Learn how to plant tomato seedlings with the step-by-step organic gardening instructions for beginning gardeners of all ages below.
Learn how to plant tomotoes with this organic gardening guide. Planting and growing tomatoes is a great gardening project for beginning gardeners and kids of all ages. My late mother, an organic permaculturalist and horticulture instructor, helped me write this tomato planting tutorial.
Planting tomatoes is a rewarding process that starts with selecting a sunny location. Tomatoes need at least 6–8 hours of direct sunlight daily. Before planting, prepare the soil in a sunny spot in your yard or garden with rich organic matter to give young tomato plants a strong start as described in the step-by-step tomato gardening instructions below. You might also enjoy learning how to plant sunflower seeds directly into the ground.
Tomato seedlings can be transplanted outdoors after the last frost. They should be planted about 18 to 24 inches apart for proper air circulation. As the plants grow, support them with stakes or cages to keep the fruit off the ground and prevent disease.
Regular watering—especially during dry spells—is essential. Avoid overhead watering to reduce the risk of fungal issues—instead, water tomato plants at their base for best results. With proper care, you’ll enjoy a bountiful harvest of juicy, homegrown tomatoes throughout the summer. Use the step-by-step tomato planting guide to plant tomatoes today!
How to Plant Tomatoes:
Planting tomatoes is an easy gardening activity for kids and adults of all ages. First, choose the type of tomato you want to grow and start seeds or buy seedlings. Next, gather the remaining gardening supplies you need from the list below. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions below to plant the tomatoes in a garden bed or sunny place in your yard. You might also enjoy learning how to make a fairy garden.
Choose a Type of Tomato:
Choose the type or types of tomato plant you would like to grow. Determinate (bush types) grow to a certian height and produce all fruit. Indeterminante (vining types) will keep growing and producing until frost.
Start Seeds or Buy seedlings:
Purchase tomato seedlings at your local nursery, or use tomatoes you start from seeds in smaller pots. Start them indoors (in a greenhouse) six to eight weeks before your last frost date or purchase them from a nursery or garden center.
Gardening Supplies for Planting Tomatoes:
- Tomato seeds or plant seedlings. (Grow your own tomato starts or pick up your favorite tomato seedlings started at your local nursery.)
- Garden bed or a sunny spot in your yard or garden to grow tomatoes.
- Soil Amendments (bone meal, sulfur pellets).
- Organic compost or soil.
- A hand trowel or cultivator to prepare the soil for planting.
- A standing cultivator, garden fork or broadfork to turn soil.
- Garden rake to level the soil after it is turned.
- Heavy duty tomato cages, trelis, or garden stake for supporting tomato plants as they grow
Step-by-step Tomato Planting Guide:
Use the step-by-step instructions below to prepare the soil and plant small tomato plants in your garden.
1. Weed and clear out garden beds or the area you will plant tomatoes:
- Tomatoes love the sun. Choose a sunny spot in your yard or garden to plant tomomatoes so they will get a full six to eight hours of sunlight.
- Weed and clear out the garden bed or an area in your yard for the tomato plants.
2. Prepare the soil for planting by adding organic soil amendments and compost or soil:
- Add bone meal to fertilize the soil.
- Bone meal increases phosphorus leves, essential for developing a strong root system. It is a slow-relase fertilizer that is best added before or during planting so it can be worked into the soil.
- If needed, use sulfur pellets to make your soil more acidic.
- Ask your local nursery about adjusting the pH of the soil.
- Add organic compost or potting soil to the garden bed or area you will plant tomatoes. Do not use dirt from your yard; dirt is dead while compost and potting soil are alive and have nutrients to help tomoto plants grow and thrive.
3. Cultivate and turn the soil:
- Mix the amendments with a broad fork, garden fork, and/or cultivator to prepare the soil for planting.
- See photos below.
4. Level the soil before planting:
- Use garden rake to level out the soil before planting, as shown in the photos below.
5. Space Tomato Plants out:
- Place the tomato starts about two feet apart before you plant to determine where each tomato plant will go, as shown in the photo tutorial below.
- Give them room for airflow and growth.
6. Plant Tomatoes deep in the soil:
- Remove the lower leaves and plant tomatoes deep in the ground just under the top few leaves to grow vigorous hardy tomato plants.
- Roots will grow from the burried stem.
7. Water Tomatoes consistently:
- Give the tomato plants a deep watering two to three times per week rather than daily light sprinkles.
- Keep the soil moist, but not soggy.
- Water at the base of the plant to prevent diseases, as my daughter demonstrates in the photo below.
8. Support tomato plants as they grow:
- Use cages, stakes or trelisis to support tomoto plants as they grow.
- As shown in the photo above, my family puts tomato cages around each plant to support them.
- Heavy duty cages are best. Large tomato plants can crush the smaller ones.
- See photo below.
9. Clean up when you are done:
- Wash tools after you finish gardening tasks so they don’t rust.
- Put everything away when you are finished.
- These are great habits for everyone and an excellent lesson for children of all ages.
10. Watch for pests and disease:
- Watch for tomato hornworms, aphids, and blight.
- Companion planting can help deter pests, improve soil health, and attract beneficial insects to the garden, which can help tomatoes thrive and produce healthy fruit.
- Plant basil, garlic, chives, parsley, thyme, oregano, marigolds, and other tomato-friendly companions near tomato plants.
11. Harvesting tomatoes:
- Pick tomatoes when they are ripe with color.
- They are ripe when fully colored, red, orange yellow depending on the variety you are growing and slightly soft to the touch.
- Don’t refridgerate tomatoes, allow them to ripen on the counter for the best flavor.
Organic Gardening with Kids:
As you can see, my daughter helped my mother and me plant tomatoes in the photos above. Organic Gardening with kids is all about your kids watching you do “real work.” When they are ready, they will want to help. Sometimes, they will need to watch you garden several times before this happens. Have patience, provide a good model for how the “work” is done, and invite them to help.
Eventually, they will likely jump before you, saying, “I want to do it,” just like my daughter. This wasn’t always the case. She observed my family gardening for about a year and a half before she started getting in on the action. Give them time; you will find an eager worker bee working hard by your side when they are ready. For more outdoor activities for kids, please visit outdoor learning and nature activities.
Guide to Planting Tomatoes Organically for Beginning Gardeners:
Use this beginning gardening guide to help you plant tomatoes organically in your yard or garden. Get the whole family involved in the planting. The seeds of early learning start in the garden. You might also enjoy learning how to compost, and the other gardening tutorials below:
I love how straightforward and accessible your gardening posts are!
Thanks! I do my best to make them easy to follow and accurate 🙂