Use These Tomato Care Tips for the Best Homegrown Tomatoes

Have you ever bought a tomato plant at your local nursery, only to have it go into a tailspin as the summer heat cranks up? Maybe the leaves start to yellow, or look dried out and develop spots. So many things can go awry if you aren’t familiar with pruning and feeding your plant—but how and when should you step in with shears and fertilizer? While tomato growing may seem like a cakewalk when you’ve purchased a starter plant, the summer produce staple can be tricky to maintain until you master a few best practices.

So, to learn how to grow the best tomato plants at home, I visited Brooklyn Grange, New York City’s largest network of rooftop farms. Visible from my desk, Brooklyn Grange’s farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yard is the envy of our office, and seeing it in person momentarily made me consider changing professions in favor of being one with the plants (as if I could handle the unrelenting sun!).

Head of Horticulture and Maintenance Junior Schouten gave a few members of the Food52 team a tour, showing us the various produce that the farm donates to food pantries, sells at farmers markets (you can find them every Saturday at McGolrick Park), and uses for its CSA.

Junior and his team are on track to complete 30 new or revitalized green spaces this year, including clients that have been with Brooklyn Grange for almost nine years, so he knows a thing or two about setting up tomato plants for a successful harvest.

Here, he shares his top tips and tricks to keep tomato plants happy and healthy.

How to Grow Healthy Tomato Plants at Home

Mulch To Lock In (& Keep Out) Moisture

When it comes to growing tomatoes, moisture—not too much, not too little—is key. In both the leaves and the fruit, maintaining stable water levels is crucial to your plant’s success. Even one heavy rainfall can have disastrous effects on the health of your tomatoes. Mulching your plant with straw, wood, or a plastic covering helps keep your soil moist despite the ceaseless summer rays and protects it from overwatering. Just add it on top of your soil and leave an opening near the base of the plant for watering and fertilizing and you're all set!

Prune Your Plant From the Very Beginning

If you’ve done any prior research on tomato growing, chances are you’re familiar with pruning– a care method meant to redirect energy to producing high quality fruit by clipping excess leaves and stalks off your tomato plant. It’s one of the most reliable methods for ensuring tomato plant longevity. With my knees in the dirt, Junior showed me the basics. (If you have a trellised plant, like most home gardens do, you’ll be spared from post-gardening laundry.)

First, pruning should start as soon as you purchase your tomato plant by clipping off the plant's flowers. When you bring home your tomato plant, it's not ready to produce fruit yet—so by clipping the flowers your plant can refocus its energy on producing leaves and therefore higher quality fruit.

Your tomato plant should have no more than three stalks, says Junior. Not only will this help ensure adequate energy reaches the leaves and fruit, but it also makes it much easier to stake your tomato plants up (this helps ensure that the tomatoes don’t weigh down the plant). So when you receive your tomato plant, locate the three healthiest stalks and clip the rest.

Pruning also helps maintain stable moisture levels. By cutting off any leaves about one foot below your plant, airflow around the plant increases, which makes it easier for your plant to dry off from the rain. Removing excess moisture ultimately prevents fungi and bacteria growth.

For a more detailed guide, take a look at this tomato pruning how-to.

Feed Your Tomatoes Fish (Emulsion!)

Along with pruning, fertilizing your tomato plant is essential to its continued, yummy-fruit production. The only downside: your backyard might smell a little fishy afterwards. Literally.

Junior put down the shears and picked up a large bottle that took me right back to getting hit with a whiff of marsh on the way to the beach. Fish emulsion, a byproduct of the fish industry, is nutrient-rich and ideal for tomato fertilizing, Junior tells me. Add a little to a full watering can and pour it over the roots and/or the leaves every three weeks to restore nutrients to the soil.

Pick (& Store) Your Tomatoes Wisely

After all that effort put into growing your tomatoes, the last thing you want is for them to go bad on the countertop. Here are some harvesting and storing tips to make the most of your tomato haul.

Remember when I said that moisture is the name of the game? That includes harvesting. First, make sure your fruit is soft and ripe on the vine before picking them (vine-ripened tomatoes hold the most flavor). Then, when harvesting, you want to keep the star-shaped leaves intact by cutting your tomatoes just above the calyx; this ensures that no excess moisture will enter/exit your tomato while it’s sitting on your countertop.

Another pro tip: If there’s a rainstorm coming, harvest your tomatoes before the rain starts to fall so the sudden influx of moisture doesn’t make your tomatoes burst.

Once you’ve harvested your tomatoes, Junior stresses that you don’t want to wash your tomatoes until you’re ready to eat them. The bacteria that naturally occurs in water ruins the natural balance of bacteria in the tomatoes, leading to less flavorful and short-lasting fruit.

And as a card-carrying tomato lover you probably already know the golden rule: Do not refrigerate your tomatoes! Refrigerating your tomatoes zaps the flavor right out of them. Instead, keep your home-grown tomatoes unwashed on your countertop until you’re ready to eat them.

Make the Most of Your Tomato Haul

Now that you’re equipped with an arsenal of tomato-care tips, it’s time to enjoy all those ripe, juicy tomatoes! And what better way to make the most of your harvest than by participating in Food52’s Tomato-thon? We’re featuring our favorite tomatoey recipes all throughout August to inspire you to try something new. Post the recipes you make—or just your pretty tomato pics—with the hashtag #f52tomatothon.

A special thanks to all the folks at Brooklyn Grange for being so welcoming to your Food52 neighbors—we’ll be waving from our desks!

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Do you have any growing tips we didn't cover? Share yours in the comments!