Solanum lycopersicum
Tomato
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 60 cm, rows 80 cm
- Lifespan
- Annual
- Sowing
- Mar–Apr
- Harvest
- Jul–Oct
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below 5 °C
- Water need
- High
Photo: User:Luigi Chiesa · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Description
The tomato is the most popular pot and bed fruit in the home garden and originally comes from the Andes. From a single seed you draw kilos of fruit over the summer, from the robust cordon tomato to the cherry tomato ‘Sungold’ or the old cultivar ‘Berner Rose’.
Care instructions
Plant it only after the ice saints (mid-May, week 20) in a warm spot sheltered from rain where possible. Water in the morning directly at the root, never over the leaves, and with cordon tomatoes break out the side shoots regularly. A layer of mulch keeps the soil moist and prevents late blight.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–Apr
HarvestJul–Oct
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 15 °C, ideally 24 °C
- Days to sprout
- 6 to 14 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 0.5 cm
- How to start
- Start indoors, then plant out
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, nutrient-rich
Tomatoes want a deep, loose, humus-rich loamy soil that is free-draining and warms up quickly in spring. They tolerate waterlogging poorly, so provide good drainage and a pH between 6.0 and 6.8, otherwise calcium uptake suffers (blossom end rot).
Nightshades (tomato, potato, pepper) are heavy feeders and prone to disease; a break of at least 4 years on the same bed prevents soil fatigue and blight.
Feeding
Heavy feeder
Months
Apr–Aug
Before planting out in spring, work mature compost shallowly into the bed soil and rake horn shavings in lightly as a long-term nitrogen source. Avoid fresh manure or raw fresh compost directly before planting. From about two weeks after planting, feed the plant regularly with liquid feed, for example diluted nettle feed or compost tea. From flowering and fruit set in summer, feed more often and with an emphasis on potassium, so that the fruit ripens well. After the main harvest in autumn, stop feeding.
Overwintering
The tomato is an annual in Central Europe and dies at the first frost. You need do nothing more than sow again in spring or start young plants indoors from February. Only if you want to save a special variety or a container plant do you cut it back hard in autumn and keep it bright and frost-free at around 10 to 15 °C, water sparingly and do not feed.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
- Cuttings
Sowing (main method): Sow tomato seeds under cover between the end of February and the end of March. Fill pots or trays with fine seed compost and cover the seeds with only about 0.5 cm, because tomatoes germinate in light, so the seeds must not lie too deep. Keep the soil evenly moist and create a warm microclimate with cling film or a propagator lid. At 20 to 22 °C the first seedlings appear after about 10 days. From germination, put the tray in a very bright place, because too little light with too much warmth otherwise leads to long, weak, “leggy” shoots. As soon as the seedlings have two to three true leaves, prick them out individually into more nutrient-rich compost. Important: only open-pollinated varieties are suitable for saving seed for further propagation; with F1 hybrids the offspring do not come true. Do not put the young plants out in the open ground or greenhouse until after the Ice Saints (mid-May).
Cuttings from side shoots (quick propagation true to type): From May to the end of August you can use the side shoots that come off when removing side shoots directly as cuttings. Choose strong shoots about 15 to 20 cm long, remove the lower leaves and put the cutting in a glass of water in a warm, partly shaded place. Roots form after about one to two weeks; once they are a few centimetres long, pot the cutting up in seed compost, planting it deep, almost up to the first leaves, for a stable stance. Alternatively, push the shoot straight into moist soil and cover the pot with a clear dome, which you air briefly every day. The cuttings are genetically identical to the mother plant and so come true to type. Ideal for quickly multiplying a proven variety or for extending the season.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
mint family (Lamiaceae)
particularly well establishedYou will find that basil next to tomato and pepper improves taste and keeps whiteflies and aphids away.
For example LavenderThymeRosemarySageHyssopBee balm and 37 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
borage family (Boraginaceae)
Borage attracts pollinators and is supposed to keep tomato pests away from the nightshade family.
For example Forget-me-notLungwortSiberian buglossSwamp Forget-Me-NotViper's bugloss
Source: organic greenhouse companion planting practice
Rather not
gourd family (Cucurbitaceae)
You should avoid planting potato and cucumber together because they share disease pathogens such as leaf and brown rot and stand in each other's way as strong feeders.
For example PumpkinCourgetteButternutHokkaidoPatissonSpaghetti squash and 13 more species in the catalogue
Source: basic crop-rotation rule
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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Varieties
16 varieties‘Berner Rose’
You’ll grow ‚Berner Rose’, one of the most popular meat tomatoes for the home garden.
‘Black Krim’
A dark flesh tomato from the Crimean Peninsula, ‚Black Krim’, the fruits turn brown‑violet under sun with green…
‘Celsior’
You will enjoy ‚Celsior’, a modern cocktail tomato (F1 hybrid) with pronounced brown rot tolerance, bred for robust outdoor cultivation in pots or beds.
‘De Berao’
You will find a tall, late-ripening variety from Eastern Europe, known for its resilience and robustness even in difficult weather.
‘Dorenia’
A modern, brown-flesh tolerant determinate tomato (‚Dorenia’) bred specifically for open-field cultivation, ideal if you have no tomato cover.
‘Gelbe Johannisbeere’
You’ll discover ‚Gelbe Johannisbeere’, the yellow sister of ‚Rote Murmel’, a wild tomato that produces tiny…
‘Green Zebra’
A striking variety with green and yellow striped skin that remains green even when ripe; you can tell it is ready when…
‘Harzfeuer’
A reliable, early salad tomato (F1 hybrid) for the garden and the greenhouse, with roundish, medium sized fruits that…
‘Matina’
An old, very early salad tomato with finely divided, potato leaved foliage, one of its identifying features.
‘Ochsenherz’
The large, heart shaped beefsteak tomato (in Italian Cuore di bue), with fruits of 200 to 400 grams, dense, low juice…
‘Philovita’
A modern cocktail or cherry tomato (F1 hybrid) with one of the best tolerances of late blight on the market, ideal if you garden outdoors without cover.
‘Rote Murmel’
A true wild tomato (currant tomato) with countless tiny, pea sized fruits, robust, undemanding and astonishingly resistant to late blight.
‘San Marzano’
The classic Italian plum tomato for sugo and preserving, with elongated, firm fleshed fruits that carry few seeds and…
‘Sungold’
An orange yellow cherry tomato (F1 hybrid) famous for its exceptionally sweet, almost tropical flavour, for many the most aromatic snacking tomato of all.
‘Tigerella’
An early, decorative salad tomato with red and orange striped skin that is patterned like a small tiger when ripe.
‘Yellow Submarine’
A small, bright yellow pear or bottle shaped tomato that ripens in dense trusses and catches the eye with its cheerful colour and form.
Notes from real gardens
What other gardeners have written down about this variety, anonymous and voluntary.
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From the magazine
Grafting Tomatoes: Splice Grafting Step by Step
A tough root, a flavourful variety: grafting turns two tomatoes into one. How splice grafting works at the kitchen table, and who it actually pays off for.
Tomato varieties: sorting the jungle along two axes
Thousands of tomato varieties, and you have to choose? Two simple axes bring order: the growth habit (cordon or bush) and the use (cocktail, salad, beefsteak, paste, wild). That way you find the right variety for your space and your kitchen.
Late blight on tomato and potato: only prevention helps
One pathogen, two hosts: why late blight jumps from the potato to the tomato, how to recognise it on leaf, fruit and tuber, and how to get ahead of it with dry foliage, a roof and robust varieties.
Tomatoes in pots and on the balcony: the three things that count
A sunny balcony is a full vegetable garden. Why the pot matters more than the variety, which tomatoes really crop in a tub, and how to get watering and feeding right.
Pinching out tomatoes: when, why and on which plant never
Pinching out sounds like secret lore but takes thirty seconds per plant. Why only cordon tomatoes get it, how to spot the sucker, and when to hold back.
Companion planting the old way: what holds up about the classic bed partnerships
Carrot and onion, tomato and basil, the Three Sisters: what generations observed in the bed, how much of it is actually documented, and which neighbours you really do need to keep apart.