Nothing is better than walking out into your own, private garden and picking a fresh tomato to cook with or eat plain.  Interestingly, the tomato was considered poisonous 100 years ago but today it is an important staple, consisting of hearty minerals and vitamins.  In fact, the average person in the United States consumes 55 pounds of tomatoes every year!  Another interesting fact is that the tomato is not a vegetable, as most people think, but a fruit.

Big, juicy tomatoes, seasoned with salt and/or pepper or without anything, are wonderful.  If you are interested in growing your own tomatoes, keep in mind that you do not need a lot of room.  Additionally, with the right information, tomatoes are easy and fun to grow.  As long as the tomato plants has a minimum of six hours of sun each day, is given good soil nutrients, and watered regularly, they will grow.

Just remember that you need to make sure soil is well drained so the tomatoes do not rot.  In addition, you will need to add good fertilizer and compost to the soil, including fish fertilizer.  However, be careful that you do not go overboard with the fertilizer, as this will produce tons of leaves but not much fruit.

If you plan to start growing tomatoes from seeds, allow up to 10 weeks for the seedlings to develop.  Once they begin to grow, you can then transplant them outdoors, just as long as any threat of frost is past and the weather is not too hot.  Some people will grow tomatoes from plants, which is fine but by starting the plants from seeds, you will enjoy a greater variety of tomatoes.

Classification

Tomatoes fall into two classifications – indeterminate and determinate.  With indeterminate tomatoes, the plants are more like vines in that they sprawl and appear gangly.  This type of tomato will develop new fruit on the side branches, all the way until the first frost.  If you want a continuous supply of fresh tomatoes and look forward to a harvest throughout the summer, then this would be the perfect choice.  Many people like the indeterminate tomato since they use them for canning and making homemade salsa, spaghetti sauce, and so on.

With the determinate tomato, the plants are smaller, often being referred to as “patio tomatoes.”  These tomato plants typically grow to a specific size, at which time the fruit is developed in clusters.  Once the fruit develops, it will all ripen at once.  If you love picking tomatoes fresh to eat or toss into salads, then the determinate tomato would be excellent.

Species and Variety

In addition to the classification, you also need to determine the right species and variety per season.  For example, tomatoes for early season will develop in 65 days or less, from the time the seedling is transplanted until the time you pull the first tomato from the plant.  If you live in a region that has cooler temperatures, the early season tomato is what you want.

The next option is tomatoes that fall within the mid-season variety.  These are also considered as “main crop” tomatoes and will typically ripen anywhere from 66 to 79 days.  In most cases, the mid-season tomatoes are bigger and juicier than the early tomatoes.  Finally, there are the late season varieties, which take from 80 to 100 days to develop.  If you love green tomatoes or want nice tomatoes to can and process, this would be your best bet.