by Mike Walters

Created on: September 20, 2010

With gardening is the #1 most practiced at-home hobby in America, and tomatoes as the most popularly grown vegetable, you can figure that each year, there are quite a few gardeners happily harvesting their very own tomatoes. One of the things that make tomatoes so popular is that they are relatively easy to grow, and that just one plant can produce quite a large amount of fruit. There tends to be a lot of reward for not too much labor. But depending on how to treat your tomato plants, you may yield a larger number of big, glossy, ripe fruits than all of your neighbors. Here are some tips for growing tomatoes successfully at your own home.

1. Choose an heirloom seed variety- Many people think they don’t care much for tomatoes because they are used to bland supermarket ones and hybrid varieties that are bred to resist bruising and look pretty, not to taste good. For really juicy, flavorful home- grown tomatoes, select heirloom seeds. There are hundreds of different varieties of heirloom tomatoes, so this does not limit your options in terms of size, shape, flavor, or color. Just make sure you look for seeds that are “heirloom” and “open pollinated” for the best results.

2. Transplant correctly- Transplanting is one of the key factors that will affect the success of the plants in your garden. After you have started your tomato seeds, they have sprouted into seedlings, and you are ready to transplant them into your garden, follow these transplant tips: First, remove all of the leaves from your seedlings except for the very top set of leaves. Dig a hole that is deep enough to bury the entire stalk of the tomato seedling. Only the top set of leaves should be sticking out of the soil above ground. This deep transplant is very important because it will cause the entire stalk you have buried to form roots, therefore giving your tomato plant a nice, strong, sturdy root foundation. Shallow roots cause unhealthy plants because they are then not able to take in enough water and nutrients.

3. Use mulch- Lay mulch around your tomato plants in order to retain moisture. Mulch has the ability to greatly reduce the amount of water that evaporates when you water your tomatoes, as well as to help protect your plants against diseases. If you are growing tomatoes in containers, it is especially important to use a layer of mulch on top, as the roots of container gardens otherwise dry out very quickly.

4. Stake your plants early- If you wait until your

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