10 must know tomato tips to get the most out of your garden this growing season in Wyoming. This is part one, I will follow with part two on Monday.

Now that we are frost free and the snow is a thing of the past, we can plant our hundreds of varietals of the wonder fruit: Tomato's!  The tomato, yes is a fruit. Let's get started on our 10 growing tips.

1. Let the sun shine on!
As lovers of light, tomatoes require at least six hours of direct sunlight—preferably in the afternoon—for optimum performance (but eight hours or more is even better). And as seekers of heat, it’s important to plant only after there’s no risk of frost. I've planted my three plants with cages that will get afternoon sun, I already blew it.

2. Dig deep
In a rich, organic, well-drained soil that’s slightly acidic (pH 6 to 7), place your tomatoes slightly deeper than they were in their pot, laying the plant itself sideways and half-buried in a shallow tunnel. I accomplished this, soil is rich and we added compost, top soil and tilled it.

3. Know your variety
Look to the tag to learn the important details. Are your tomatoes determinate or indeterminate? Determinate tomatoes grow as a bush and ripen all at one time; indeter­minate tomatoes are produced on a vine that grows continually, producing tomatoes from late summer until frost. We planted Bush Goliath, Celebrity and Sungold Yellow Cherry.

4. Strip the stems
Remove suckers from the tomato vines by pinching them between your fingers. Suckers are a cluster of leaves in the spot where the branch and the stem meet and should always be removed, as they don’t bear fruit and take energy away from the plant. This usually is done after the plants develop fruit.

5. Mix and mulch
In a vegetable garden, mulch tomato plants using clean straw (don’t use hay—it contains weed seeds). This helps to retain moisture while also reducing the amount of water and soil that splashes back onto the foliage or the tomatoes themselves.

Chuck Geiger/Townsquare Media
Chuck Geiger/Townsquare Media
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Part two is coming tomorrow!

 

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