It’s that time we’ve all been waiting for since the seed catalogs came out in December: planting time! And, of course, my favorite thing to plant is tomatoes. So, I thought I’d take a quick minute and share some tips and tricks for planting tomatoes that thrive. So, here it goes “how to plant tomatoes for success this year”.

1. How to plant tomatoes for success – Harden them off
The first step to planting your tomatoes is hardening them off. This is a really important step, although it’s one I’m really bad at. Typically, the way it works is you start to bring your plants out for an hour or a few hours at a time. This way, you’re exposing them to full sun slowly. Usually, I set mine in a spot that I know is going to get mostly shade and a bit of sun and then gradually move them into more and more sun as the process goes along. This saves me from having to move them in and out so much.
Once you’ve started exposing them to the great outdoors during the day, you start leaving them outside overnight so they can adjust to cooler temps as well. Honestly, though, they handle the cooler temps better than the hot sun when starting out. After several days or a week of gradually increasing their exposure to full sun, you can move them to their final parking spot in the garden. That’s where most of my tips and tricks come in.
2. How to plant tomatoes for success – Plant them deep
Tomatoes have a unique ability to grow roots along their stems. In the wild, a tomato plant sprawls along the ground, and the branches that come into the contact with the soil send out roots to provide the plant with greater stability. So, basically, any part of a tomato plant that is in constant contact with soil or water will produce roots. (This fact is also useful if you happen to break off your tomato plant. Just stick the top in water, and it will grow new roots and you’ll have a new tomato plant.)
So, what is planting deep? Planting deep is the process of cutting off the lower branches of your tomato plant and burying a good portion of the stem below the surface of the ground. This allows your plant to grow more roots along the stem which will allow it to gain more nutrients from the soil and in turn produce more fruit for you.

Method 1 – Deep Planting Deep Hole
You can plant deeply using one of two methods. The first is to simply dig a very deep hole and plant your tomato in the hole and bury the stem past the level of the dirt it was originally grown in. This is my preferred method as it’s fairly fool-proof.
Method 2 – Deep Planting Trench
However, if you have a particularly leggy tomato plant, you can dig a trench and plant the tomato sideways. Lay the tomato in your trench and tilt the top of the stem upwards. Pack the soil around it to support it and make the top part grow upright. This method is effective especially if you’re growing in a raised bed with a limited ability to dig deeper down in the soil. You can read more about the trench method here. And just remember, if you break off part of your tomato plant in the process, it will grow new roots.

3. How to plant tomatoes for success – Add Nutrients
Epsom Salt – Magnesium
The next step I like to take before I fill in the dirt around my tomatoes is amending the planting hole. I always add a tablespoon of Epsom salts to the bottom of the planting hole. This helps avoid transplant shock and helps the tomatoes green up and take off. Epsom salts have been proven to be very effective in promoting the health of tomato plants.

Crushed Eggshells – Calcium
There are two other things I add which may or may not actually be beneficial to the tomato, but they seem to work for me. Some tomatoes can get blossom end rot (dark brown bruises on the blossom end of the fruit). This is caused by a calcium deficiency. In order to prevent this, I add crushed eggshells to my planting hole.
Now, a lot of people say that eggshells take too long to break down and you’re likely not actually getting anything beneficial from the shells. However, I figure if I do this every year, I am going to be improving my soil over time. And, I haven’t had any issues with blossom end rot since I started doing this. So, while it may or may not make sense scientifically, I plan to keep doing it. (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it).
Banana Peels – Potassium
The other thing I add to my planting hole is banana peel. Banana peels can also take quite a while to break down. Since I never have 40 banana peels at once though, I stash them in the freezer as I use bananas. Then, when I’m ready to plant, I thaw my collection of banana peels. I add the banana peels to the blender with a good amount of water and puree till smooth. I add a tablespoon of this mucky mixture to each planting hole in addition to the Epsom salt and eggshells. Banana peels are full of potassium, another vital nutrient for tomatoes.
And whether this method of getting potassium to my garden is effective or not, I don’t know for sure. I do know, that my plants took off like rockets last year and these three things were the only extra ingredients I added to the soil. I do think that grinding the eggshells and blending up the banana peels makes the nutrients more accessible to the plants, though.
How to plant tomatoes for success – additional tips for avoiding transplant shock
Besides following these steps when planting, there are a few other things you can do to avoid the dreaded transplant shock.
Time your planting right
The first thing to keep in mind is the time of day you plant your tomatoes. When you put your tomatoes in the ground, it can be a bit of a shock to them. All of the sudden, they have space to stretch out their roots, access to more nutrients, and direct sunlight. If you’re not careful about the timing of your planting, all of these factors can contribute to transplant shock and slow your tomatoes’ path to production.
The best time to plant tomatoes is in the late afternoon or evening. This gives the tomatoes a full night of cool weather and no sunlight before they have to get to work. Giving the tomatoes a chance to adjust to their new environment before they have to expend energy getting water and nutrients and growing both up and down helps avoid transplant shock.
Don’t use high strength fertilizers (or any fertilizer for that matter)
Another thing you want to avoid when planting your tomatoes is giving them a potent fertilizer right off the bat. Just like you wouldn’t give a little kid a cup of coffee, you don’t want to give a baby tomato anything too strong. Other than the 3 items I mentioned above, I don’t give my tomatoes any extra fertilizer until they are well established. If you give a tomato plant fertilizer right off the bat, it can cause transplant shock.
Fertilizer encourages the plant to grow more vigorously. Until they’ve had time to adjust to their new surroundings, you actually don’t want the tomato to expend to much energy growing. Give your tomatoes at least two weeks if not a month before adding any sort of fertilizer.