How to Grow Organic Tomatoes

Posted by admin on July 28th, 2007 at 09:38pm

Organic tomatoes that are fresh from the vine are some of the most delicious crops you can grow in your home garden.

With all of the varieties of tomatoes - from beefsteak to cherry to the wide assortment of heirloom tomatoes - there are many options to consider when growing these vegetables in your organic garden. This is one crop that you can grow throughout the summer and into fall, and the difference between your own and tomatoes commerically grown in a greenhouse is easy to taste.

You can, in fact, grow your own tomatoes in a small greenhouse if you have one. Grown correctly in this environment, your tomato production can begin early in the season and extend well past the time when tomatoes are normally available to grow outside. The problem with most commerically-grown, conventional tomatoes is that they are picked when still green and are ripened in an artifical manner. If you can grow your own tomatoes in a greenhouse to enjoy when they are fully ripe, then by all means do so. But here, we’re going to focus on the average home gardener, growing tomatoes outside in summer during the height of the tomato growing season. First, some basic facts about caring for this favorite vegetable.

Tomatoes like it to be hot
Whether you are starting from seed or transplanting tomato starts, be sure that the area you are growing your plants in receives full sunlight. This means that the tomato plot of your organic garden must get at least six hours of sunlight in one day.

Tomatoes need a good amount of water
In order to grow tomatoes with the most flavor, the plants must receive enough water and receive it consistently. It is helpful to add a mulch around your plants after they are about a month old. A drip system will help you maintain a constant, controlled amount of moisture, but if you water by hand, make sure to water only at ground level, avoiding the leaves. Also, water in the morning or afternoon and stay away from evening or night time watering.

Give ‘em plenty of space
In order to best fight disease, your tomato plants need a good amount of space between one another in order to maintain the best air circulation. If the plants are packed too closely together, there isn’t enough room for good air to keep moving through and your tomatoes will be vulnerable to fungus and disease. 1 1/2′ between plants is, at best, the minimum distance you should plant. A more ideal range would be 2′ - 2 1/2′ between your plants. It can be a matter of space with the small organic gardener. If you don’t have a lot of room for growing your different crops, then you may have to plant tomatoes closer together. But you may consider simply planting less tomatoes and getting a more quality crop, rather than having more plants closer together and going for quantity.

Make sure they have a good, solid root structure
When grown in a greenhouse, some tomato seedlings can become a bit straggled. If you have the beginnings of a long plant with comparitively shorter stems, transplant them to your garden with the entire stem underground horizontally instead of vertical. To new growers, this tactic may seem strange, but the neat thing here is that the plant will then grow roots all along the length of the stem and send new stems up. You then have a larger, stronger plant growing up from a more stable root structure. Obviously, more space needs to be taken into consideration when you transplant a seedling in this manner.

Don’t spray!
It may be an obvious piece of advice when talking about organic gardening, but for some newer gardeners, the temptation to use a little pesticide on your plants when you see tomato-eating caterpillars making their way along the stems may just be too great to ignore. Don’t do it! For the larger insects like caterpillars, just remove the little guys by hand. For smaller bugs like whitefly, we’ve found the best organic tactic is to take a little garlic and rub it all along the leaves and stems of any infected plants. The smaller bugs won’t like the garlic and will stay away from it, leaving your tomato plant alone.

Tomatoes and potatoes don’t mix
When setting up your organic garden plots, it’s a good idea to remember that you should keep related species of plants as far away from one another possible in your crop rotation. Tomatoes are in the same family, Solanaceae, as potatoes. Once you’ve finished with your potato harvest, don’t plant your tomatoes in the bed that your potatoes were just in. There should ideally be a few years of rotation with other crops through your garden before tomatoes should occupy the same space. For small gardeners who don’t have a lot of crops in their rotation, it’s probably best not to grow both tomatoes or potatoes. If you do wish to grow these two crops as your only crops, then the wisest course of action would probably be to simply not do a crop rotation and let each type of crop stay in their own plots for several years. If you have a big enough piece of land, you can then move your garden to a different place while the original land goes fallow for a few years.

Now that we’ve covered some basics, let’s take a look at some favorite varieties of tomatoes, so that you can get some inspiration about which kinds you may like to try growing yourself.

Beefsteak Tomatoes
These large varieties of tomatoes can be bigger than your hand, and are a favorite among many for both their large size and delicious flavor. You will have a longer waiting period from seed to harvest, but for many people, the quality of these tomatoes makes it worth the wait.

Roma Tomatoes
These longer, cylindrical-shaped tomatoes don’t generally have the same juiciness as their larger cousins. As such, many people grow roma tomatoes in order to make sauces with them and to use them in canning. If you’re planning to grow a lot of tomatoes in order to make tomato sauce for canning or freezing over the winter, then this variety of fruit may be the one for you.

Cherry Tomatoes
Small, sweet, and easy to grow, cherry tomatoes are a favorite of the patio gardener. These plants grow swiftly and produce a good harvest of fruit when cared for properly. They can be tossed in with a green salad or cut into halves and cooked up with a vegetable pasta. They also make a terrific snack just on their own.

Under Organic Gardening