The Two Basic Growing Types of Tomatoes​

​1. Determinate (Bush Tomatoes): The vines of these plants grow to 1 meter (3 feet). When they produce flowers the vines stop growing, concentrating their energy on developing their fruit. ​

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2. Indeterminate (Sprawling & potentially out of control tomato vines): They keep growing & producing all season unless you or some natural force like frost or disease stops them.  ​

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Varieties We Grow

​Over the years we've grown fond of Moneymaker (indeterminate). It's productive, tasty and takes about 70 days from planting to maturity. We also like Peron (Indeterminate, 70 days). It's a tad more acidic than Moneymaker, but we like its meaty juiciness. Yellow Pear (indeterminate) is an attractive small tomato that we grow for its sweet flavour & bright colour.

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We also enjoy the heirloom called Brandywine (Indeterminate, 80 days). It's big, pink, sweet, spicy & delicious with bocconcini & basil. Plonk a slice of Brandywine into a thick sandwich. ​

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Coeur de Boeuf (Indeterminate, 80 days) is absolutely huge, almost as big as a real beef heart (hence its French name). It's exciting just to watch CdeBs hang on the vine, just getting bigger and bigger!

One CdeB can fill the tomato's role in a sauce for 4 people. And they're delicious in fresh slices.​

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If you like to make tomato sauce, paste or ketchup, we suggest you grow Roma (determinate). These tomatoes are meaty with relatively few seeds, and their low moisture content makes them kind of unappetizing as a salad tomato, but superb as a sauce one.

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We've also grown varieties of cherry tomatoes that are sweet and delicious and perfect f​or small spaces such as apartment balconies. You could try Gold Nugget and Tumbler. Both varieties are determinate and do well in containers.

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Getting Started

​Plant your seeds in containers indoors around 6-8 weeks before the last frost in your area.

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To check out when that is in Canada, go to: www.victoryseeds.com/frost/canada.html.

For the USA:

http://usagardener.com/frost_dates_usa.php. 

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In the Metro Vancouver area where we live, 6-8 weeks before the average last frost date would be January 31—February 14. The average dates of the last and first frosts in Vancouver/Burnaby are March 28 and November 5, respectively.

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Planting Seeds and Caring for Seedlings

​Plant your seeds two per small container 3 - 6 mm (1/4 - 1/8 inch) deep in light potting soil. (Don't use ordinary garden soil. It might contain weed seeds and/or pathogens). Oh yes, and make sure your containers have drainage holes in them. Gently moisten the soil & place all your little containers on a sunny windowsill. The soil needs to be 21°C or 70°F for the seeds to germinate. Over the weeks, keep the soil moist, but not wet.

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After the seedlings sprout and grow a bit, pull out any that look weak or sick and turf them into your kitchen compost bin. Around Mid - May in our area, we set the seedlings outside in the daytime for 3 or 4 days to harden off. We bring them in each night. Near the end of May, we transplant the seedlings into our garden. Indeterminate plants need staking, so set out your stakes before you plant. And be sure to give your tomato plants room: .6 m (2 feet ) between determinates and 1 m  (3 feet) for indeterminates. 

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Lessening the shock

Transplanting seedlings or more mature plants sends them into shock. They've been uprooted after all, some of their delicate subsoil parts exposed to the elements, their stability shaken. To help soften this blow to your tiny tomato plants, transplant them into your garden space or container on a cloudy day.

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Make sure the hole you're going to plant them in is larger than the root mass of the seedling. Mix a liberal amount of fine compost with the soil your going to plant the seedling in. Some gardeners even suggest mixing in a teaspoon of Epsom salts with soil at the bottom of your planting hole, just to give your tomato seedlings a little buzz of magnesium for vitality.

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When you set the seedling in the soil, make sure its two bottom leaves are even with the soil surface.

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Caring for your maturing tomato plants. Pull out the weeds around them and mulch if you like. Not too deeply,though. Be sure to keep the mulch away from the stems of your plants. Mulch piled up around the stems can attract disease and pests. You can side-dress your plants with compost 4 or 5 times during the growing season. This just ensures that the soil will have its beneficent share of nutrients and microbes which will benefit your plants.

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​Deep water your plants' roots once a week. (Mix in some liquid seaweed every second week). Avoid watering the leaves. After you water, don't work on the plants. In fact, when any vegetable plant's leaves are wet, it's good not to work in amongst them. Little bruises or tears you might cause on wet leaves can be just what water-borne pathogens need to gain entry to your plant.

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So weed & pick first; water later. 

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Indeterminate plants need pruning. This involves pinching off the suckers that grow between the main stem and the lateral branches. Some gardeners prune off the bottom branches up to 6-8 inches above the soil to concentrate all of the fruit growth off the ground where it can get wet and attract disease.    

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Companion Plants for Tomatoes 

We plant Sweet Basil and Thai Basil among our tomatoes. Basil improves tomatoes' taste. We also plant strong-scented French marigolds, Lemon Verbena and mint (in pots because it spreads vigorously) with the tomatoes & basil, to discourage flying insect pests and aphids. Next year we'll add a few Borage plants. They apparently discourage the tomato hornworm (although we've never had any); as well, Borage's purple flowers attract lots of interest from bees.​

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The tomato patch is truly fragrant, colourful & fertile, and we hope yours will be the same!​​

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