Three Steps to Growing Tomatoes In Small Spaces (2024)

FAQs

Three Steps to Growing Tomatoes In Small Spaces? ›

They recommend spacing tomato plants two feet or more apart. Air circulation is particularly important considering that disease spread quickly in humid situations, according to researchers from the UC Davis Vegetable Research and Information Center. Higher density might not be out of the question, though.

They recommend spacing tomato plants two feet or more apart. Air circulation is particularly important considering that disease spread quickly in humid situations, according to researchers from the UC Davis Vegetable Research and Information Center. Higher density might not be out of the question, though.

In Ground: If you're planting directly in the ground, you may have more space and be planting in rows. In that case, space your tomatoes 18-24 inches apart along a row, but space your rows about 36 inches apart. This will leave enough room for you to work between rows.

To save space, plant your large tomato varieties 3 feet apart, and interplant quick maturing veggies, such as mesclun greens mix and radishes, between the tomato plants instead of in their own bed or container.

Determinate, or bush tomatoes, tend to be smaller and more manageable. Most tomato pruning involves removing suckers -- the shoots that form in the axils where side branches meet the stem. Remove suckers when they're small by pinching them off with your hand or snipping them with pruners.

More Sun Equals More Fruit

It's important to choose the sunniest spot in your garden for your tomatoes. They soak up sunshine just like water. Aim for plants to get seven hours of sun a day. Give your plants room to grow, too.

Tomatoes are warm-season plants that do not tolerate frost or chilly temperatures. We normally recommend planting early to mid-May when the danger of frost has past and soil has had a chance to warm. Be sure to save the sunniest spots for your tomatoes, this will give you optimum fruit production.

Plant Your Tomato Seeds

Place 2 or 3 seeds in each container or cell, and use a seed starter mix such as Miracle-Gro® Seed Starting Potting Mix to encourage fast root growth. Fill your containers with the potting mix and then add water until it's the consistency of a wrung-out sponge.

Tomatoes. Although it's usually recommended to not plant tomatoes and peppers right after each other in the same bed every year, they can be grown together in the same garden bed (and then rotated to another bed next season).

How many branches should I leave on my tomato plant? ›

Choose four or five sturdy trusses to keep, then pinch out any additional side shoots, leaving the plant's top shoot intact, known as the terminal shoot. Make sure the vine-like plants are tied to supports after flowering occurs. Otherwise, the vine will grow along the ground and won't produce healthy tomatoes.

Place small bush tomato varieties 24 inches apart and larger varieties 36 to 48 inches apart. This is especially important for sprawling indeterminate types—the tomato varieties that keep growing until there's a frost. After planting the tomatoes, water them thoroughly.

Of course, you want to get as many tomatoes as possible out of your hard work—but don't pack too many plants in one area! Planting too close together restricts airflow and produces excess shade from neighboring foliage.

Determinate tomatoes can be planted 2 to 2½ feet apart. Rows should be spaced about 4 feet apart.

Cucumbers and tomatoes can be planted by each other as they share similar growing habits and therefore you can grow tomatoes by cucumbers. Greg Volente from Greenhouse Today explains that: 'Cucumbers and tomatoes are two vigorous growers in a spring garden. They're both vining plants and share similar basic needs.

It's fine to use a smaller container, like a 5-gallon bucket or 10-gallon container, but for best results, stick with the smaller patio- or bush-type tomatoes (such as Better Bush, Bush Goliath, or Patio). Know, too, that tomatoes in smaller pots require more watering and feeding.

Determinate-type tomatoes need plenty of space between plants to accommodate their bushy growth. Unsupported determinate tomatoes can be planted 2 to 2 1/2 feet apart in rows spaced 4 feet apart. Indeterminate tomatoes grow, flower, and set fruit continuously throughout the growing season.

Use large pots to grow tomatoes. You can use a 5-gallon pot that is 10 to 12 inches deep for a single plant of determinate variety, for an indeterminate type choose a bigger container. The container should be deep, at least, 12 inches is necessary. Caging needs more space so instead of it, support tomatoes by stacking.