How to Grow Big, Tasty
Tomatoes from Seed

You can direct-sow Tomato seeds in the warm spring soil when night temperatures stay above 55 degrees F, but the seeds are slow to sprout, and most folks prefer to start them indoors in late winter. Find out the last expected frost date for your area (the County Extension Office will have this information), count back 5 to 7 weeks, and you've got your sow date!

Park's Bio Dome is a great way to sow Tomato seeds, because each bio sponge has a pre-drilled hole you just pop one seed into -- no thinning of seedlings, no wasting of seeds! You can use the original 60-cell dome or our new 18-cell dome, which grows big, stocky seedlings ready to transplant right into the garden.

Place the Bio Dome in a 70- to 75-degree room, or use a seedling heat mat to raise the temperature in the dome. You should see the first sprouts in about 3 to 8 days. They won't look promising -- they'll be bent over, as if you planted the seed upside down. Don't worry -- they're actually unfolding their cotyledons, a pair of leaf-like things that will eventually wither and drop off after the plant gets its true leaves.

As soon as the sprouts are up, place the seedlings under strong light. Fluorescent light for 14 to 16 hours a day is ideal for fastest growth. Keep the seedlings just a few inches below the light so they don't "stretch." But if you don't have good artificial light, a sunny window will work too -- just be sure to keep the clear dome on your Bio Dome to prevent chilly drafts from reaching the seedlings! (And if the seedlings do stretch -- get long stems with lots of space between the leaf sets -- don't worry! Tomatoes are very forgiving, and you'll fix the problem at transplant time!)

Congratulations! Your Tomato crop is up! Now just an eye on the weather report . . .

Ignore your calendar when it comes to transplanting Tomatoes. The outside temperature is the most critical factor in transplanting Tomatoes; more Tomato plants fail from being put into cold soil than from any pest or disease. Both the soil and the air temperatures must remain above 55 degrees F, even at night, before your Tomatoes are ready to go in the ground. When in doubt, keep them indoors a bit longer.

When the weather begins cooperating with you, it's time to harden off your seedlings. This is the process of acclimatizing the indoor plants to the outside world, and it usually takes between 5 and 10 days. Begin on a nice warm day by moving the Bio Dome full of plants to a sheltered place outdoors -- shaded and protected from wind. Let them remain there until evening, then bring them indoors. Repeat this process until you get a very mild night; then let the plants remain outdoors overnight. Soon they should be spending all their time outside, and they can be transplanted (unless the temperature drops steeply!).

Choose an overcast day to transplant, or wait until late afternoon, so the plants aren't stressed by too much direct sunlight their first day in the garden. Find a sunny spot and dig a hole 18 inches wide and deep for each plant -- wider, if your seedlings have stretched. Work some Park's Vegetable Grower's Fertilizer into the hole, then mix a shovelful of compost or other humus into the soil you'll be adding back.

Set the seedling into the hole so that it's underground right up to its bottom set of leaves -- or, if your seedlings are stretched, remove the bottom few sets of leaves and then lie the plant horizontally in the hole, so that only the top of the plant (with at least 3 sets of leaves) is above ground. Either way, you'll be burying some green stem, which may seem odd, but don't worry about it. Tomato plants will root all along the stem you bury! (It's the only veggie I know that can perform this trick!)

Press the soil firmly around your newly planted Tomatoes, sink a pair of Tomato Boomers on either side, and then water the plant thoroughly. And if you are growing an Indeterminate or ISI (vining) plant, now is the best time to put your Tomato Pen or Tower in place.

Tomato fruits are full of water, so it makes sense that these would be thirsty, thirsty plants. They need about 1 1/2 inches of water a week, which is about 50% more than most annual and perennials plants need! Test the moisture level around your plants several times the first few weeks by sinking your index finger up to the knuckle into the soil right beside your plant. If it's at all dry, the plant needs more water.

If water is scarce in your garden and you're worried about your Tomatoes getting enough, I strongly recommend you use an Automator. It fits right around the plant, inside your Tomato Pen, funneling water and fertilizer right to the plant roots instead of all over the place in the soil. It will also keep weeds down and prevent evaporation, saving you time and money in the garden.

Be sure to mulch your plants right away, too. This can be as simple as old newspaper or pine needles, or as sophisticated as Red Mulch, a plastic sheeting that actually increases the growth speed and strength of Tomato plants. If you're using an organic mulch (anything that biodegrades), layer it on as thick as you like! It's great for the soil and will protect your plants from weeds, temperature changes, and some evaporation.

Your Tomatoes also need lots of food to grow their best. Luckily, this is simple and inexpensive to provide. The single dose of fertilizer you added to the soil at transplant time will last the entire season.

Once a week, supplement it with AlgoFlash, a 100% organic liquid plant food, and twice a month toss in some seaweed, which is a growth enhancer (also 100% natural -- no harmful chemicals to worry about, and perfectly safe around humans and animals, not to mention every other plant in the garden, which will love it!). This combination of a slow-release fertilizer, a liquid feed, and a seaweed growth booster is absolutely unbeatable!

If you have a choice about your watering schedule, your Tomatoes would prefer a deep, thorough soaking once or twice a week to lighter sprinkles more often. You want to encourage the roots to grow down into the soil (where they can find other sources of water), so you'll actually use less water with heavy, infrequent soakings.

When you begin to see the fruit, ease up on the watering. Your Tomatoes will be tastier with a bit less water.

Harvest your Tomatoes according to their color. When they're red (or pink, or yellow, depending on the variety you're growing!), they're ready -- don't wait for them to get soft. And if you still have Tomatoes arising when the first frost of autumn is threatening, pick them green and let them ripen in a cool, dry place indoors.

That's all there is to it! I only have one more recommendation for a great crop: Marigolds! This annual flower is the Tomato's (and the Pepper's) best friend, because it kills nematodes, which are soil-borne pests that can destroy an entire Tomato or Pepper crop in no time flat. Marigolds are simple to grow from seed (start them indoors a week or two before you start your Tomato seeds), they look gorgeous, and you can even eat them if you like! One variety has been developed just to fight nematodes, and it's proven to be more effective than chemical pesticides -- which none of us want anywhere near our vegetable gardens if we can help it! It's priced very attractively, too -- just $1.95 for a pack of 800 seeds than you can scatter across 60 feet of garden (or share with your Tomato-growing friends).

#1308 Marigold Golden Guardian
1 for $1.95 each.
2 for $1.75 each. You save $0.20
4 for $1.56 each. You save $0.39

6 for $1.27 each. You save $0.68

But if you want something even showier, you can't go wrong with Park's Yellow Whopper™, the biggest Marigold on the market, with giant 4-inch blooms of butterfly-attracting yellow. And the best part is that you can pick all the blooms you want; it's the roots of the Marigold plant that kill the nematodes, not the flowers! Talk about a win-win!

#3518 Park's Yellow Whopper™ Marigold
1 for $2.75 each.
2 for $2.47 each. You save $0.28
4 for $2.20 each. You save $0.55

6 for $1.79 each. You save $0.96