Planting Tomatoes

If you have a backyard garden, it probably allows you to raise enough tomatoes to make a year’s supply of tomato juice, sauce, spaghetti sauce, and salsa for your family. This is certainly a great way to save grocery dollars. You will also be eating healthier, fresher, and safer produce, especially if you follow proper organic growing methods.

When you plant your own tomatoes from seed, you are in complete control over what you eat from seed to table. You can select varieties of tomatoes to suit your intended purposes. Tomato varieties for slicing or fresh eating are large and juicy. Plum and roma types are smaller and best for paste and sauce. Cherry and grape tomatoes are the smallest and are great for salads, and for quick snacks right off the vine. All of these types of tomatoes are available as seed, often as organically raised seed. If you want old-fashioned tomatoes, many tomato seeds are available as original genetics which have not been modified or hybridized for commercial use.

The flavor of home grown tomatoes is so much better than hothouse and shipped in supermarket varieties. These are picked before full ripening so they are firmer during shipping. Plant your own tomatoes and enjoy vine-ripened flavor and sweetness only minutes off the vine.

Tomatoes are adaptable plants. Even if you do not have a yard with garden space, you can still plant tomatoes and enjoy them. You can plant tomatoes in hanging baskets, and they will also grow very nicely in large containers on your deck or patio.