Why Tomatoes are Great

Tomatoes are one of the al time easiest crops to start out with. They are very difficult to kill and have an incredibly high yield. They LOVE containers! They’re also PACKED with all kinds of great nutrients all tied up in a beautiful, versatile package. If you’re wondering what you’d possibly make with all these tomes lying around look no further! Different types of toms have different amounts of these, but generally speaking tomatoes contain:

• Potassium

  • essential mineral, good for blood pressure and lowers risk of heart disease

• Vitamins C, K1, & B9

  • C: essential nutrient

  • K1: important for bone health & blood clotting

  • B9: important for tissue growth and cell function

• Antioxidant Lycopene

  • has been linked to decreased risk of heart disease & cancer

  • Fun Fact: Lycopene is responsible for the red pigment of the tomato, the redder the tomato, the higher the concentration of Lycopene

• Antioxidant Beta Carotene

  • converted to Vitamin A by your body

  • Fun Fact: Beta Carotene is responsible for the yellow/orange pigment of the tomato

• Fiber

Want to learn how to use tomatoes? We’ve got you covered!

Grown vs Store Bought

Freshly picked tomatoes are often considered one of the best, if not the best, way to eat a tomato. It turns out, fresh-off-the-vine tomatoes actually are more flavourful and more nutrient rich. This is because the commercial harvesting process doesn’t allow for the full development of the fruit.

Commercially harvest toms are most often picked when the fruit is still green and not yet mature. This helps ensure they’re still good for consumption by the time they get to the grocery store. But people only buy red tomatoes. So what happens? The toms are artificially ripened using ethylene gas.

This artificial ripening doesn’t allow for the full, natural development of the tomato and results in blander, less nutrient-rich fruits.

If that wasn’t enough, you get much more bang for your buck growing them yourself.

For an organic, hand picked, crystal-prayed-blessed tomato from Whole Foods, you’d assume you’d be getting around the same high quality you’d get from a garden. This helps to justify the high prices given to us, but really we could do much much better on quality, quantity, and price growing ourselves.

Whole Foods Organic Tomatoes

• $2.99/lb

• ~1.5 “Large” Tom

• or 8-16 Cherry Toms

Normal Tomatoes From Our Dirt

• $5 Home Depot Bucket + $3 Seed Packet + $15 Miracle Grow Dirt

• Yield: 50-80 lbs Beefstake(large) Tomato per plant

• Yield: 20 lbs / 200 Cherry Tomatoes per plant

The most common tomato to buy from the store is a Beefsteak, which is large and relatively inexpensive. A store-bought beefsteak is around $3/pound while our home-grown ones average out to around $0.35/pound if you only planted ONE PLANT. By planting more than 1 plant per pot you continue to decrease that number, although no more than 2 per pot is recommended. By planting your own food you can make your grocery budget stretch throughout the entire year by canning your inevitable extra pounds tomatoes.

Growing Basics

Tomatoes are pretty low maintenance plants, but you have to set them up for success if you want to make the most of these guys. You can do this by:

• Seed Starting at the right time of year, and doing it correctly so you actually get sprouts

  • See Seed Starting Crash Course

• A planted seed germinates in 5-10 days, you should transplant once they get their “true leaves” which is about 5 days after sprouting

• They should be flowering and giving you fruit in about 2 months

• Using 5-gallon bucket; the perfect container for a single tomato for the highest yield, but you can opt to add a second plant

• Good soil, and even better drainage

• Giving them full sun; they LOVE all the sun you can give them once they reach maturity(6-8 hours/day)

• Consistent watering; containers dry out faster than ground-plants

• Fertilizer every 2 weeks or so

• Monitoring temperature; below 50°F they can die, above 90°F they will put a pause on growing and fruit production

Types of Tomatoes

According to the US Department of Agriculture, there are 25,000 types of tomatoes. In my local supermarket, there are 5 types of tomatoes (one of which is just Large Tomato). So clearly some varieties are just more popular than others. Here are some that are great when you’re getting started, but might be a little more Razzle Dazzle than your average Large Tomato.

• Chocolate Tomatoes

  • Small fruit(1/2 oz - 2 oz) and only grow to about 3 feet tall(bush). That makes it PERFECT for containers

  • Great colour; brightens up the garden and looks great on a salad

  • Huge amount of flavour

• Brandywine Heirloom Tomatoes

  • Large fruit(up to 1.5 lb) and viney, with the propensity to climb

  • One of the lowest maintenance tomatoes & VERY high yield

  • Incredible taste, perfect to eat in almost any situation

  • Expensive to buy in stores(fancy tomato)

    • You thought the numbers were different in the Whole Foods comparison of beefsteak?? You should see the heirloom tomato comparison

• Golden Jubilee Heirloom Tomatoes

  • Large fruit and VERY viney, will definitely need to be staked/trellised

  • Gorgeous golden colour that will definitely brighten up your garden

  • Sweet flavour

  • Also very expensive to buy(fancy tomato)

• Big Beef Hybrid Tomatoes

  • Large fruits (hybrid of common beefsteak tomato) and slightly viney, requires staking

  • Great for beginners

  • Long harvest, sweet flavour

    • much more flavourful than common beefsteak

  • Incredibly pest resistant

Seed Starting

A great way to started your seeds is with the Egg Shell Method. This is a great way to make sure your plants don’t get overwatered or overly crowded when they’re just getting started. The best time to start is the last week of February/first week of March. Why egg shells?

This is the easiest way(I’ve found) to get it done:

1. Every time you use an egg, rinse out the shells immediately and put the halves back into the carton. Do this until you have a full carton of empty eggs.

2. Soak your soil in water, then distribute into the shells. You must soak the soil FIRST otherwise you’ll waterlog your egg shells, which have no drainage. Stick your finger 1/4 in into the dirt to make a small hole.

3. Label your carton in a way you can easily keep track of, as seen in the photo (C.P. = Cherokee Purple Tomatoes).

4. Take 2 or 3 seeds from your packet and put them into your 1/4 in hole. Cover them in dirt. Repeat until all your egg shells are filled. Take a spray bottle and spray them once a day if it’s hot where they’re being stored.

5. You should expect to see your first sprouts 5-10 days after planting! After a few days, remove all but the strongest seedling so it has the best shot at survival.

6. Once your sprouts have their “true leaves” it’s time to transplant! This should happen 5-7 days after they first sprout. I recommend 1 plant per 5 gallon container for the strongest results. Poke a large hole in the bottom of your eggshell and gently crumble crush the rest of the shell. Plant the whole thing in your soil. This helps give the soil and the young plant a nitrogen/calcium boost.

7. Fertilize every 2 weeks for best results, these guys are hungry. Water regularly.

8. Expect to see flowers and tomatoes around your 2.5 month marker!

Happy Gardening!

Common Tomato Lingo

One of the hardest things about gardening is trying to find information when you don’t know what any of the “official” lingo.

Let me know if you are interested in a compiled list, and I’ll write one up.