Having the earliest tomatoes on the block is sure to make you the envy of your gardening neighbors and friends! There’s nothing quite like the first ripe tomato of the season fresh from the vine. Read on to find out how you can get a head start on canning season and grow early tomatoes.
This post contains affiliate links: I am grateful to be of service and bring you content free of charge. In order to do this, please note that when you click links and purchase items; in most (but not all) cases I will receive a referral commission. Your support in purchasing through these links enables me to keep blogging to help you start homesteading and it doesn’t cost you a penny extra!
See Disclosure, Terms and Conditions for more information. Thank you for supporting Misfit Gardening.
Early Tomato Growing Secrets
Having the earliest tomatoes in town is like a right of passage. Gardeners are often competitive and will go to great lengths to grow the best, the biggest, the earliest vegetable, fruit or flowers. Seriously. England has vegetable growing competitions in the village hall and giant vegetable shows every year. The Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit movie wasn’t far off! Gardeners can get a little crazy about their prize veg.
Growing early tomatoes and having the first ripe tomatoes on the block earns you bragging rights to your gardening friends and and neighbors. Is also kicks off some of the tastiest produce coming out of your garden and also means you can extend your tomato harvest allowing you to grow more in your garden and grow more tomatoes to can and preserve.
To get early tomatoes there are a few tomato growing secrets I need to let you in on…are you ready? Cool, let’s get started.
Early Tomato Growing Secret #1
Choose the right variety. Start with the early or ultra early tomato varieties, these are varieties with a short number of days to maturity and will give you the earliest harvest.
You can choose a determinate (more compact, fruit will bear at the same time) or indeterminate (continual growth, fruit will keep being produced throughout the season) tomato variety to try and grow. Here are some tomatoes to try:
Determinate Early Tomatoes
Polbig (hybrid)
Taxi Organic (hybrid)
Valley Girl (hybrid)
Principe Borghese (heirloom)
Minabel (heirloom)
Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye (heirloom)
Sub Arctic Plenty (heirloom)
Peron (heirloom)
Roma (heirloom)
Betalux (heirloom)
Cream Sausage (heirloom)
Indeterminate Early Tomatoes
New Girl Organic (hybrid)
Gardener’s Delight (hybrid)
Napa Chardonnay Blush (heirloom)
Purple Bumble Bee (heirloom)
Napa Rose Blush (heirloom)
Pink Bumble Bee (heirloom)
Isis Candy (heirloom)
Large Barred Boar (heirloom)
Tigerella (heirloom)
You can encourage your mid season tomatoes to produce a little earlier too by using these same techniques and growing secrets! By planting early and mid season tomatoes you can have a much longer harvest of tomatoes throughout the growing season too and who doesn’t want bushels of tasty tomatoes?!
Early Tomato Growing Secret #2
You have to start your tomatoes early indoors. Up to 10 weeks before your last expected frost early. So clear some space by a south facing window or invest in some LED grow lights
When going for the early tomatoes in town badge of honor you need to make sure you have seed starting modules
Start your seeds using a good quality seed starting soil mix
A small fan near your seedlings, brushing the top of the seedlings lightly with your hands or shaking the planting containers and trays gently every so often will help encourage your tomato seedlings to form sturdy stems and help them grow strong.
Water your seedlings from the bottom of the tray to encourage the roots to go down deep and once the first set of true leaves show, start to feed your seedlings. I like to use fertilizers I make here on the homestead but you can try using dilute worm tea or an organic kelp plant fertilizer. Don’t make the fertilizer strong as it will be too much for your seedlings.
Early Tomato Growing Secret #3
Start warming the soil beforehand. At least 10 days before transplanting.
Your planting location in the garden should be somewhere that your tomatoes will get at least 8 hours of sun a day. The soil needs to be pre-warmed before your seedlings get to it! Start warming the soil with black plastic sheeting mulch
Early Tomato Growing Secret #4
Acclimate your seedlings before transplanting the tomato plants. At about 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost in spring, start to harden off your seedlings by placing them outside during the day along a south facing wall or in a cold frame where you can open the lid. Make sure you never put them outside in freezing or near freezing temperatures and that you bring them in before the sun starts going down.
The acclimatization period should take about 10 days. Start with shorter amounts of time outside and work up to letting them be outside for a full day.
Early Tomato Growing Secret #5
At about 4-6 weeks before your last frost date, plant out undercover using a cold frame, polytunnel or pop up tomato greenhouse
Popular soil amendments to add to the hole when planting tomatoes include:
- egg shells
- gypsum
- 1 tablespoon Epson salt
- worm castings
- bonemeal
- kelp meal
- coffee grounds
- aspirin
- well rotted compost
When planting your tomatoes you need to plant them deep so the first set of true leaves are a little above the soil. Tomato stems will form roots along the length which was been planted in the soil and a good root system helps to produce sturdy plants.
Get your tomato cages in place as soon as possible to prevent root damage by popping the cage over 
Water your planted tomatoes well and pop the protective cover over them. If your transplants are still small, consider using a Wall O’ Water
Learn more about undercover gardening.
Early Tomato Growing Secret #6
Once the last frost date has passed, remove the protective frost covers and add some well rotted compost around the plants or some worm castings and mulch the soil. Tomatoes need regular watering to keep them from cracking. Tomatoes are not fond of their leaves getting wet when watering, so lay down soaker hoses
Withhold water in the last couple of days before harvesting to concentrate the sugars and flavors in the fruit.
Early Tomato Growing Secret #7
As your tomato plants grow, pinch out the side shoots or suckers to encourage the fruit to set and ripen. By removing the side shoots you encourage the plants to put their energy into flowering and fruit development. Keep your tomato plants staked or well trained in the tomato cage. You can learn more about pruning tomatoes in this post by Northern Homestead. Add an inch or so of well rotted compost during the growing season to give your tomatoes a nutrient boost and to mulch the soil.
Wrapping It All Up!
There are 7 secrets to early tomato heaven so you can be the envy of your neighbors! By using frost protection and pre-warming the soil you can get your tomato plants up to 4 weeks earlier in the garden and by combining frost protection with early tomato varieties you can be having tomatoes really early in the growing season!
What’s your favorite tomato growing tip? Share it in the comments!
If you liked this post please take a moment to share it using the share buttons below or pin the image below to Pinterest and save it for later and join us over on YouTube to get to know me and my homestead in the suburbs or join the Facebook group for live Q&A, advice and support on homesteading or learn how you can get more tips and tricks by signing up for my newsletter and get free printables in the Homestead Resource Library.
As remuneration for running this blog, this post contains affiliate links. Misfit Gardening is a participant in Affiliate or Associate’s programs. An affiliate advertising program is designed to provide a means for this website/blog to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to websites offering products described in the blog post. It does not cost you the Reader anything extra. See Disclosures, Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy for more information.
Share this:
