Ready to get started on your new veggie garden? Tomatoes are a great place to start, as they're delicious and not at all difficult to grow. Here's a guide to growing tomatoes, with information specifically tailored to your temperate climate garden, be that in Sydney, Newcastle, the Hunter region or beyond.

Short on time? Skip to:

Planting & Growing

Feeding & Watering

Pests & Diseases

Companion Planting & Harvesting

 

Before planting make sure your soil is in tip-top condition.

Preparing To Plant

Choose an open position for your tomatoes that receives at least six hours of full sun each day.

Tomatoes grow happily in most soils but, like all plants, a little time spent on their soil will go a long way to healthy plants and an abundance of fruit. If you have clay soil (which you'll find in many areas of Sydney), it’s best to raise the planting area to help with drainage. Add compost to help with soil structure, dolomite to prevent blossom end rot (calcium deficiency) and a tomato and vegetable fertiliser such as Maxicrop around one week before you plant your tomatoes. Make sure you water it in well.

If you grew tomatoes last year, it’s best to choose a new spot for your plants this year to eliminate any risk of soil-borne disease. Plants can be returned to the same location the following year – though the longer you can leave it, the better.

If you’re planning to plant in a pot, choose a good quality tomato and vegie growing mix to plant them into. We recommend Supersoil Professional Herb & Vegie Potting & Planting Mix.

 

Choosing Your Variety

There are a huge number of varieties available, with differences in both the plant's growing habit and the size, shape, taste, colour and acidity of fruit. We sell many varieties at Flower Power, available as either seedling or seed - here are a few of our favourites. Don't forget to drop in-store to see our full range of delicious tomatoes!

A cherry tomato variety.

Small to Medium Fruit Varieties

Grape: Small, deep red, oval-shaped tomatoes appear on a tall and vigorous vine. Their size and shape makes them ideal for on-the-go snacking.

Heartbreaker: A cocktail tomato that creates a unique heart shape when halved due to its pointed tip. Bright red fruit with a flavour that's the perfect balance of sweet and sour.

Ladybug: A small, bushy plant bearing masses of full-flavoured, cherry-sized, round fruit in summer and autumn.

Patio Supreme: Early to mature with full flavoured bright red, flat fruit on a compact, dwarf bush – perfect for pots.

Sugar Gloss: This is a tall and vigorous vine that produces small fruit that's juicy and very sweet.

Sugar Snack: A small, cherry sized fruit with a sweet full flavour.

Sweet Bite: Smaller than traditional cherry varieties, this early maturing variety produces hundreds of juicy, bite-size fruit.

Tommy Toe: Super sweet, bite-sized balls of fruit on a plant that produces hundreds of 50-cent piece sized tomatoes at a time.

Truss: Profuse trusses of small to medium round fruit that's bright red in colour and with a sweet, juicy flavour.

 

Patio Supreme tomatoes.

Medium to Large Fruit Varieties

Apollo: Produces high yields of full flavoured, round, red fruit early in the season.

Big Bite: Abundant crops of medium to large, sweet and juicy red tomatoes appear through summer and autumn on this tall and vigorous vine.

Health Kick: An antioxidant-rich variety of medium-sized, egg-shaped, bright red fruit with a sweet flavour.

Grosse Lisse: Medium to large deep red fruit mid to late in the season.

Oxheart: An heirloom variety producing distinctively-shaped large pink tomatoes on a vigorous vine.

Roma: Rich red medium to large egg-shaped, full flavoured fruit mid to late in the season.

 

We have a great range of tomato seedlings.

Planting & Growing

When you’re ready to plant, place your seedlings about 70cm apart. This may seem like a lot while they are this size, but any less and they’ll be crowded when they grow. Your plants will need support as they go, so put in a hardwood stake around 5cm from the plant, or try a tomato cage. Mulch the plants well, preferably with an organic mulch like sugar cane that will add nutrients back to the soil as it breaks down. Mulch should be applied 5cm thick with a 5cm gap around stems to prevent collar rot.

As the plant grows, choose two main stems and tie them to the stake at 30cm intervals as they grow. Once these two stems are established all other side shoots (laterals) should be pinched out to keep the plant tidy and manageable, as well as helping the plant concentrate on fruit production. Stems should be pinched off once a week as they can get wild very quickly!

Tomato seedlings love a feed to help them flourish.

Feeding

To get the most out of your tomato plants, it’s best to keep them well fed. Use the same tomato and veggie fertiliser that you added to the soil prior to planting to feed them once a month as per the pack instructions, commencing when your plants first start flowering.

If your plants seem to be fattening up with leaves instead of fruit, try adding potash to encourage flowers and fruit.

Watering

Tomatoes require lots of water and regularly. Drying out will drastically reduce their yield, and irregular watering leads to blossom end rot – a sunken black patch on the bottom of your fruit. Water your plants weekly, and once fruit has developed try to water daily during very hot weather. Try to avoid overhead watering as this can encourage leaf blight and other fungal diseases.

 

Fruit fly is a common pest of tomatoes.

Pest Control

Tomatoes are as popular with pests as they are with people, but it’s easy to protect your crop. Here are some pests and diseases to look out for.

Caterpillars: These guys will eat holes in your leaves and green fruit. Pick off if it's only a small problem or spray with Nature's Way Caterpillar Killer Dipel or Success Ultra to protect your plants.

Fruit Fly: If you're not careful, these critters will lay eggs in your ripening fruit – ugh! Try Eco-Naturalure or hang fruit fly bait traps near your plants.

Aphids: These rascals suck sap from foliage and spread plant disease. Check your plants for ants – ants are themselves harmless, but come to feed on the sticky residue left by aphids and white fly so are a sign of an aphid problem. Spray with pyrethrum, or try to encourage the aphid's natural enemy to take up residence – the lady beetle.

Tomato wilt: If this disease has set in all the leaves will wilt and the plant will appear very dry. What's happening is the stem inside is dying and unfortunately the plant can't be saved. This will happen if you don't keep aphids under control, so prevention is the best cure!

Early blight: If you notice tomato leaf spots and yellowing lower leaves you may have tomato early blight. This disease causes damage to the leaves, stems and even the fruit of the plant. Treat with Yates Liquid Copper Fungicide.

Blossom end rot: The bottom of the tomato fruit will discolour and rot. This is a sign of calcium deficiency. You can try to add dolomite at this stage, but it's likely too late.

 

Marigolds are a great companion planting option.

Companion Planting

For a completely organic approach, try planting basil and/or marigolds with your tomatoes – they can help to deter aphids, white fly and nematodes (a disease affecting roots).

Harvesting

You’ve successfully grown your first tomato, and now it’s time to enjoy it!
Pick your tomato when it is red-ripe. As pretty as they look, leaving your fruit on the vine too long will cause it to lose its sweetness and become floury.