It’s July, and tomatoes are getting harder to find in many parts of Nigeria. This means they’re becoming smaller and less available. Tomatoes are super important for making popular Nigerian dishes like Jollof rice and tomato stew. Because of this shortage, chefs around the country are trying out different substitutes like cucumber, watermelon, carrots, and golden melon.
They say these alternatives taste good and are similar to tomatoes, but most people still prefer using real tomatoes. Instead of paying higher prices for tomatoes every time there is a scarcity, why not grow your own? This article will show you how to plant tomatoes in your backyard or garden, step by step.
Choosing Your Tomatoes
The first step in planting your tomatoes is to choose the kind of tomato you want based on how much space you have and what you like. You can go for cherry tomatoes, bush tomatoes, or ones that stay small (called determinate). If you’re new to gardening, try starting with small tomato plants (transplants) from a nursery instead of seeds.
Note: A transplant is a small, young plant you can buy from a garden store. Instead of planting seeds and waiting for them to grow, you get these baby plants and put them in your garden.
Preparing Your Tomato Home
After you’ve settled on the kind of tomatoes you want to plant, the next step is to decide if you want to grow your tomatoes in pots or directly in the ground. For pots, you should use high-quality potting soil. Get a big pot with holes at the bottom for drainage. But if you decide to plant your tomatoes directly to the ground, you need to pick a sunny spot in your yard that gets 6-8 hours of sunlight each day. Mix in compost to make the soil better for your tomatoes.
Planting
Start growing the tomatoes indoors 6-8 weeks before you plan to move them outside. But if you’re planting the tomatoes directly into the ground, you can skip this process entirely. Whether you choose to use a pot or plant directly in the ground, make sure you use soil that drains well and keep it moist.
For transplants bought from the stores, they’ve been inside where it’s comfortable. You need to get them used to the outside environment, so you can start by putting them out for a few hours in a shady spot. Over the next week or so, increase their time outside each day. Move them to a sunny spot but still protect them from harsh weather. Only plant them in the ground when the weather is warm out, around 60°F.
When planting a transplant, dig holes a bit bigger than the roots of the tomatoes. Plant the seedlings deeper than they were in their pots, covering the stem up to the first set of leaves. This helps their roots grow better. Space them out according to the type of tomato plant (that’s if you decide to plant multiple plants at once).
Caring for Your Tomatoes
In caring for your plants, there are three things that you need to carefully look out for to ensure you have an overall healthy plant.
Watering: Give your tomato plants water regularly, especially when it’s hot outside. Make sure to water the base of the plant to keep the leaves dry and avoid diseases.
Fertilizing: Use a balanced fertilizer every few weeks as the instructions on the package say. This gives your tomatoes the nutrients they need to grow well.
Support for Tall Tomatoes: If you have tall tomato plants that keep growing (called vining tomatoes), use stakes, cages, or rods to support them and keep them from falling over. Also, trim off extra shoots (suckers) to help the plant focus on making tomatoes.
Final Note
Pick your tomatoes when they turn fully red (or whatever color they’re supposed to be). They should feel firm but not too hard when you gently squeeze them. However, it takes around 60 to 85 days for the plant to produce ripen tomatoes after transplantation.
