Gadenin日本語Get the appThe season has three turning points
Growing tomatoes comes down to three moments: planting out and getting the roots established, setting fruit on the first truss, and then the main harvest. A large-fruited tomato takes longer to fill out than a cherry type, so allow around 50 days from open flower to a ripe fruit.
The stage people overlook is the second one. Whether you get fruit to set on that first truss decides how vigorous the plant is for the rest of the season and how much you pick in total. Time spent on those first flowers is the shortest route to a bigger harvest.
| Turning point | When | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| Planting and establishment | Around your last frost | Root depth and the frame of the plant |
| First truss sets | Three to five weeks later | Plant vigor and total yield |
| Main harvest | Mid to late summer | Fruit quality, splitting and blossom end rot |
The month by month list
The list below is written around your last spring frost rather than around calendar months, because that is the date that actually differs between gardens. It assumes you are buying transplants rather than raising your own from seed.
If you do want to raise your own, sow indoors eight to ten weeks before your last frost and keep the seedlings warm and very well lit. Holding that temperature through late winter needs equipment, so for most home gardeners buying transplants is simpler and costs about the same.
| Stage | Main jobs | The point of it |
|---|---|---|
| Three weeks before last frost | Build the bed, lay mulch, buy plants | Warm the soil ready for planting |
| Last frost | Plant out, put in temporary canes, check they take | Get roots down deep |
| Two to five weeks after | Remove suckers, tie in, set the first truss, start feeding | Guarantee that first fruit |
| Six to ten weeks after | Start picking, strip lower leaves, put up a rain cover | Protect fruit quality |
| Peak summer | Main harvest, top the plants, manage water | Prevent splitting and blossom end rot |
| End of season | Last picking, clear the plants | Take old growth off the plot |
Planting time: put it in and leave it alone
The job at planting time is to plant and then watch. Once the risk of frost has gone and the soil has warmed, plant, tie loosely to a temporary cane, and water only when the surface has dried. Fussing at this stage keeps the roots shallow, so restraint is the work.
A few weeks in, the first flowers open. In a cool spring the pollen does not shed freely, so tap the stake gently on a sunny morning to help pollination along. Get fruit on that first truss and everything afterwards is easier.
- Wait for warm soil Plant once the frost forecast is clear and the soil under the mulch is over 60F (15C). Being a week late costs you far less than being a week early.
- Check the leaves in the morning Three to five days after planting the leaves should be standing up in the morning. Wilting at midday is normal, but leaves still drooping at dawn mean the rootball is dry.
- Shake the first flowers On a sunny morning, tap the stake so the pollen drops. This matters most in a cool spring.
Midseason: one visit a week is enough
Once the plants take off they grow fast. Do the suckers, the tying in and the feeding together, once a week, on the same day. Pick a day and keep to it and you will never find a sucker that has turned into a branch. In wet spells, check the lower leaves for spots at the same time.
Picking starts on the lowest truss. Each time you pick, take a couple of the leaves below that truss to keep air moving around the base. Do not overdo it: fruit exposed to full sun scorches.
- Same day every week Suckers, ties and a disease check on a fixed day. Leave it a week and the suckers are two inches long, leave it two and they are branches.
- Feed every two to three weeks First feed when the lowest fruit reaches golf ball size, then every two to three weeks in a ring around the plant.
- Get a rain cover up Before the wet part of summer, run clear plastic over the tops of the stakes. It cuts splitting more than anything else you can do.
High summer: watering decides the crop
The peak of the harvest is also when blossom end rot and splitting are at their worst. The job is to flatten out the swings between wet and dry. Straw or plastic mulch slows the drying, and you water the base in the morning when it does dry.
Once the plant reaches the top of its stake, top it so everything goes into the fruit already set. Flowers that open late in the season will not ripen before the weather turns, so take those trusses off.
| Stage | Conditions | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Early high summer | Above 86F (30C) | Top the plants, water in the morning, rain cover on |
| Peak heat | Hottest weeks | Remove new trusses, keep picking |
| Late summer | Nights start to cool | Fill out the last fruit, stop feeding |
Your own dates are the ones that matter
Everything above is relative to your last frost, but a warm coastal garden and a cold inland one will still differ by a fortnight, and a rain cover or hoop house moves everything two weeks earlier again.
Even two gardens in the same town differ by a week depending on sun and shelter. The only way to get your own numbers is to write them down: the date you planted, the date the first truss flowered, and the date of the first ripe fruit. Do that once and next year's plan writes itself.