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The Foolproof Way to Grow the Best Tomatoes–Even if You’re a Beginner Gardener

June 8, 2019

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Every new gardener wonders how to grow the best tomatoes–with the least amount of effort possible. You want beautiful tomatoes, but you don’t want to be throwing weird things into the hole with tomatoes (I’m looking at you, fish heads!!). You just want the easiest way to grow big tomatoes.

I’m sharing the 6 easy things I do to grow great tomatoes. No crazy secret tips, just a couple of simple things even a beginner gardener can do.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you purchase something, at no extra cost to you. You can read more about it in my privacy policy. Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

Add Powdered Milk to the Hole When Planting

Tomatoes love calcium, and powdered milk is a cheap and easy way to give it to them. You can also use bonemeal, but powdered milk is probably already in your kitchen. I also use it as a way to fix blossom end rot if I’ve gotten inconsistent with my watering during the summer.

Use a Cozy Coat Over Tomato Seedlings

Cozy coats make a huge difference and 100% worth the investment. Actually, they’re pretty cheap, so it’s not even that much of an investment. Next year, every single tomato I plant will have a cozy coat around it.

Here’s a video I made to show how much of a difference Cozy Coats make.

P.S.–Are Cozy Coats not sold in the US? I couldn’t find them on Amazon.com, but I’ve linked to the closest possible thing.

I also used them for my peppers, and my peppers are leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else I know in my area.

Check out this photo from the beginning of June. In my zone 3b area in Saskatchewan, peppers usually don’t start looking like this until the end of July.

Stake the Tomato Plant & Add Mulch

Once the tomato has outgrown the cozy coat, remove it and put a tomato cage around it instead. Bonus points if you can put some mulch around the base of the tomato as well. This will help keep in the moisture and prevent blossom end rot later in the summer.

Water, Water, and Water Some More

Water your tomato plants everyday, and twice a day when the temperature is above 25 degrees celsius. Inconsistent watering is the biggest cause of blossom end rot. If you do happen to forget to water and blossom end rot happens to your tomatoes, it can be fixed in the plant in two weeks with this simple process.

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Remove Suckers

Tomato suckers are the little shoots that grow at a 45 degree angle from the stem. Cutting these suckers off in an indeterminate variety will help the fruit of the tomato grow larger, because it doesn’t have to compete for as many of the nutrients.

If removing the suckers seems too intimidating and you don’t do it, you’ll still get tomatoes–they just might be smaller.

Add Fertilizer Every Week

I add a water soluble fertilizer every week to my tomatoes to give them a little boost. Tomatoes are heavy feeders (they require lots of nutrients), so they really benefit from it. You can use any general purpose garden fertilizer or compost tea–whatever is readily available and easy. I personal use the Rapid Grow fertilizer and love the results.

To make your own compost tea as easily as possible, just add water to worm castings (which you can buy here if you don’t use worms) and water your tomatoes with that water.

The fertilizer I use doesn’t seem to be readily available in the US, so this one seems to be the most similar.

Hey there beginner vegetable gardener--did you know there's a way you can grow the best and biggest tomatoes without a ton of effort?  Just follow these easy 6 tips and tricks for your tomato harvest yet!  Step #2 is key!  #tomato #growing #plant #beginner #best

So that’s it! Six easy steps to easily and simply grow the best tomatoes you’ve ever had when you’re a beginner gardener. Try these out this year, then you can get fancy with your tomato growing strategies as you gain confidence in years to come.

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

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About Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

P.S. First time gardener? You'll want to download the quick start gardening guide below!

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Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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Growing eucalyptus for the first time this year? Growing eucalyptus for the first time this year?  A new post is on the blog to walk you through it.  While in theory eucalyptus is easy to grow, it's challenging in my zone 3 garden for three reasons: ⁠
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➡️It needs a long time to mature⁠
➡️I have a short growing season⁠
➡️I live in a cool climate, and eucalyptus grows better when its warm.⁠
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That said, you can see by this picture that it can be done!!⁠
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Are you growing eucalyptus this year?
Oh friends, if any of my nice, curated photos sums Oh friends, if any of my nice, curated photos sums up how this last week went, I think it's this one.  Babies crying, trying to stay calm, outwardly looking like it's all under control, but feeling very overwhelmed.⁠
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This post isn't gardening related, so feel free to scroll by if you're here only for the gardening content.⁠
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Thankfully it's January, and I keep reminding myself that the Internet will not break if I don't keep to my self-imposed posting schedule.  But it doesn't make a week full of teething-and-not-sleeping baby any easier. ⁠
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Felicity slept through the night for the first time ever last Monday, then proceeded to punish us with frequent wakings and terrible sleep until Saturday.  And as tough as this is in regular times, in Covid times its extra frustrating because I don't have my village.⁠
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I can't just call up another Mama friend and go for coffee at her house.  I can't take my son out for a Mommy-and-Dominic date because everything he'd want to do isn't really much of an option.  There's no playgroup or play place to just drop in on.  And forget just taking everybody out to get groceries just for a change of scenery.⁠
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I know people have way more serious problems than this, and I hope I don't sound whiny and entitled, it's not my intention.  Please know that I'm very grateful for my family and job and that so far we've been healthy. ⁠
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A lot of you who follow me do so in part because you are also juggling life with very little people through this strange time.  I hope that in occasionally sharing my struggles, it makes you feel better about your struggles. (You're struggling too sometimes. . . right?)
Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth deg Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth degree, do you just wing it, or are you somewhere in-between?⁠
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I tend to plan it all out, and then when I actually get out in the field, so to speak, the plan changes a little bit. ⁠
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If you need a garden planner that's both pretty & practical, my garden planner is available in the ebooks section.  It's only $9 and has lots of upgrades from the previous planner.  Use code CANADA if you're Canadian to account for the exchange.⁠
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P.S. You can see exactly what you're getting in the video--no surprises. ⁠
P.P.S  I get my planner bound and printed at a printing place.  Lots of people just print their own and put the sheets in a binder.
Are you gardening in containers this year? When y Are you gardening in containers this year?  When you're shopping for vegetable seeds, look for varieties that have names with words like patio, tiny, small, etc.  While lots of vegetable varieties will do fine in a container, you'll have an easier time with ones that are specifically bred for that situation.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I'm living the pepper dream in this photo. While I'm living the pepper dream in this photo.  While these ones are a bit on the small side, who doesn't want ripe peppers in July in zone 3?!?! ⁠
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Over the years I've gotten better at growing peppers, and I promise I'll spill my secrets in February when it's actually time to start them.  Until then, get yourself all or one of my four favourite varieties: ⁠
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🌶️Carmen⁠
🌶️Escamillo⁠
🌶️Candy Stripe⁠
🌶️Hungarian Hot Wax⁠
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Do you have a favourite pepper variety?⁠
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Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately? It Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately?  It's so easy to get completely overwhelmed, especially if you're new to gardening.  Why are there so many varieties of everything and which ones do I choose?⁠
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Here's how I try to narrow it down.⁠
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🌤️ Short growing season like me?  Try and prioritize varieties that have short dates to maturity.⁠
🥗 What do you or your family actually eat?  While I think you should always try a couple of new things, there's no sense in planting a giant garden filled with vegetables that you're not going to cook with. ⁠
🥒 Do you care whether your vegetables are heirlooms or hybrids?  Heirlooms are the kind that have been around for 50+ years and you can save seeds from.  Believe it or not, this year we're prioritizing hybrids for some of our garden.  The Hermit @mgsraney is obsessed with production this year, so anything that's going in "his" greenhouse better be able to produce a lot.  I'm using more heirlooms in my "glamour garden" as we call it, because I want things that are pretty and I can save seeds from.⁠
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What do you prioritize when you're picking out seeds?⁠
Last week we started thinking about our plans for Last week we started thinking about our plans for cut flower gardening, now this week we start thinking about plans for our vegetable gardens.  Unlike cut flowers, there's not as many vegetables that need to be started ridiculously early.  However, it's still fun to plan and dream and get your thoughts sorted.⁠
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I'm curious--what size of garden do you have to work with?  Are you on an acreage or farm, city backyard, or do you have a couple of pots on an apartment patio?⁠
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As for me, I have quite a mix.  I have my container garden on my backyard deck, the small cut flower garden in my yard, then vegetables in raised beds.  We also garden at my Mother-in-law's acreage, so there's a giant garden over there where we're figuring out how to grow food on a larger scale.  Then finally, sometimes my Mom grows things for me in her garden if I'm nervous that I'll ruin them in my own garden--call it a backup garden if you will.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
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