Learning how to grow tomatoes is pretty simple, actually. You'll be pleasantly surprised to find that they are easy to grow, too. As long as you take the time to stake your tomato plants, your tomato plants will grow big and strong and produce beautiful tomatoes.

Before you get started, you need to figure out how much room you are going to have for growing your tomatoes. Some varieties of tomato plants will continue to grow as high as you let them grow. While other varieties will only grow to about 3 feet tall. The sales person at the garden supply store will gladly point out the appropriate type for your garden.

Once you have your seeds (or transplants), it's time to start planting. This is a crucial step in that you need to make sure that each plant is going to have enough area. Your tomato plants need to have direct sun light for at least seven hours a day. For best results, try to keep 18 to 24 inches between your plants. This will allow each plant the potential for growth assuming you use stakes or a cage to help your plants grow upwards. If you do not plan to use stakes or a cage, you will want to double the amount of room between each plant so that it can sprawl on the ground. If your plants are too close together they will not produce as much fruit and will have more issues with disease.

Now that your plants are in the ground, it's time to feed them. When you are at the garden supply store, look for fertalizer that is specially designed for growing tomatoes. Or, better yet, every two weeks you can shovel some compost around your tomato plants. If you go with the store-bought fertalizer, try to stay away from lawn fertalizer.

The two most important aspects of growing tomatos are sunlight and water. Tomato plants LOVE water. Tomatoes need calcium and one of the main ways they get that is through their roots as the absorb the water. One consequence of low water intake is called blossom-end rot. This looks like a dry brown spot on the bottom of your tomato. One way to help conserve the moisture is to use mulch around your plants. Also, when watering your plants, try to avoid watering the plant's leaves. Instead, water directly at the base of your plant.

As your tomato plants mature, you shouldn't remove leaves or branches from your plants once they have started to produce fruit. It is a common misconception that fruit needs direct sunlight to ripen. This is simply not true. If the fruit gets too much direct sunlight there is the possibility of your fruit yellowing on the side with the overexposure.

It will be time to pick your tomatoes once their color is even and they are nice and glossy. Their texture should be somewhere between soft and firm.

When I was first starting out, I was introduced to a great book called How to Grow World Record Tomatoes: A Guinness Champion Reveals His All-Organic Secrets. It was a very interesting and enjoyable read. I think you will like it, too!

Now that you know how to grow tomatoes, I wish you the best of luck with your garden!