Nothing says summer like tomatoes and with warmer
days upon us it's time to get them planted. Hi, I'm Ben. Join me as I get this lot planted, discuss the best supports to use for tomatoes
- and I will be revealing what these are for! Tomatoes like the warm so before planting tomatoes we need to acclimatize them to The Great
Outdoors over the period of about a week. Just pop them somewhere sheltered
and maybe bring them indoors for the first few nights and watch out for chilly nights. You can leave them outside for increasing
longer spells as planting time approaches. Now a cold frame like this
makes an excellent halfway house and you can prop the lid open
increasingly wide as the days roll on. Not everyone has the time, space or inclination
to grow their own tomatoes from seed and there's absolutely nothing
wrong with that whatsoever. Most nurseries and garden centers
offer a really solid selection. Just inspect the plants before buying.
We're looking for lovely strong and crucially green plants without any
discoloration and that aren't too drawn and leggy. These guys here for example look just perfect. Tomato plants really do love that sunshine
and warmth. It helps them grow to their fullest potential and, of course, it's what
develops the tomato's fullest flavor and aroma. There's nothing like cupping a just-picked tomato, still warm from the afternoon sunshine, and
breathing in its heady aroma. Pure ambrosia! So be sure to pick the sunniest spot in
your garden - one that gets an absolute minimum of six hours of direct sunshine
a day but preferably much more than that. Eight, 10, 12 - the sunnier the better! This here
is a really sunny spot it gets good afternoon sunshine right through to the evening so I'm
confident my plants will really love it here. Like most vegetables tomatoes love a
Goldilocks soil that's moisture-retentive but also quite well drained and, of course,
rich in nutrients. The best way to achieve that of course is to add well-rotted organic
matter in the weeks and months before planting. I've added some really well-rotted manure
onto this bed here several weeks ago and it's had enough time to break
down a bit and for the worms to start incorporating it into the soil for me. We're all set to go, so
let's get this lot planted! Now of course like anyone I want the
very best from my tomatoes and that means ensuring there's enough space for
them to grow and, of course, enough light. I'm planting here indeterminate tomatoes
also known as vining or cordon tomatoes. These guys need at least 18 inches or 45cm
between plants and then about two foot or 60cm between rows. Now this will ensure they not
only get enough light but also a good enough airflow and that's really important for
reducing potential problems with diseases. Tomatoes are incredible plants because they can
produce roots at any point along their stem. So with this in mind we can dig planting
holes quite a bit deeper than we might for other vegetables to encourage roots
to be produced lower down on the stem. More roots on our tomato plant will help
to really anchor it into position and of course it means it can draw on more moisture and
more nutrients to support all of that growth. So dig your planting holes a little bit
deeper than the root ball to allow for that. If you're planting into a growbag like this
you can create that same effect of the roots coming out of the stem to anchor it in by just
planting your tomatoes into the top of the bag as usual but then popping over a bottomless
pot on top and then filling that part of the way with fresh potting mix so that part of the
stem is buried. That way you get the same effect and there's now a bit of space here so that
you can come in a water and it'll hold on to the water like a reservoir allowing it to
properly drain through to the roots below. So now for those fish heads. Now
I'd heard about fish heads being put into the bottom of planting
holes before and, if I'm honest, I've always rather scoffed at the idea. But on
doing a little more research it turns out it's not such a bad idea after all. Of course
the fish is going to be full of nutrients and as it breaks down the tomato's roots
can grow down into it and tap into that. Apparently the Native Americans have been
including fish with their three sisters of corn, squash and beans for thousands of years.
Whether or not that's true or not, if you think about it we're often advised to put
in fish emulsion or a fish-based liquid feed, so this kind of makes sense.
So I've got fish heads here and just trimmings too. It doesn't really
matter, they've all got a similar amount of nutrients. So in goes a fish head or a bit
of fish into each planting hole like that. Bit grim! And then I'm just gonna cover them
over with a little bit of soil that will help to both mask the smell from marauding cats and
foxes and of course Rosie and it will help to serve as a bit of a buffer between the roots of
the tomatoes and the fish until it does start to break down a bit. Phew, that's ripe!
And now in with tomatoes. We don't want to bury any of the leaves when we bury the
stem, so just pick off the lowest leaves that are likely to be buried and then in it
goes and backfill with our excavated soil. And then to finish I'm just gonna water
everything in with a weak liquid seaweed solution, just to give our plants a bit of
a boost and to help them to settle in. Once the plants start flowering I will
just go in with the occasional liquid feed, either of a tomato feed or a homemade liquid
feed, and we will be looking at how to make a homemade liquid feed in a future video.
So make sure you have subscribed and turned on notifications so you don't miss that
one or indeed any of our upcoming videos. Most tomatoes appreciate some form of support
so the plants are kept up off the ground and the tomatoes aren't on the soil which might cause them
to rot or get nibbled at by the likes of slugs. How you support your tomatoes
depends on what type you have. Determine it or bush tomatoes
tend to grow not much taller than around waist height, so for
them we can get away with little more than a sturdy steak or perhaps a
tomato cage and more on that shortly. For our indeterminate or vining or cordon
tomatoes, well these guys can grow up to head height, even taller, so for them we will
need something a little more substantial. Like most gardeners I can't resist adding
to my collection of gardening tools and accessories from time to time and I've
invested in these tomato towers here. Now the idea of them is very simple. We just plonk
them straight over your plant like that... get them in the ground nice and firm and then as
the plant grows up the foliage is all hemmed in within the walls of this so it doesn't go
onto the ground. Nice and straightforward. Now with these indeterminate tomatoes I
will need to be removing excess foliage, pruning off the side shoots that emerge coming out
from the main stem. And that's important because that concentrates all of the plant's energy into
flower and fruit production, which is important. If you're in a hotter climate though and
you've got great growing weather you may not have to do all that pruning - plants will
grow vigorously enough with the warmer weather. But in my decidedly cool and damp climate
removing the side shoots is an absolute must. You don't have to splash the cash on tomato
towers of course. Good old-fashioned bamboo canes or steaks will do just fine. Just firm them
right down into the soil so they're nice and firm and rigid and then you're good to go. And tie
them in obviously as the tomato plant grows. Try not to stab the young roots of
the plants. Maybe you could just put them in before you actually plant and
that would avoid stabbing the roots. Down here I've planted my determinate
or bush tomatoes and they've had the same fish head and plant deep treatment
as the indeterminate tomatoes up there. Now they're called determinates just
because they grow to a predetermined height and won't grow any taller unlike
the ever-skyward cordon tomatoes up there. The easiest way to support determinate
tomatoes is with either a sturdy cane or a steak driven into the ground, and then you
just tie it to the steak as the plant grows. An alternative is to use what's
called a tomato cage which is a sort of dumpier, squatter and wider
version of the tomato towers I've used up there. Now bush tomatoes don't need
any pruning. They just grow up and grow left, right and center and you can just leave them be
and they will also tend to produce their fruits over a much shorter timeframe, which makes
tomato cages absolutely perfect for them. Now you can buy them off the shelf but they are a
bit pricey so an alternative is to make your own. The easiest way to make a tomato cage is to use
a sheet of concrete reinforcing mesh or remesh. I couldn't find any of that but I have this
cattle fencing here which comes on a roll and it just happens to be the right height for
a tomato cage. So it's simply a question of rolling out what we need to give the appropriate
diameter and I'm going to aim for a diameter of around 18 inches or 45cm to properly hold the
tomato plant in. If you've got a more vigorous variety you might want a diameter of say two
foot or 60cm or even a little bit bigger. And now with it cut we're just going
to secure the ends and you could use zip ties or cable ties for this but
actually just using the cut end of the wire and folding it back on itself
does a great job of that in itself. Sometimes you might need to just sort of
flex or roll the wire to get a sort of more perfectly round shape. I think that's good to go.
So to help the plant along I've driven in a stake next to it which I'll tie it to as it grows
just as it starts off at least and now I can go in with the tomato cage which I'm simply
going to helicopter over the top like that and make sure the plant is as central as we
can get it. And then to stop the cage being disturbed or flying away or whatever I'm gonna
just pincer it in with some stakes either side like this. I can either weave it in or we can
just tie it in but let's try weaving it through. And then just push that in and
then one this side as well. My tomatoes are planted, I've
watered them in and certainly the rain has and I could just leave it
at that. But what better way to finish off our totally terrific toms than with
a supporting act of companion flowers. These here are some marigolds that I've grown
with seed and I have to say I'm really very pleased with them. Once they're planted and grown
up a bit they won't just add a welcome splash of color as they grow beneath the tomatoes
here, they will also help to deter whitefly, and I'll be planting them with some tomatoes
in the greenhouse too for that very reason. Now they'll start flowering in a
couple of weeks and when they do they'll add that beautiful color,
the lovely scent which I especially love and they'll of course also
attract pollinating insects too. Now another companion plant you can grow
with tomatoes is dill. It's a beautiful herb and the flowers are just stunning
and if you have ever seen it in flower you will know just how much beneficial
bugs like hoverflies absolutely adore it. But it's always worth including some
of that. So I'm just sprinkling some seed here at the end of the row of tomatoes
and we'll just tickle it in like that. If you're wondering what makes a good companion
plant to any vegetable then you might want to use our Garden Planner which will show you
ideal bedfellows for any selected crop. And finally a sowing of basil because basil
and tomatoes go perfectly together after all. I'm actually going to sow five different types
here, including this lovely citrusy lemon basil, a purple-leaved basil and a really tiny leaved
Greek basil - can't wait to try them all out! To be honest with you I'm not entirely sure
I've got the room for all of these but I'm gonna jolly well make sure I find some space!
Some of them will be planted in and around my tomatoes so that I can pick some basil
leaves at the same time I pick some tomato fruits but others will just have to be dotted
here, there and everywhere as space allows. Now I'm hoping to do a video on this,
contrasting and comparing all these lovely basils, and that will be either
later this season or early next spring, so just make sure you're subscribed
so you don't miss that one either. There is so much more tomato-growing
advice I would like to share with you and thankfully there's plenty of that in
this playlist, including how to get your tomatoes to flower sooner and how to dodge
common problems. I'll catch you next time!
