Homegrown Tomatoes

Posts Tagged ‘how to grow tomatoes’

Growing tomatoes in Florida, especially in South Florida, is something that I have a great deal of experience with.  So, for all you Florida gardeners, here are some tips for growing some luscious, vine-ripe tomatoes of your own!

Seasons for Growing Tomatoes in Florida – Winter

Here in South Florida, you can grow tomatoes practically year-round…with some caveats.  One is that if you have ever had a frost during the winter, don’t grow a large tomato garden in winter, unless you are prepared to cover your tomato plants or you have them in containers and can bring them inside.

Here’s a sad but true story.  One year I planted a gorgeous tomato garden, with at least a dozen plants (probably closer to two dozen).  It had been a cool, but not cold, Winter, with sunny days.  Beautiful growing weather!

Alas, one night it was expected to get down to around 40 degrees.  I debated covering the plants, but figured they would be OK.  They probably would have been if the temperature had stayed around 40.  Unfortunately, they plunged to the low 30s, we got frost and my tomato plants died.  What made it worse was that they were bearing a wonderful crop at this point!  I was able to salvage some of the ripest (although still green) tomatoes, but lost most of the crop.

If you want to grow a Winter crop in South Florida, plant your seeds in September.  I like to plant heirloom tomato seeds in the winter, as well as at least one variety of cherry tomato like Supersweet 100 Hybrid.

Spring Tomatoes

Spring is great in Central and South Florida.  Generally mild with mostly sunny days, it’s a wonderful tomato-growing time.  North Florida can still get chilly, though, so plan accordingly if you live in the Panhandle or around Gainesville and north.

Spring is the end of the Florida dry season, so remember to water accordingly, as the sun is getting stronger each day.  Especially in South and interior Central Florida, it can get mighty hot in late Spring.

To harvest a Spring crop of vine-ripe tomatoes, start planting your seeds in December to late January.  I usually plant a mix of heirloom tomato seeds, as well as hybrids.

Growing Tomatoes in Summer in Florida

For Florida in general, Summer can be brutal on your tomato plants.  Nor only is the sun exceedingly strong, but it’s hot and humid — excellent conditions for mildew and gray spot to develop.  I tend to grow more disease-resistant hybrids in the summer, like Celebrity.

I also tend to grow tomatoes in containers, in dappled/light shade in the summertime.  Containers because I can move them inside if really bad weather approaches (like tropical storms), and dappled shade because the mid-day sun just seems too much for the plants.  I grow the fewest tomato plants in Summer here in South Florida.

Another problem you may run into in South and Central Florida is plants growing too fast and developing lots of cracks.  So the tomato varieties I grow are generally cherry- to medium-sized.

For Summer tomatoes, I plant sometime in April.

Tomato Garden in Fall

Fall can be a nice time of year to grow tomatoes, at least in South Florida.  If you live in North Florida and the Panhandle, you’ll want your main crop in by mid  to late October.  Central and South Florida can extend that a bit into November.

Fall’s main issue is how cold it gets how fast.  Here in South Florida, we can get nighttime lows in the low 40s as early as November.  I know this year, it’s been into the 20’s and 30’s in North Florida by late November — too cold for warmth-loving tomatoes.  So the further north in Florida you live, the more you’ll want to consider growing your tomatoes in containers that you can bring inside when you get really cold snaps.

For Fall, I like some of the heirloom tomato seeds, some of the container tomatoes like Tumbling Tom and a bush type like Better Bush Improved Hybrid.

For a fall crop, I plant around mid-July.

Are you thinking about planting a tomato garden?  It’s just before Christmas as I write this, but no matter where you live, it’s time to think tomatoes! 

Tomato Variety "Patio"

If you live in the Deep South, it’s time to plant seeds for a Spring crop.  If you live in the frigid North, it’s time to buy those seeds for starting in just a few short months.

Yep, it’s time to think tomatoes.

Planting a Tomato Garden in the South

If you live in the really southern part of the US (like I do), you can plant your seeds right now, or even find tomato plants at your local garden center.  I planted a bunch of seeds yesterday, in preparation of a Spring crop of ripe tomatoes.  But since it still can get chilly and I can even have a touch of frost where I live, I plant my tomatoes in containers.  This way, if frost is forecasted, I can move the plants into the garage for the night.

Right now I have three tomato plants of three different varieties  in 5-gallon pots, one having blossoms.  Seeing as it’s Winter, I have them in a spot where they can get full sunlight from about 11 am to 4 pm.  I also have six more tomato seed varieties that I planted yesterday.  Right now, my well-grown plants are:

• A determinate red medium-sized tomato (the one with flowers) called Patio – photo above.
• An indeterminate bicolor tomato called Mr. Stripey.
• An indeterminate really big red beefsteak tomato called Park’s Whopper.
  

So, if you live in the Deep South, it’s time to start your tomato seeds indoors between now and the end of January (depending on how far north on the Deep South you live).  The seedlings can then be transplanted outside as soon as all danger of frost is past.  You can find tomato seeds in local garden centers as well as online.

A special note to anyone like me who lives in Florida; as you well know, our summers are hot & humid and the sunshine very strong.  Summer in Florida really isn’t the best time of year to grow tomatoes, but you can if you grow them in dappled shade.  I’ll cover more about tomato-growing in the summer in Florida in a different post.

Tomato Gardens in the North

Time to get those seeds!  Since you won’t be planting them right away, you have a little time to peruse your tomato variety options a bit more.  You probably don’t have seeds available in garden centers yet, but you can browse and order them online.

So what seeds do you buy?  It really depends on your climate, and how long and warm your summers.  For example, in the Pacific Northwest, I’d choose a tomato that sets fruit early.  The cooler Summer climate means it will take longer than average to grow those tomatoes until they are ripe on the vine, which is why you need an early-producing tomato.  A good variety to try would be Early Girl Hybrid.

If you live in a climate with a pretty warm and sunny late Spring and Summer,  you can grow both early and mid-season varieties.  You can try a later-season beefsteak if you can grow your tomatoes in a greenhouse or indoors under grow lights and have good-sized plants ready to go outside as soon as the last frost is past.  In addition to the Early Girl mentioned above, a nice mid-season tomato variety to try is Park’s Whopper Cr Improved.

So those are some ideas for your tomato garden.  It’s time to either plant seeds or buy seeds, so you can have luscious, vine ripe tomatoes as soon as possible!