We've been growing tomato & pepper plants in Central Ohio for over 35 years and hope the following tips allow you to increase both your yield, and gardening enjoyment.

A note on seeds- most pepper, herb, and tomato seeds can easily last 5 years without losing more than half of their germination potential. You will save yourself a lot of money in the long run if you buy your seeds every 3 or 4 years, rather than yearly.


Growing Tomatoes

Tomatoes plants have three main requirements- sun, water, and a well-drained, rich soil. The more sun you can get your plants the larger your yield. You really need at least 7 hours of June sunlight per day to grow decent plants, and 12 hours should get you beautiful plants, with a lot of tomatoes.

Soil
Your soil needs to be well-drained, whether in a container or in your garden. We recommend a mix of 20% sand, 20% perlite (or peat, although perlite is far superior), and 60% compost for containers. If you are planting in an outdoor garden it never hurts to condition the soil with sand and compost. When purchasing sand, be certain you do not use sandbox sand- you want "cut" or "builders" sand, although Quickrete-brand all-purpose sand works well too. Make sure you don't accidentally buy the concrete mix!


Propagation
Start seeds under soft-white fluorescent lights 7-8 weeks before soil temperatures in you area reach 62F, and the danger of frost is past. Don't worry about buying the expensive "grow lights" as the soft-whites work just as well. The shoplight hanging fixtures cost $8 or $9 at Lowe's or Home Depot. If you buy two of them, 4 bulbs, and a cheap timer your total investment shouldn't exceed $25.

Start seeds in trays filled with seed starter mix or use jiffy pellets. Make sure that your trays are adequately drained and that you have your lights about 1 inch above the soil. The preferred air temperature is at least 67F, with warmer being better. Your lights should be on for 12 to 14 hours a day- a timer works well for this. Once the seeds have sprouted you will want to adjust the lights so that they are within 1 inch of the leaves. If the lights are too high, the plants become leggy (tall and skinny). Don't worry too much about the leaves touching the light bulbs.

It is possible to grow tomatoes in a window, although I have never had much success with this technique. You really need a bay window, facing south, to get the job done.

Once the plants have reached a size (2") where they are crowding each other in the trays, or roots are starting to emerge from the netting around the Jiify pellets, you will want to transfer them to 3.5" or similar pots. Mum pots work well for this, as do 16-ounce plastic cups with holes punched in the bottom. Plants will not become rootbound when planted in these containers until they reach 12 to 14 inches in height. When you transplant them take care not to damage the roots, and make sure the mix in the receiving pot is moist. Seedling roots die almost immediately when exposed to air or dry planting mix. Pepper seedlings need to to transplanted at the same soil level, while tomato seedlings can be planted deep enough that the soil is over the first set of leaves (remove them first by plucking, not tearing).





Keep the plants under lights for 13-14 hours per day until it is warm enough to take them outside for a few 70F+ afternoons. Take care to keep them sheltered from the wind.

The pepper and tomato pictured above have just been brough outside for the first time. Make sure they don't spend more than 15 minutes in direct sunlight the first day as the leaves will sunburn- it's best to start in the shade for a day or two, then work yourself to part shade, and then full exposure. If the low temperature will remain abover 52F you can leave them outside overnight.

After a few days you can leave them in direct sunlight for an hour or so. Gradually acclimatize to direct sunlight, and don't expose to temperatures under 52F. Once your garden (or container) soil temerature reaches 62F, you can plant (provided you won't see more than a couple nights in the 40's). If you plant too soon, the roots get chilled and the plant never fully recovers.


Planting
Plant tomato seedlings deep! You can pull off the bottom two leaves and bury it up to the next set of leaves. They will form roots on any portion of the plant that is in contact with moist soil. Now, here is where many tomato gardeners fail. They rush to get their plants in the ground as early as possible. Big mistake! When you dig your hole you want to feel soil that is not cool to the touch. If it is, leave the hole open for at least a week to allow the soil to warm sufficiently. If you have a thermometer, use it. I always pour a bucket of warm water in the holes about 20 minutes before I plant.

Many people wonder how large their tomato plants should be when placed in the garden (or large container). The plants pictured below are ideal in size (left pepper, right tomato). You generally don't want fruit to be forming on your plants, but flowers are fine.

When you remove the plant from the pot take care not to bend the stem. You can gently pull the roots apart so that the aren't tangled.

Containers
Tomatoes do great in containers. In fact, I have found that they consistently perform better in 15-gallon containers than in the garden. Anything under 7 gallons is a waste of time without fertilization. You may grow a nice-looking plant, but few tomatoes will be present. There simply isn't enough soil volume to provide the roots with enough room to grow.

It should be noted that container soil is much warmer than garden soil during most of the season. This gives container gardens a distinct advantage during the early season, but can cause some problems in July and August. When daily high tempratures reach the high 80's and 90's, you really need to liberally water all container plants on a daily basis. This helps to keep the soil temperature below 80F. The Cherokee Purple shown below (16" container) yielded 36 tomatoes last year. This picture was taken 3-4 weeks after transplant.




Staking
Almost all tomatoes should be staked unless you can tie it to a fence or railing, like I did above. I have found that the vinyl-coated stakes available at Home Depot and Lowe's work well. Tomato cages and boxes work great too. You can let tomato plants grow along the ground (unstaked) but you will find that the insects beat you to many of the fruit.


Pruning
When I was a kid everyone said you had to prune, or "sucker", tomato plants. Supposedly the suckers would suck all the energy out of the plant. It's a great theory, the only problem is that the suckers grow tomatoes too. My personal experience has shown no real difference in production between pruned plants and non-pruned plants.


Pollination
Depending upon which part of the country you live in pollination can be an afterthought, or a real problem. In Central Ohio we get a lot of warm humid nights during the month of June where the temperature doesn't fall below 70F. During these hot, humid periods pollination of tomato plants is difficult. One theory claims that the pollen grains become too sticky, and thus are difficult to transfer. I tend to agree. This problem becomes evident when you have a beautiful tomato plant, but few fruit. The best you can do is hope the weather changes, or do a google search for "manual tomato pollination". It's really not that difficult.

You should also be aware that, contrary to popular belief, honeybees are not the primary pollinator of tamato plants in most parts of the U.S. In Ohio they are responsible for only about 30% of pollination, while a tiny green-eyed fly handles the majority of the load. This is typical in other parts of the country too.


Fertilization
I have always used MiracleGro products simply because they are made locally (or were) and are easy to handle. Other brands are generally of equal quality. Read the label and always apply as directed. Do not over-fertilize; you are just wasting money and can burn the plant's root system.

Watering
Water plants every 3-5 days, depending upon rainfall. Tomatoes generally like around 4-5 inches of rainfall per month. Plants will start to wilt if they need water.

An inch of water in a container is exactly what it sounds like- pour water into the pot so that about 1 inch is present before it soaks into the soil. Containers, however, require a lot more water than an in-ground garden. When daytime temperatures reach the high 80's I tend to water the garden every other day, and container plants daily.

You should always use cool water. Some rain barrels can practically boil water if exposed to the sun for too long.


Problems
A common problem that faces tomato growers in the Midwest and East is blossom-end rot. You may have read that it is caused by "inconsistent watering"; this is usually not the case. This problem is almost always caused by a lack of calcium in the soil, which is often the result of over-watering (or too much rain). It is quite easy to correct- add crushed, cooked (hardboiled) eggshells around the plants at a rate of 3 or 4 eggshells per plant. Another excellent soil additive is crushed oyster shells. They are available from several online vendors.

If you are a tobacco user, either smoker or chewer, you need to wash your hand well prior to handling your seeds and plants. You can infect your garden with the tobacco mosaic virus (tmv), which affects both tomatoes and peppers.





Growing Peppers

Pepper plants have essentially the same needs as tomato plants, except they prefer a slightly lighter, and better-drained soil. Change your soil mix slightly to 30% sand, 30% perlite, and 40% compost. Peppers don't need as much water as tomatoes and will wilt when in need of water (try not to let them wilt). If your mix is correct it is difficult to over-water. Peppers face the same humidity-temperature problem (see above) that tomatoes experience. You will see flowers drop from the plant when pollination is unsuccessful.

Problems
The main problem with growing peppers is supporting the plant. You need a light, sandy soil to grow them well, and this type of soil provides little support for the root structure. Plants will tip over once the peppers form if not well supported. Once a plant has tipped over it will never be a producer.

We have found that three 5-foot stakes, driven 2 feet deep, work best to support a large pepper plant. Try the velcro ties, the seem to work very well.



The photograph above shows a Golden Calwonder at an early stage of growth. The center stake was inserted in the ground when the plant was transplanted. This stake acts as the main support for the trunk of the plant and as a secondary support for the two main branches.

Once you start to see small peppers on the upper portion of the two (or three) branches, it is time to place stakes to support each of these branches. Place these new stakes 6-12" on either side of the main stake, and tie the branches to the new stakes. The plant pictured above is about to have both branches staked.

It should also be noted that most growers remove the lowest pepper, which grows from the first fork in the branches. This "first pepper" often interferes with proper growth of the two (or three) branches.




Growing Lettuce

Lettuce is a hardy vegetable and can be planted as early as the soil can be worked. It is a cool-weather crop and does best when temperatures are in the 60F to 65F range. I sow new seeds about every two weeks to keep a fresh supply of lettuce on hand, and usually stop seeding when daytime temperatures reach 70F to 75F. Cover the seeds with ½ inch of fine soil then firm lightly. You can either seed in a bed or in rows. Keep the plants moist- this is a must. Lettuce can be started in flats, or Jiffy pellets, and transplanted into containers or the garden.

Once the plants are ready to harvest you should cut the leaves, rather than pulling the plant out, to encourage re-growth. Cutting the leaves about 2" from the soil surface seems to give the best results. Some varieties taste best on the first harvest, others the second or third. Don't worry about harvesting "baby" leaves- they will grow back.

Lettuce does very well in containers. A sandy, rich mix tend to give us the best results- 25% sand, 25% perlite, 50% quality compost material. Make sure you have plenty of holes in the bottom of the container.




Growing Herbs

Parsley
Parsley has the reputation of being extremely difficult for home gardeners to germinate. Fear not, it really isn't that difficult. By soaking the seeds in warm water (not hot) you will substantially increase your success. It is also important to understand that germination typically takes anywhere from two to four weeks, depending upon temperature and moisture. Sow seeds outdoors in early Spring, 10 to 12 inches apart, and cover with 1/2 inch of soil. Later this the plants to 6 inches apart.

Rosemary
Rosemary, like Parsley, has the reputation of being extremely difficult for home gardeners to germinate. Our seeds were tested in November, 2008 and germinated at a rate of 30%, which is quite high for Rosemary. Direct seeding outdoors is not always successful, so we recommend starting seeds indoors in trays or pots, three seeds per cell, and allow a minimum of 3 weeks for germination. Optimum germination occurs at around 62F, but room temperature is fine.

Basil
Basil can be started indoors or out. Keep it well watered.