It can be a long stretch from the last windowsill-ripened tomatoes of the fall to the first vine-ripe fruits of summer. If you don’t like to settle for supermarket tomatoes, with their inferior taste and quality, then you probably would like to get a head start on this year’s tomatoes. With a bit of ingenuity and effort, you can be picking fresh ripe tomatoes in June.
Tomatoes
The first step is to choose your tomato seed varieties with care. Planting the right cultivar can make all the difference. Most tomatoes will not set fruit when night temperatures drop below 55 degrees. However, cold tolerant varieties have been bred to set fruit a lower temperatures. Glacier, Polar Baby, and Oregon Spring are three you may want to grow.
Traditionally, tomato seeds are planted about seven weeks before the last expected frost. You don’t want your seedlings to spend too much time indoors under less than optimal light, or they will grow tall and spindly. Cold-resistant tomatoes can be planted out two or three weeks before regular tomatoes, so you can easily start them around ten weeks before the last spring frost date.
Cover the flats or seed trays, since tomatoes germinate better in dark. After the seedling appear, place them so they get eight to twelve hours of sun each day. Select a warm spot, and turn your trays or flats so the seedlings never grow bent. As they get larger, transplant them into separate pots. As weather warms, harden the seedlings by placing them outdoors for a few hours only for three or four days, bringing them inside at night.
Plant the tomatoes outside in a well-warmed spot. Look for a spot where there is a favorable microclimate – no wind, a wall that reflects heat, a raised bed with warmer soil, or a southern slope. The raised bed will ensure good drainage, and with full sun, your tomatoes will thrive. Set the seedlings horizontally into the soil, so much of the stem is buried. This encourages rooting along the stem, producing a stronger plant.
When the weather is continuously warmer, mulch around your tomatoes. A clear plastic mulch can warm the soil by up to 20 degrees. You can also cover the plans with row covers like Reemay for further protection for early-planted tomatoes. Make sure to remove the filmy row covers as the weather warms and blossoms start to form.
Other heat retaining ideas are umbrella greenhouses – clear dome shaped plant protectors, wire cylinders wrapped with clear plastic and even juice cans filled with water and placed between plants. The sun will warm the water throughout the day, and it will retain and emit the warmth during the night.
Even if you only select cold-resistant cultivars, you should be able to enjoy fresh tomatoes a couple of weeks earlier. If you also take the time to pre-warm the soil, select your planting spot and provide extra protection for your plants, you may gain several weeks of fresh delicious tomatoes.
