Extend the Growing Season of Tomatoes

Successfully growing tomato plants requires a strategy for managing weather that threatens the health of your plants.

While most tomato plants grow and produce best in sunny summer weather, it is possible to grow tomatoes in spring and early fall in most climates.

Here are some tips on how to extend the growing season of tomatoes.

Steps

 * 1) Cover your plants. Early in the growing season, covers and cold frames can help you warm the soil and protect young plants from frost. Later in the season, you can re-use the covers and cold frames for the same purpose.
 * 2) * Use light blankets, sheets, newspaper or aluminum space blankets for an evening or 2 as needed.
 * 3) * Use clear plastic coverings over a frame (called a "cold frame") for extended protection. Cold frames can be used for several weeks during early- or late-season gardening. Clip the plastic to the frame to ensure that it doesn't blow away in wind or rain, and be sure to uncover the plants on warm days to ensure proper ventilation. You also may need to adjust your watering schedule to allow for the reduced evaporation of covered plants. Some gardeners add Christmas tree lights to their cold frames to generate additional heat.
 * 4) Surround your plants with water. Vertical tunnel-like plastic containers are widely available at gardening supply stores. They have tall, narrow tubes that surround the plant. Fill the tubes with water. The heat of the sun during the day warms the water and keeps the plants warm at night. These can be used for several weeks at either end of the growing season, although they're most effective in the spring, when they are large enough to completely envelop and protect tomato seedlings.
 * 5) Choose tomato varieties that are suitable to your climate and your weather protection strategy. Compact tomato varieties like "Better Bush" are smaller and easier to cover when necessary than more sprawling varieties like "Whopper." Varieties that come from colder climates like Russia or warmer ones like Mexico may be better suited to your own climate. Indeterminate tomatoes will continue to produce fruit until cold weather kills them. This makes them a better choice for extended-season gardening than determinate varieties, which produce all of their fruit at once, then stop growing.
 * 6) Plant tomatoes in phases. Choose cold weather varieties that will fit in cold frames for the early and late seasons, and larger, warmer-weather varieties for midsummer. This approach allows you to tailor your plants to a variety of growing conditions. It will also help you make the most of your physical space, ensuring that you don't have too many mature tomato plants at once. This will increase air circulation and help prevent blight and other tomato plant diseases. It also gives you an opportunity to try out different tomato varieties and learn what grows best in your own garden.]

Sources and Citations

 * http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-03-17/home-and-garden/17237525_1_tomatoes-steve-goto-fruit-rot