Growing Tasty Tomatoes

Nobody likes to come home from the grocery store with a flavorless tomato. Growing tasty tomatoes in your own back yard is not only a delight, but well worth the effort.

One of our favorite kinds of tomatoes is a hybrid called "Better Boy". We have been growing Better Boy tomatoes for 12 years now and they have become our favorite tasty tomatoes. They have a firm flesh bursting with flavor.

The Better Boy tomato does not have the typical white membrane found in the center of most tomatoes. It is fungus resistant especially to Blithe. It is also a fast growing plant which requires pruning every so often.

How you prepare the soil will effect whether or not you are going to end up growing tasty tomatoes or tasteless fruit better used as compost. The soil should have about 20 to 30 percent sand in it in order for excess water to run off. This is to keep the plants roots from soaking in water. If your soil already has about 20 to 30 percent clay contained in it, then this should be sufficient to help the excess water run off. Otherwise, just adding 20 to 30 percent sand will do the trick.

Next, is to have a layer of "Loam" and on top of the Loam a nice blanket of mulch such as grass clippings and/or raked leaves. This helps to keep the roots of the plants cool on hot sunny days. We like to use a product called "10 10 10" fertilizer per the products instructions. Now you are ready to begin planting.

Now it is time to put your plants into the soil. With your fingers, sift the soil around the spot where you will be inserting the plant. Look through the soil and make sure there are no "cut worms". Next, create a small hole, put a little ( a dash) of "10 10 10" fertilizer in the hole. Take a small bucket of water, and water the hole.

After the water soaks into the soil, take your plant, clip the two bottom leaves off, then insert the plant into the hole. The hole should be approximately 4" deep. Put the plant all the way into the hole so only the top inch is left above ground. Push the soil in around the base of the plant and you now have a solid foundation for healthy, tasty tomatoes.

An option is to take a small coffee can or something similar and put it around the young plant and push it into the soil a couple of inches. This will help to keep the Cut Worms at bay.

Tomatoes generally grow in 3 stages. In other words, they will have 3 "growth spurts" and when a growth spurt happens, you will need to prune off what is known as "suckers". These are green leaves that come out of the top of the plant and then will fall over to the side of the plant. Cut these "suckers" off. Do this during each of the 3 stages of the plants growth spurts. After the third stage or growth spurt, you no longer need to prune off the "suckers".

I recommend tying up your plants when they get large enough to do so. This makes it much easier to prune them, and also makes it much easier to see the fruit. Another benefit is that the fruit will stay much cleaner and there will be less rot as apposed to if they were left to grow on the ground.

Finally, be sure that your plants are getting adequate water. The roots of the "Better Boy" tomato plants will grow out from the plant, just an inch or so below the surface. This makes it important to water not only near the plant itself, but also out and away from the plant as that is the root pattern.

The video below shows our mature Better Boy tomato plants and boy, are they ever producing tasty tomatoes!