TINO: It's that time of the year again,
where everyone starts to ask one of life's most persistent questions -
how do I grow tomatoes?
If you're searching the Internet or you're consulting an almanac,
it's probably because you don't know Margot.
Margot White has been a horticulturalist
at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens for over 40 years.
She's planted and picked a lot of crops in that time.
So trust me when I say if you've got a tomato question,
Margot's the one you want to ask.
And luckily, she's a mate of mine.
So, Margot, I've got to ask you, do you like tomatoes?
Yeah, I really like tomatoes.
They are summer, aren't they?
The thing about them is that they grow so lovingly quickly.
You know, like, they just take off.
If you give them fertiliser and just add water,
bit of care - of you're off. Yeah.
Now, the most asked question is
when is the best time to put your tomatoes in the ground?
Well, soil temperature is all-important,
and also the lack of frost.
You can't do it in a cold, wet area.
You need temperatures between 16 to 18 to 20.
Nothing below that, because otherwise it sets the tomatoes back.
Now we've got our temperature right to plant the seedlings,
but one question I get asked a lot
is whether to plant determinate or indeterminate tomatoes.
So, it's up to you.
But determinant of the bush tomato,
and that's the one that's more compact.
Indeterminant is staking, and it'll need support.
So bush - or determinant -
as I like to say, remember it as
you can determine how high they grow, whereas the indeterminants...
..they just keep growing. No idea.
So in regards to the two types,
there is a difference in when they yield and how much they use.
Yes.
Bush tomatoes, or determinants,
they come up, they yield really quickly,
they don't need any support.
Indeterminate ones, they take longer to grow.
They can go for longer in the season.
So the ground's warm enough. We've got our varieties selected.
Where's the best spot in the garden to put our tommies?
In well-manured, fertilised, friable soil.
And it's not wet, it's well-drained, and fairly mulched.
Open like this. This is a pretty good spot.
So nice, open, aspect with plenty of sun?
Yeah. You got to be careful, though.
You don't want them to be out in the wind too much.
Now, tomatoes like it hot, but sometimes it can get too hot.
Yeah, so we have hot days, in Tasmania, even,
where the fruit can boil.
I imagine that in Queensland,
there's a need to cover up your tomatoes a lot more.
Yeah, they tend to not just protect their plants,
but they'll leave more leaves on, whereas we tend to strip ours.
That way, they've got leaf coverage of the fruit,
and that protects it from the sun.
And how important is, say, crop rotation
in a bed system like this?
So important.
Solanaceae, which is chillis, eggplants,
capsicums, tomatoes and potatoes,
shouldn't follow one another.
I've got a few old Italian mates
that grow the same spot every year, though.
So you say.
I don't believe you.
So what do you see as correct spacing for tomatoes?
Well, they like a little bit of space, so about 1m, 1.5m.
People grow them closer.
But you need to really prune if you go close.
And you're also more susceptible to some kind of viral problems
starting in one plant and going through your whole crop.
That, as well as the roots,
when the two competing plants go crazy.
Yes.
To stake or not to stake? That is the question.
Well, when they're indeterminate, then you actually will stake them.
And this one here is done with string all the way down
with a tent peg in the soil.
And as it grows, you stake it and attach it to the string.
So, Margot, they like water, but can you overwater them?
Yeah, you can overwater them if the soil doesn't drain,
and especially when they're young.
Once every couple of days, not every day, necessarily.
They prefer for it to be underneath, on the soil
rather than through the foliage,
because you can get fungus
on the on the foliage.
Hate to get powdery mildew or anything like that.
They really don't like having a shower.
No.
So we're going to deep-stem plant these?
Yeah. For stability as well as for the rest of the season.
You can do that in the garden -
you sort of dig deeper hole.
And plant them quite deep?
Quite deep, especially a more advanced plant like this.
But even a seedling, you can go a fair proportion up the stem.
And you'll see from that one there that there's bubbles out the sides,
which are actually silent roots being developed, aren't they?
So when they get covered with dirt,
they'll shoot out and you'll get a root zone that big.
Correct.
So I'm going to drop this plant to the bottom of the 35-litre bag.
Once we've back-filled,
we'll actually be up the stem about 15cm.
So that'll give it stability
and that'll give it an extra root range.
If you've only got limited space,
planting in containers or pots can be a great option too.
Well, Margot, tomato pruning.
There's a lot of different schools of thought, but how do you do yours?
Well, I'm thinking that there's too much foliage on the bottom.
It's going out sideways.
These things aren't strapped up.
And...
It just is all-round too big and it's flopping in the wind.
So let's strap it up.
What we're aiming for is to support good, strong leaders
and to remove some of the lateral growth.
Anything that's getting in the way,
like this one here that's growing back into the plant,
or anything that's coming into contact with the ground.
Fungus and mildews are the problem.
So you want to get the air-flow through,
get it away from the ground.
And I think that this is a lot better than it was. Yeah, for sure.
Now, you're only going to do this on your vine
or your indeterminate varieties.
That's right. Although, the bush, determinant ones,
if you've got leaves that are looking discoloured,
you can take them off.
And also you can pinch to shape.
Right.
Now, we've gone through all of the questions to get your tomato plant
to the best part of the season, which is harvest.
What do you do with yours once you've picked them?
Well, eat them. But I like to make relish or chutney. Yeah.
Good answer.