How to Plant and Grow Tomatoes the Best Way

Tomatoes are one of those garden crops that make all the work feel worth it.

You can eat them warm off the vine, slice them onto sandwiches, turn them into salsa, can them, freeze them, roast them, dry them, or cook them down into sauce. If the garden gives you too many tomatoes, that’s a good kind of problem.

Around here, tomatoes are also one of the best “kid crops.” When we plant the garden, I always end up listening to the kids chatter about what they’re most excited to eat. More often than not, they’re talking about garden snacks. In the summer, it’s completely normal to see them wander outside and eat cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes like apples.

I really do believe one of the best ways to help kids like vegetables is to let them help grow and harvest them. A tomato picked with your own hands in the sunshine just tastes different.

Over the years, I’ve tried a lot of ways to plant tomatoes. The method I keep coming back to is simple and incredibly productive. Here’s exactly how I plant and grow tomatoes for a big harvest.

Start tomatoes early so they have a strong head start

The first key to a great tomato harvest is getting the plants started early enough.

Where I live, that means starting tomatoes indoors, usually in January. That might sound early, and depending on your growing zone, it may be. The main thing is to give the plants enough time to become sturdy before they go into the garden.

Tomatoes love warm weather, but they do not love frost. Don’t rush them into the ground just because you’re tired of seeing seed trays in the house. Wait until all danger of frost has passed and the soil has had a chance to warm up.

If you’re buying tomato starts instead of growing from seed, that’s fine too. Look for plants with:

• Thick, sturdy stems

• Deep green leaves

• No yellowing or spotted foliage

• No flowers or only a few early blooms

• Roots that aren’t tightly circling the pot

  
  

A tall, leggy tomato plant isn’t a lost cause either. In fact, this planting method is perfect for leggy tomatoes because you’ll bury much of the stem.

That’s one of the wonderful things about tomatoes. Unlike many garden plants, they can grow roots along their buried stem. The more stem you plant under the soil, the more roots the plant can form.

More roots mean a stronger plant. A stronger plant can take up more water and nutrients. And that leads to a better harvest.

Plant tomatoes deep in a trench

This is the part that makes the biggest difference for me.

Instead of digging one hole per tomato plant, I dig a trench down the center of the planting row. My trench is usually about 1 foot deep and 1 foot wide.

Then I lay the tomato plants along the trench, spacing them about 1 foot apart along one side. I leave roughly 1 foot of each plant sticking out above the soil.

Sometimes that means I bury 2 feet of the plant underground. It feels wrong the first time you do it, especially if you raised those seedlings from tiny little seeds, but tomatoes can handle it.

If the plant is too tall to stand upright in the trench, I lay it sideways and gently bend the growing tip upward so the top of the plant is above ground. Be gentle here. You don’t want to snap the stem. A slow, easy bend is all it takes.

Here’s the basic process:

1. Dig a trench about 1 foot deep and 1 foot wide.

2. Lay tomato plants along one side of the trench, about 1 foot apart.

3. Leave about 1 foot of each plant above ground.

4. Gently bend the tops upward if the plants are laying sideways.

5. Cover the buried stems carefully with soil.

   
   

When you cover the plants, press the soil in gently. You want good soil contact around the stem, but you don’t need to pack it down hard.

Water the row well after planting. This helps settle the soil and encourages those buried stems to start forming roots.

The goal is not just to plant a tomato. The goal is to build a root system that can support a heavy harvest.

This trench method is especially helpful in a home garden where you want a lot of food from a manageable amount of space.

Mulch right away to protect moisture and stop weeds

After the tomatoes are planted and watered, I mulch the row.

I like to use about 2 inches of wood chips as mulch. You can use other natural mulches too, such as straw, shredded leaves, or grass clippings that haven’t been treated with chemicals.

Mulch does several helpful things at once.

It holds moisture in the soil, which matters a lot during hot summer weather. Tomatoes need regular water, and mulch keeps the ground from drying out so quickly.

It also keeps weeds down. Weeds compete with tomatoes for water and nutrients, and they make the garden harder to manage. A good mulch layer saves a lot of pulling later.

Over time, mulch also improves the soil. As natural mulch breaks down, it adds organic matter. If you till or work your garden soil each year, that broken-down mulch becomes part of the soil and helps build a better growing bed.

I don’t get too fussy with this part. I just make sure the soil is covered and the plants still have room around the stem. Try not to pile mulch directly against the tomato stems in a thick mound. Leave a little breathing room to prevent rot and keep the plant healthy.

Mulching is one of those small jobs that pays you back all season long. The garden stays cleaner, the soil stays cooler, and the plants handle dry spells better.

Space tomatoes close if you want total yield

I plant tomatoes closer together than many seed packets or garden guides recommend.

I learned some of this from using square foot gardening ideas in the past, and I’ve kept the closer spacing because it works well for us. My plants are often about 1 foot apart, and I’ll sometimes have 2 to 4 plants inside one large tomato cage. When they are this close it is imperative that you prune the branches or it will become too crowded.

Now, there is a trade-off.

When tomato plants grow close together, each individual plant may produce a little less than it would with lots of room around it. The plant has more competition for sunlight, airflow, water, and nutrients.

But in my experience, the total harvest from the row is greater.

That’s what I care about most. I’m not trying to grow one giant perfect tomato plant. I’m trying to fill bowls, baskets, canning jars, and sauce pots.

If you use close spacing, pay attention to these things:

• Keep plants supported so they don’t sprawl everywhere.

• Water consistently since crowded plants drink more.

• Fertilize on a regular schedule.

• Watch for disease, especially in humid weather.

• Prune lightly if the plants become too crowded for air to move through.

  
  

Airflow does matter. If your area has a lot of tomato disease pressure, you may need to space plants a little farther apart. But if your garden does well with closer planting, it can be a great way to increase your harvest.

This is one of those places where gardening becomes personal. Try it, watch how your plants respond, and adjust the next year.

Support the plants with strong tomato cages or a trellis

Tomatoes need support. A flimsy cage might work early in the season, but once the plants are loaded with fruit, weak cages bend, collapse, or tip over.

A few years ago, I made tomato cages from steel mesh, the kind used to reinforce concrete. They’ve been one of my favorite garden upgrades. (Since I have started using the Mittleider method of gardening, I use a cattle panel trellis system. It's really about using a system that works well in your garden and is strong enough to withstand massive tomato growth.)

The roll I used was 100 feet long, and it made 16 cages. To make each cage, I counted out 12 squares, cut the mesh at that point, and wrapped the cut ends around the other side to form a circle.

At the bottom of each cage, I cut off the horizontal wire. That left the vertical wires sticking down like stakes, which I push into the ground to help hold the cage in place.

These cages are strong, wide, and tall enough to handle big tomato plants. They’re also reusable year after year, which makes the work of building them worth it.

Here’s why I like these cages so much:

• They don’t collapse under heavy plants.

• The openings are large enough to reach through for picking.

• They can hold multiple plants.

• They stay in place better than lightweight cages.

• They last for years.

  
  

Once my tomatoes are planted and mulched, I set the cages over the plants right away. It’s much easier to put cages on when the plants are small than to wrestle them over a jungle of tomato branches later.

If you don’t want to build cages, use the strongest support system you can manage. Tall stakes, cattle panels, trellises, and heavy-duty tomato cages can all work. The main thing is to support the plants before they need it.

A tomato plant can look small and innocent in May, then turn into a sprawling, fruit-loaded monster by July.

Feed, water, and weed through the season

Once the tomatoes are planted, mulched, and caged, the rest of the season is mostly steady care. (My current favorite method is the Mittleider method. It has given me the highest yields but there are many other ways to garden that are successful as well.)

I fertilize about once a week. I’ve used rabbit pellets and Miracle-Gro, and both have worked for me. My weekly feed is now my go to fertilizer.

Some gardeners also use fish as fertilizer, and it can be great for the soil.

I’ve tried burying fish under my plants, but my dog digs it up every time. So I gave up on that idea.

Use what works for your garden and your life. Compost, aged manure, rabbit pellets, a balanced garden fertilizer, or water-soluble fertilizer can all help tomatoes grow well. Just don’t overdo it, especially with nitrogen. Too much nitrogen can give you big leafy plants with fewer tomatoes.

Watering matters just as much as feeding.

Tomatoes like steady moisture. If they dry out badly and then get soaked, the fruit can crack. Inconsistent watering can also stress the plant. A deep watering a few times a week is usually better than a light sprinkle every day, though the exact amount depends on your weather and soil.

Stick a finger into the soil under the mulch. If it’s dry a couple of inches down, it’s time to water.

Weeding is simpler when you mulch, but don’t ignore it completely. Pull weeds while they’re small. Once weeds grow deep roots, they steal more from your tomatoes and become a bigger chore.

As the plants grow, tuck branches back into the cages when needed. If leaves touch the ground, I like to trim them off. That helps reduce soil splash and keeps the lower part of the plant cleaner.

You don’t have to fuss over tomatoes every day. Just check them often enough that small problems stay small.

Make the garden a place kids want to visit

I can’t talk about tomatoes without talking about kids in the garden.

There’s something special about watching children pick food straight from the plant. A cherry tomato eaten beside the row is more exciting than the same tomato washed and placed on a dinner plate.

When kids help plant, water, weed, and harvest, vegetables stop being mysterious. They know where the food came from. They watched it grow. They had a part in it.

Tomatoes are perfect for this because they’re easy to recognize, fun to pick, and sweet enough to win over hesitant eaters. Cucumbers and peppers are the same way in our garden. By the middle of summer, the kids treat the garden like a snack drawer.

If you have kids around, give them a job. Let them carry mulch, place cages, water seedlings, or harvest ripe tomatoes. It may slow you down a bit, but it also gives them a reason to care.

And honestly, a garden full of kids eating vegetables is a pretty great reward.

A big tomato harvest starts underground

If there’s one thing to remember, it’s this: the best tomato harvest begins with strong roots.

Starting plants early helps. Planting deep in a trench helps even more. Mulch protects the soil, sturdy cages support the growth, and regular feeding and watering keep everything moving through the season.

This method may look a little strange the first time you lay a tomato plant sideways in a trench and bury most of the stem. But once you see how well those plants grow, it makes perfect sense.

Tomatoes are generous plants when you give them what they need. Plant them deep, support them well, keep them watered, and get ready for the kind of harvest that sends everyone wandering into the garden for “just one more” tomato.