Organic Tomatoes In Your Garden

Let's hear it for the summer tomato harvest! Get your tomatoes growing organically with our video on tomato transplanting, culture, supports, and fertilizer.

We have organic gardening tips to make your tomatoes the best ever. We'll help you prevent blossom end rot and keep the dreaded cutworms at bay.

What's your tomato story for the summer? 

WHO

Who do you want in your garden? Determinate or indeterminate tomatoes? Get a quick review of these terms and how you can use those different types of tomatoes.

WHAT

What kind of growing space -- container, raised bed, or in the ground? Choose a harmonizing size plant:

• Cherry tomatoes produce small fruit but the plant height can range from dwarf to basketball player.
• For container gardening get something described as midget, patio or dwarf (determinate).
• Standard tomato plants will grow a minimum of five-feet tall. 

WHERE

• Full sun of course (at least six hours a day).
• Space tomato plants three to five feet apart. Somewhere near an easy source of water for the deep and regular irrigation tomatoes love.
• Dig into good soil, with liquid kelp or powdered kelp added for slow release of micronutrients.
• No high nitrogen fertilizer! That leads to lots of leaves that actually signal the bad bugs to "come and get it".
• Add Azomite for calcium and more micronutrients -- and to help prevent blossom end rot

WHEN

• Plant your tomatoes when all danger of frost has gone.
• Can't wait until the last frost date? You can start earlier with our season-extending tools:
  • Agribon floating row covers admit light and water
  • Mini-greenhouses called Solar Bells
  These tools can make the "local" climate for your plants many degrees warmer.

WHY (AND HOW)

How to keep your plants healthy and strong? Train them up on Hortonova trellises, bamboo teepees or tomato cages. Make that really fun when you use our Zenport Taper to attach the plants to the supports. Keeping the fruit off the ground is a huge step toward keeping the bad bugs away. The increased air circulation also aids the plants.

Protect the base of the plant from weeds with red plastic mulching film, or try the handy Tomato Crater that snaps around the plant to keep down weeds and protect from cutworms.

Additional Resources

For more information around DIY trellis making, see our companion guide.  We also have many types of tomato seeds for sale.