I’ve been gardening in my backyard for several years now, and each year I’ve learned something new. More often than not, these have been hard-won lessons through trial and error, and I emphasize the word “error.”
One of the first plants I tried to grow was tomatoes, because I heard everyone say they were easy. Well … they may be easy, but if so, everything else is ridiculously hard, at least for me. I have gotten them to produce fruit, but only in small amounts, and the tomatoes on the whole have been rather small and disappointing.
I just found this super-awesome video though which includes a ton of great tips and tricks!
There are 10 easy steps to growing high-yield tomatoes!
- Get the right types of tomatoes to grow in your climate. If you need tips, talk to a local expert.
- Lay the plants on their sides.
- Plant them in a trench with the top three inches uncovered.
- Add a fourth to a half a cup of slow release fertilizer.
- Erect a cage around each individual plant. It should be about five feet tall with a two foot diameter.
- Cover the cages with floating row cover to provide protection from wind.
- Fertilize the plants each week using a hose-end applicator. Apply directly to the leaves.
- Side dress the tomatoes with two to three teaspoons of ammonium sulfate after they produce their first yield. Water afterward.
- Wait until tomatoes are 30% ripe, and then pick them. Otherwise the birds will get them.
- Do not refrigerate tomatoes. They go bad quickly if you do, so put them on the counter instead.