How to grow tomato

Solanum lycopersicum · Solanaceae · Vegetable

Tomato is a warm-season vegetable in the Solanaceae family, usually started indoors and set out as transplants. It wants full sun (six or more hours of direct light) and consistent moisture — it resents drying out. From sowing to first pick is about 60–85 days. It is killed by frost, so nothing goes outside until the danger has passed and the soil has warmed.

Grower’s note: Days to maturity counted from transplant. Bury 2/3 of the stem at transplanting for extra roots. Determinate types suit containers and one big harvest; indeterminate types need staking and produce until frost.

Sowing

Sow about 0.25″ deep, into soil between 50–95°F — germination is quickest near 80°F. It comes up fast (5–10 days). For an early crop, start seed indoors about 7 weeks before your last spring frost and grow it under bright light.

Spacing & layout

Give each plant about 24″ along the row with roughly 36″ between rows. On a square-foot grid that is 1 per square foot. Allow at least 18″ of loose, workable soil for the roots. It grows well in containers at least 16″ deep.

Fitting it to your season

Tomato needs roughly 60–85 frost-free days to crop. Where the season is shorter than that, start it indoors and choose the earliest-maturing varieties, or grow it in a container you can move under cover on cold nights. In long, hot-summer regions it can often be planted twice — once in spring and again in mid-to-late summer for a fall harvest.

Quick facts

When to plant tomato

Companions

Common problems

Pests: tomato hornworm, aphids, whitefly, flea beetle.

Diseases & disorders: early blight, late blight, septoria leaf spot, fusarium wilt, blossom-end rot (calcium disorder).

Same family (Solanaceae)

Rotate these so they don’t follow each other in the same bed year to year.

Figures are typical home-garden ranges from Cooperative Extension planting guides, cross-checked against multiple state sources. Your variety and conditions will vary.