Growing tomatoes in pots is a great idea if you are living in an apartment or in a house on a small block or live in a cooler climate.  Growing your own tomatoes and learning how to grow tomatoes is a lot of fun and going in to spring is the time to get thinking about planting your first seeds and seedlings.

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Why would you grow tomatoes in pots?  There are lots of advantages!  While many people love gardening they hate weeding!  That’s the first big advantage of growing tomatoes in pots, no backbreaking work to remove weeds from your large garden bed!  That has to be a big plus!

In addition, even if you do live in an apartment or a house on a small block, growing tomatoes in pots is a big space saver.  The only essential, apart from keeping the water up to them, is to get at least 6 hours of sunlight so, while you might have to move them around to do so, you will enjoy the luscious, succulent taste of vine-ripened tomatoes for a minimum of work!

That’s another thing.  It takes very little time to plant and maintain your tomatoes during the growing season and the little work you do helps keep you in touch with Mother Earth.  Perhaps the greatest advantage though, is that you minimize the chance for fungal disease through soil-borne bacteria and fungi.  If you use a reputable potting mix which has a slow release fertilizer and water-retaining crystals added there is virtually no chance you will get any attacks from soil borne fungi during the growing season and if you use a new batch of potting mix next season you will continue to grow disease free from soil borne nasties.

This is the biggest disadvantage of growing tomatoes in a bed in the back yard.  Every year you have to rotate your crop and you won’t be able to grow tomatoes in the same patch for another 3 to 4 years.  Why?

Because tomatoes take the same set of nutrients out of the soil each year and the soil becomes depleted in those nutrients but even more importantly the nasties which are attracted to your tomatoes lie in wait for the same crop next season but if you don’t grow them there, you’ve tricked them!  So if you grow your tomatoes in pots you overcome those problems.

The other advantage of growing in pots is that you can experiment with different types of tomatoes.  I would recommend at least one pot of Romas.  They are not only delicious fresh in salads but beautiful frozen or preserved  for sauces,  casseroles and jams.  As well, you can semi-dry them and store in a light olive oil with garlic and basil and use fresh for salads.  THE most versatile of the tomato varieties.  But try other varieties as well.

In Australia, the Apollo is a popular early fruiting variety, popular because they mature before Christmas in the southern hemisphere (unless you live at high altitudes).  But there are many others.  Experiment and find the varieties you prefer.

So, you’ve decided to give it a go.  What to do now?  The first thing is to decide whether you are going to growing tomatoes from seed.   But if you decide that is too much trouble, nick down to your local nursery and buy a few punnets of your favorite varieties.

Next, the pots.  If you’re going to use last season’s, make sure you wash and disinfect thoroughly, even if you are using a new potting mix.  This will ensure there is no contamination from last year’s crop.  Once done, almost fill the pot with the new potting mix.  Then dig a hole deeper than the pot from which your plants are coming because you are going to plant each tomato plant deep enough to just leave exposed the top 4 leaves.  This will ensure a stem strong enough to support the crop and if it is in a windy situation strong enough to support the stake and plant if your plant requires a stake.  It will if it is an indeterminate (tall growing vine) but it probably won’t if it is a determinate (bush tomato, e.g., Roma).

Give it a go and try growing tomatoes in pots. Get started now and learn how to grow your own tomatoes and enjoy the fruits of your labor! Picking your own tomatoes and having them so fresh is just the best taste and feeling.

Growing tomatoes from seed is a truly satisfying experience.  Keen to get these tomato seeds out and ready to produce! OK, so you’ve been down to the local nursery and bought the types of seeds you think you will enjoy. What’s the next step?

The most crucial factor is that all danger of frosts has disappeared before you transplant your seeds into the garden plot (or your pots) because the frost will kill them.  Tomatoes are just like us, they have their temperature preferences which happen to lie in the ranges of about 15 degrees Celsius to about 30 degrees (60 – 85 degrees Fahrenheit).  Temperatures will vary according to your latitude and altitude.  So, I like to get a head start and have my seedlings ready to transplant as soon as the danger of frosts is over.  So how do we do that?

The obvious answer is to grow them indoors.  You have to choose a warm sunny spot to get the seeds to germinate (grow from the seed to a seedling with leaves).  A window sill behind glass is ideal as long as it gets some warm sunshine.  Your seeds should germinate within 6 to 12 days depending on the amount of warm sunshine.  You need a good seed raising medium to grow your seeds in.  Your nurseryman will help you with this but a dedicated seed raising mix of peatmoss, perlite and vermiculite is an excellent medium to get your seeds started.

What pots are you going to use?  You might have some old pots lying around in the back yard so you might want to re-use them given that there is so much emphasis on re-cycling these days.  That’s fine, as long as you clean them up first because they carry the threat of fungal disease from their previous use.

Now that you have your pots, your seeds and your seed raising mix, the next task is to actually plant the seeds.  Wet your seed raising mix first, then plant your seeds about 1/8”  (3mm) deep and about an inch apart (2.5cm).  If you’re using conjoined pots which are designed to take a single plant in each small pot that’s all you need to plant, although I still plant 2 seeds per pot in case one doesn’t germinate.  If you get 2 to germinate then when it comes time to transplant into a bigger pot or into the garden pull out the weaker one and dispose of hygienically.

As soon as germination has taken place and the stem begins to emerge, your seeds need to be moved into the sunlight as they will soon start to form cotyledons, the first leaves or seed leaves.

Sunlight is necessary now for photosynthesis to take place.  This is the process of the plant using sunlight, nutrients and water to manufacture plant food.

When the plants are about 2” (5cms) tall and have grown their first true leaves it is time to transplant them into a bigger pot.  Now, if you have planted your seeds directly into a large (6”) pot that will be large enough until the plants need to be transplanted into the garden or your final pot.

The plants need about 6 hours of sunlight now to grow strongly and produce food.  You might need to move them around the house to get sufficient sunlight.

When all danger of frost has gone, before you plant them out into their final resting place, it is a good idea to “harden them off”.  This simple means put them outside for a few days to get used to outside temperatures.

As the seedlings grow you can keep growing tomatoes in pots or move them to a garden bed. Depending on where you are and the time of year growing tomatoes indoors is an option too.

I hope that helps you.

Cherry tomatoes, as the name implies, are about the same size as a cherry.  They still have the delicious, tangy taste of all their bigger brothers and sisters but they come in a convenient size for lunch boxes and salads.  What more could you ask for!

Added to that they are so easy to grow. Probably designed more for limited space, although they can be grown in open gardens too.  They are a determinate (bush variety) and because of that, unlike their bigger brothers and sisters, they don’t require the laterals to be pinched out (the branches growing out between the main stem and a leaf branch).

Moreover, they won’t need to be staked unless you want to prevent leaves and fruit touching the soil and running the risk of fungal attack – always something to be on the lookout for.

They are ideal for pots on patios or for upside down in hanging buckets.  If you are growing from seed you can start before the final frosts of winter are over but the seeds require warmth to germinate.  So find a warm spot, probably a sunny spot behind the glass of the kitchen window.

Your seeds should germinate in about 10 to 12 days and they will be ready to plant out once they have their first set of true leaves.  You can transplant them to their final position if you are sure all fear of further frosts has passed or, if that is not the case you can transplant them into 6” pots for further planting out as the temperatures warm up.

If you are using a commercial potting mix it will probably have slow release fertilizer beads in it.  If not, an application of liquid fertilizer once every couple of weeks will be beneficial.  Make sure that it has the right ratio of N, P, K (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium).  Your nurseryman will be able to help you here.

If you are intending to grow in large pots, remember that the roots will be pot bound and won’t be able to go searching for moisture and nutrients as they do in an open garden so you will have to supply those.

Regular watering is essential.  Make sure that the soil doesn’t dry out but also make sure that your pot or bucket has good drainage holes so excess water will drain away.  If your watering is irregular you leave your plants open to blossom end rot which is a large black spot which can extend to approximately ½ of your plant, thus making your fruit inedible.  Keep the soil moist and that will enable the plant to take up the calcium it requires to prevent blossom end rot.  Fertilizing your plants will also be more frequent than if you were planting in an open garden.

I find if I am growing cherry tomatoes in pots they thrive on a weekly dose of balanced liquid fertilizer.  I use a blend of liquid seaweed and an emulsion of fish nutrients.  The plants love it!  And the healthier the plants the better they are capable of warding off disease.  Remember, too, that the plants need at least 6 hours of sunshine every day for photosynthesis and ripening of the fruit, so pick the sunniest spot on your patio or in your backyard to maximize the available sunlight.

There are a number of varieties of cherry tomatoes.  Experiment with the different types and choose the ones you like the best.  It’s so simple but very rewarding!

Tomatoes are such a wonderful crop.  Home grown they are deliciously tasty and brilliantly healthy and no matter how much we stagger the plantings to ensure delicious, tasty tomatoes all summer long, they still provide us with more than we can eat!  So what to do with the surplus?  To be sure, we will give some away, if not for any other reason than to prove what good gardeners we are and also to prove what good friends, neighbors, relatives we are!!  However, there will still be plenty left over, even if you only grow in pots.

The obvious answer to our question of what to do with the surplus is to freeze them.  Frozen tomatoes make excellent sauces for those winter casseroles and pasta dishes and if they are frozen in meal sized batches you are almost half way there to making those delicious, warming winter recipes!

So how much work is involved in freezing your tomatoes.  Thankfully, for all us time poor workers, not a lot.  It is a simple operation with just a few steps and a minimum of equipment.

Equipment required:  1 or 2 bowls depending on which method you choose.

Method:  You can freeze your tomatoes whole or you can crush, depending on what you want to do with them.  You can freeze them with or without skins, again depending on what you want to use them for.

Step 1: Select your tomatoes.  Make sure they are really ripe and have no blemishes.

Step 2:  If you’re going to freeze your tomatoes whole and with skins on wash under cold running water, rub it over the surface to get rid of any remaining pesticides etc and rinse gently under the cold tap again.  Remove the stalk scar where the stalk was attached to the tomato.  Pat dry with paper towelling.  They are now ready to freeze.  Pack in plastic resealable bags in meal sized quantities removing the air and place in your freezer.  When thawing rinse under warm water and the skins will simply slip off.

Step 3: If you’re going to freeze skinless, crushed tomatoes, blanch them as follows:

Wash and rinse as above; remove the stalk scar and discard.  Place into a bowl and pour boiling water over them.  Let them stand for a minute or two then place into a bowl of cold water.  The skins will split and be easy to remove.  You can freeze as they are as above or if you like crushed tomatoes in your soups, sauces and casseroles you can crush as much as you want using a bamix or something similar at this stage and freeze the crushed tomatoes.

My preference is the latter blanching method as I like all the work to be done before I start cooking!  Before I freeze them, though, I like to add crushed fresh garlic, dried basil and oregano for added flavor.

If you’re going to the trouble of growing your own tomatoes at home it is obvious that you are interested in getting the best flavors from your endeavors, otherwise you would buy them from the greengrocer’s.  The best flavors come from the healthiest plants and the healthiest plants are those which are fed and watered regularly.  Just like us!

So, while we know that we have to feed our plants, we need to know what to feed them.  Organic fertilizers are the best.  That is, decomposed plant material which you can obtain from your compost heap.  You do have one, don’t you??  What better way to get nature working for you than to have your own compost heap in the back yard with all those hard working worms and other soil organisms converting your vegetable scraps into plant food!  In addition, you can use animal manure: cow, horse or sheep.  However, the problem with these is that they are usually contaminated with seeds after being collected from the paddock.  One way to overcome this is to make liquid manure from your animals’ droppings.  My father used to use a 44 gallon drum with plenty of manure in the bottom and topped up with water.  Give it a good stir before use and it’s ready for the watering can to distribute.

All good fertilizers, both organic and synthetic (man made), should have the correct mix of the three essential elements, N (nitrogen), P (phosphorus) and K (potassium).  If you are using a commercial product it will be balanced in the correct ratios for your tomatoes and, indeed, any other vegetable crops you are growing.  If you are time poor this is the best way to ensure that your tomatoes are getting a balanced diet.  As these commercial fertilizers are dry they need to be watered in, so as soon as you spread it give it a good water to ensure the fertilizer gets down to the plant roots.  If it is a synthetic fertilizer, be careful not to place it too close to the plant or in too great a concentration as it can burn the roots.  About 6 to 9” away is adequate.

These days, with so many garden products on the market, it is easy to buy organic fertilizers.  I use a liquid seaweed based fertilizer now which has all the essential elements plus trace elements together with a liquid fish emulsion which has added calcium, important in controlling blossom end rot, and all the necessary trace elements, such as: copper, iron, cobalt, boron, manganese, magnesium, zinc and sulfur.  The plants love it!  If you’re growing in an open garden situation, an application every couple of weeks should be adequate during the growing season but if you’re growing in pots, the plants will soon exhaust the nutrients in the soil so an application every week is beneficial.  If you add the decomposed vegetable matter from your compost heap you are covering all bases and you should harvest many delicious, fresh fruit!

If you’re growing indeterminate tomatoes in a garden bed you have a choice of staking or caging your tomatoes.

We cage or stake to support the tall growing indeterminate varieties to keep the foliage and fruit off the ground.  The nemesis of tomato growers is fungal infection and if we do all within our means to minimize this we should have a successful crop.  Caging or staking is one of those steps we can take to do exactly that.

Caging goes a step further than staking and can give more protection to the plants in strong winds.  If you’re like most people you will be working and won’t want to spend all week-end constructing complicated cages for all your tomato plants.

The simplest and least time consuming method is to use reinforcing mesh used in concrete reinforcing.  The 6” variety is ideal.  If you want your cages to last get galvanized mesh.  A little dearer but they will outlast you!  Using bolt cutters cut out 3 panels 6 ft by 2 ft. or 2’6”.  2 ft wide is usually enough.

Simply tie them together in a triangular arrangement using tie wire and place them over your tomato plant.  If you want to spend more make it 4 panels and you will have a square arrangement.  Not needed though. For further stability drive 3 x 6 ft stakes into the ground adjacent to each of the panels and tie again with the tie wire to the mesh.  This will ensure that the cages are stable during periods of high winds.  This will take all of about 5 minutes once the panels are cut out.  If you have an agreeable steel supplier he will also cut the mesh to size for you.  The advantage with this method is that you can store your cages flat when the season is over rather than having bulky cages lying around the back yard!

Here are a few other advantages of caging your tomatoes.

Cages offer more support than traditional staking and it is easy to prune by just undoing one of the panels for easy access to prune off all those low hanging leaves, the developing laterals and all the other yellowing leaves.  In fact, with 6” mesh there is plenty of room to prune even without undoing panels.

With the 6” mesh it is easy to pluck fruit from the vine when it has ripened.

Because the cage keeps the vine sturdily upright the plant will maximize exposure to the sun and thus maximize the process of photosynthesis.  This, in turn, will maximize the production of sugars, so essential for the development of optimum taste.

Being maintained in an upright position also allows any breeze to freely circulate between the leaves thus minimizing the opportunity for air borne pathogens and fungi to attack the plant.

So, caging your indeterminate tomatoes is well worth the effort.  Keep it simple as you don’t want to be a slave to the building of infrastructure.  Much better to be enjoying the fruits of your labor!

Before even contemplating when to plant tomatoes you need to decide what you’re going to plant.  Do you like the small, cherry-type tomatoes or the larger varieties?  What are you going to do with your surplus?  How are you going to store them?

Answering these questions will help to decide what varieties you are going to grow.  I prefer to grow a few varieties for different purposes.  I like the larger varieties such as beefsteak, grosse lisse, to pick ripe from the vine for salads.  I grow Apollo’s (in Australia) because they are a larger variety but also quick growing, so the first to mature.

Then for storing, pasta sauces and growing upside down in a bucket I like the Roma’s but they are also good on salads and for cooking.  A versatile variety!  So, I really grow purpose-grown tomatoes.  That might give you some ideas as to what to grow in your own garden.

When to plant is really a function of your latitude and climate: season, sunshine and temperatures being the main determinants.  Irrespective of whether you live in the northern hemisphere, the southern hemisphere or high on a mountain, frost considerations at the end of winter are the main factors.

Tomatoes don’t like frost so you have to ensure that all danger from frosts is over before you transplant your tomatoes into your open garden beds or outside pots.

If you have been cultivating your plants from seeds inside you will have started before the frosts have finished and you should have your seedlings ready to transplant as soon as the frosts are over.  If you buy seedlings to plant out try to avoid planting before all danger of frosts is over.  If you are a risk taker it is a bit of a trade-off between planting early to get your ripe tomatoes as soon as possible and the danger of a late frost.  I like to take the risk since, if it pays off, we will have ripe tomatoes by Christmas, always a treat!

For optimum growth daytime temperatures need to be between 60 and 80̊ Fahrenheit (18 – 28̊ Celsius) and night time temperatures ideally should not drop below about 50̊ Fahrenheit (10̊ Celsius).

The other prime determinant for optimum ripening is sunshine.  Tomatoes, as with all vegetables, like full sun and plenty of it.  If you are growing in pots, find a spot on your patio or in your backyard where they will get at least six hours of sunshine a day.

Follow these simple rules and you will be amply rewarded with beautiful ripe tomatoes with a flavor which simply explodes in your mouth!

Watering Tomatoes – for the novice the first question to ask about growing your tomatoes once you have planted them out into their final growing spot is, how much water and how often? The answer to that depends on where you have planted your seedlings out, i.e., in open garden or in a pot and of course other factors include the season of the year and the temperature.

During the summer when temperatures can be high (we can get 45 degrees (110 + Fahrenheit) you will obviously need to water more frequently because evaporation is going to be high.  You can, of course, minimize that with mulch around the stem of the plant.  Be careful not to place the mulch right up to the stem as this will encourage fungal diseases to develop.

So, as a rule of thumb if you have planted in an open garden, a good soaking once every two or three days should be sufficient.  This will give you regular, even watering and help to avoid blossom end rot.

Remember to mulch to minimize evaporation.

As the temperatures cool off from summer maximums you can scale back your watering to once a week.  If you are growing your tomatoes in pots you are most likely using a commercial potting mix which is designed for good drainage so the water gets away quickly.  I would suggest in this situation to water daily and if, as in our summer, where we get temperatures of 110 degrees plus to water twice a day.

This will help to overcome a common problem of blossom end rot which occurs if there is a sudden lack of water and calcium to be taken up by the roots.  You can recognize this as a black spot at the blossom end of the tomato which can grow to about 1/3 of the size of the tomato and the skin over the spot becomes hard and leathery.

A critical consideration when watering tomatoes is to water at the base of the plant.  Don’t water the leaves.  Just water the soil at the base of the plant.  If you’ve planted in an open garden a soaker hose is a good idea or set up a dripolator system where the water slowly soaks into the soil at the base of the plant.

If you want to be really professional set it up to a timer and you have to spend less time doing the mundane tasks.  By watering at the base of the plant the spread of fungal diseases is minimized.  This is the greatest bane of tomato growers.  Remember, a deep watering to get down to the roots once every two or three days is preferable to a light hosing every day.  Deep watering is important!

Planting tomatoes is such a big topic!  So many things to consider!  Why? Where? When? How? What?

“Why”, of course is easy to answer!  Who doesn’t enjoy the delicious taste of freshly picked, ripe tomatoes off the vine over the tough, tasteless variety you get from the supermarket?  Enough said?  Not quite!  What about the health benefits?  That is a bonus to boot!

The “where” is the next question to answer.  Are you going to plant outdoors in an established veggie garden?  Have you got enough room to rotate your tomato crop from year to year over 3 to 4 years?  Or are you going to plant out in pots on the patio or even indoors?  Or even hanging upside down in buckets?

The answers to these questions will help you decide your approach to the art of growing your own tomatoes.  If you have your own backyard garden, you need to keep in mind that your growing tomatoes like about 6 hours of full sun every day so you need to ensure that your neighbor’s tree or trees don’t shade your veggie patch and curb the yield from your newly transplanted tomatoes.

You also need to ensure that you can rotate your crop to a new patch every year so that the build up of soil borne bacteria and fungi don’t ruin the growth and fruit set of your plants.  What type of soil do you have?  A good quality, slightly acid loam is ideal – with a good mix of clay, sand and lots of compost.  Or, if you are going to use pots, a good quality potting mix from the local nursery will do the trick.

Both situations need good organic fertilizers.  I use liquid seaweed, a fish emulsion and chicken manure pellets as all are organic and don’t overload your liver with toxins!  What if you are going to grow your tomatoes in pots?  You will need to move them around so that they get their full entitlement of sunshine every day, or if you are lucky enough, position them on your patio so that they get their 6 hours of sunshine without them having to be moved around.

Watering is more of a concern in pots than in your backyard garden as the soil in pots can dry out quickly in perfectly draining potting mix.  Mulch is a good idea to reduce evaporation but make sure you don’t put it right up to the stem of the plant as it will carry fungal spores and probably produce collar rot.

“When” is the next consideration.

Bearing in mind that tomatoes need sunshine and warmth obviously spring and summer are the seasons when we will plant out.  “When” needs to be fine tuned depending on your latitude and your altitude.  The higher the latitude and altitude the shorter the growing season.  You need to ensure that the last of the frosts is over before planting out.

Tomatoes don’t like frosts!  You can read schedules of when to plant in both the northern and southern hemispheres but you need some local knowledge and observational skills to determine the correct time in your exact location.  I like to take a punt and plant early.  If I’m lucky I’ll have no frost and get away with it.  If not, I’ll simply plant more at a later date.  Not much is lost.  It just means later maturation of the fruit.

Of course, if you’re planting in pots on the patio, your plants will have some protection.  They won’t like the cold nights but the frost shouldn’t get to them.  If you’re concerned take the dog blanket and cover them over.  The dog can go without.  After all, what’s more important!

The “how” comes down to what you want to do.  Do you want to plant seeds and transplant the seedlings later on?  Or do you want to buy your seedlings ready to plant out when the time is right?  The easy way, of course, is to buy your seedlings.  Much less work.  But if you’re a purist you will want to start your seeds from scratch.  Not hard.  You just need the right equipment.  Your local nurseryman will help you here.  Timing is of the essence.  You want your seedlings to be ready to plant out as soon as the danger of frosts has disappeared.

Lastly, the “what”.  Decide what you want to eat.  The small cherry tomatoes and their variants, the grape, Romas etc.  Or do you want to go for the big beauties?  Whatever you decide the techniques are the same.  There is only one proviso, though.  If you want to grow your tomatoes upside down in a bucket for space reasons, you are better off to stick with the smaller varieties.

Tomatoes plant care revolves around the answers to many questions such as: how much to water, when to water, where to water; what to prune, when to prune; what to feed, when to feed.

Dealing with the first set of questions first regarding watering.  Plants can’t grow without water, we all know that but too much or too little water can affect plant growth and the diseases which attack your tomatoes.  The rule of thumb with watering tomatoes is regular, even watering.  Ensure the soil is moist although some growers say don’t water until the leaves start to wilt.  I find that in our climate if I wait this long I end up with an attack of blossom end rot which comes from irregular watering and lack of calcium being taken up by the root system.

Fungicides don’t help.  The only way to control the problem is to water regularly and evenly and use a fertilizer high in calcium.  The problem starts when the tomato is about 1/3  to ½ full grown.  A watery spot appears at the blossom point and enlarges but then dries out into a dark brown leathery lesion.  It can spread to about ½ the whole fruit.

When to water is the next consideration.  Early mornings and evenings are the best time as this minimizes evaporation.  And where to water is another question which relates to plant disease.  Water at the base of the plant but avoid allowing the water to splash up onto the leaves as the soil so splashed can carry soil-borne bacteria and fungi.

If you are using mulch make sure it does not come up to the stem of the plant as this can cause collar rot, another fungal disease.  But if you water around the stem into the mulch, that will avoid soil splash and reduce the chances of fungal disease associated with watering.  Avoid watering the leaves at all costs.

Feeding tomatoes is important as they are voracious feeders.  As mentioned above a high concentration of calcium is desirable to prevent blossom end rot from developing.  However, calcium is not the only nutrient required.  A good, balanced fertilizer, preferably organic, containing the correct ratio of N, P, K (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) is ideal.  Your nurseryman will help you here.  I use a liquid seaweed and liquid fish emulsion fertilizer about once a week and supplement that with chicken manure pellets about once every three weeks.

The pruning job is important, too if you are going to maximize the size of your tomatoes.  As your tomatoes grow they throw out lateral branches.  Some call them suckers.  These laterals will produce tomatoes too as they grow but to maximize the size of the fruit on the main stem it is a good idea to prune the laterals out when they are about an inch (2.5cms) long.  Some growers like to maintain three stems so let the lower two laterals develop into bearing stems.  They pinch out the remainder of the laterals as they develop on the main and side stems.

You will notice, too, that as the plants grow the lower leaves will turn yellow.  This is normal but they have served their purpose so cut them off with your secateurs which have been sterilized in methylated spirits or some other disinfectant.  As the summer season begins to wane you will have flowers on the top of the plant which you know will never develop into ripe tomatoes so cut them off.  This will help the tomatoes further down the stem to ripen more quickly.