Some people wait all year for a holiday. Me, I wait all year for tomatoes in my garden. Just the smell of the plant gives my heart wings. Once they are in the ground, I talk to them daily to encourage fruit. A blossom is cause for celebration. It’s not just me. Tomatoes are America’s favorite garden crop. There is no better treat than a tomato fresh from your own garden.
There are thousands of tomato varieties. They each have their own characteristics depending on how you want to enjoy them.
- Cherries are small and perfect for salads and just snacking in the garden.
- Roma, or plum, varieties are firm and low in moisture, which makes them perfect for sauces, although people like them in salads as well. Most are determinate.
- Standard-sized tomatoes, like the ever-popular ‘Early Girl’, can vary in size and color. Good for salads and slicing in burgers.
- Beefsteak tomatoes are large and meaty but may struggle to reach size in our cooler summer weather.
- Container or Patio tomatoes are bred to be grown in smaller containers and are determinate. They need the same sun but can let you grow tomatoes in a small garden or on a deck.
You can either start your plants from seed or buy seedlings. Unless you are planting many plants, it is easier to get a variety of fruit by buying seedlings. Because tomatoes are tropical plants, they need long days of full sun and warmth to ripen the fruit. They like warm nights too, which is often tough here in Marin, where the nights can be below 55 degrees any month of the year. Choose the spot in your garden that will provide the sunniest, warmest home for your plants. Early May is usually warm enough here to transplant your tomatoes into the garden.
Tomato plants are either determinate or indeterminate, which refers to their growth habit. Determinate plants grow like a bush to a determined size of about 3-5 feet. Once they set fruit, they will start to decline. Most of the early-ripening varieties are determinate. Indeterminate vines continue to grow until frost. Many of the larger fruits and the cherry tomatoes are from these vines. A strong and healthy plant will happily grow willy nilly so all tomatoes need to be staked or caged to provide support and allow the sun to reach the maturing fruit.
Tomatoes are heavy feeders. Before planting, work in lots of organic matter to provide a well-draining, nutritious home for the plants. Make your planting holes extra deep. Pinch off the lower leaves of tall, lanky plants with few leaves and set the plants into the soil horizontally with just a few sets of top leaves showing above the ground. Additional roots will form along the buried stem to form a stronger root system. Tomatoes will produce a crop in rich soil, but you will probably get more fruit by treating them to a couple of booster feeds as they grow. You can apply an organic fertilizer or a synthetic one with a moderate amount of nitrogen (such as 5-10-10 or 5-10-4) when the first fruit has just formed and repeat about a month after that.
Tomato plants are deep-rooted and need regular moisture at root level, so water heavily each time you water. Don’t keep the soil soggy (discourages diseases), but do not let the soil dry more than three inches deep (cause of blossom rot and various fruit defects).
Harvest your fruit when it is fully colored and juicy. Keeping the fruit picked extends the season.
Marin Master Gardeners are already getting ready to provide you with healthy, organic tomato plants for your Marin garden. The annual Tomato Sale is on Saturday, April 18, 9 am at Bon Air Center in Greenbrae by Mollie Stones and at the Pini Hardware location in San Marin. For more information, see https://youtu.be/aM7ROGa4N0o.
By Dot Zanotti Ingels, April 11, 2026