic tomato waterer:
Install a plastic bottle with holes in the ground next to each of your tomato plants to water deeply and evenly.
7. Add fertilizer to garden soil
To have beautiful tomatoes (and beautiful vegetables) in the garden, I recommend that you add fertilizer and/or compost when growing fruit and vegetable plants.
As soon as you plant the tomato plants in the vegetable patch, add and mix compost into the soil to nourish the soil and support healthy, rapid growth of garden vegetables.
Add compost again to the base of the tomato plants as soon as the first fruits ripen. This is an excellent trick to have beautiful tomatoes throughout the season.
Eggshells for your tomato plants!
Did you know that you can also use eggshells for tomato plants in the garden? Eggshell powder is actually a super fertilizer in addition to helping protect your tomatoes from certain diseases and pests.
Now that you have beautiful tomatoes from the garden why not make your own tomato juice? Here is an article about it: The benefits of tomato juice?