Is it a fruit or is it a vegetable?

When it comes to tomatoes the real question is, does it really matter? You can debate its status but there's no arguing the tomato's indescribable favour. No other vegetable (fruit?) is as versatile or popular in the home garden

There is an almost unlimited choice of varieties to grow. Start with seeds or young plants - you'll find the tomato that's perfect for you.

Back yard gardeners grow large slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, tomatillos and Roma tomatoes. Balcony gardeners satisfy their tomato cravings by growing hanging baskets stuffed with tumbler, yellow pear and sweet million tomatoes. Whether you want tomatoes for sauces, fresh eating, or keeping, you'll be able to find and grow what you're looking for.

If you garden outdoors start your tomatoes indoors from seeds in early April. Be prepared to transplant your seedling tomatoes in the third week of May. If you're a greenhouse gardener start your plants three weeks earlier.

Seed packages give excellent directions for starting your plants. To grow strong, healthy tomato plants all you have to do is follow the instructions. If you prefer to purchase started plants look for them in nurseries and garden centres in early May. Shop early for the best selection. A healthy baby will grow into a productive adult, so look for plants that are disease free, have a thick stem and are a nice deep green colour.

Plant your tomatoes in your garden or greenhouse. Their soil and light requirements are the same: organically enriched, well draining soil and full sun are a must. Before you plant take the time to add lots of peat moss, leaf mold, compost and manure to the soil. This is also the perfect time to blend in slow release organic fertilizer and a calcium product, such as crushed oyster shells or bone meal - one large handful of fertilizer and shells per plant is perfect!

Spacing your tomatoes properly will ensure good air circulation and proper room for the plants to grow. Most importantly proper spacing will ensure that your plants receive the light they require. Without enough sunlight, your tomato plants will reach for the sky and produce yellow leaves instead of fruit.

Space your plants 2' apart in rows no closer than 3' - a staggered planting pattern works really well. When planting bury the stem of the plant up to the first leaf.

Your next job is to answer the eternal question: to stake or to cage? To prune or not to prune? Here's a good rule to follow: determinate bush varieties will need a cage and minimal pruning; indeterminate vines will need a stake and regular pruning of their suckers, or the stems growing from their leaf joints. The difference between a determinate and indeterminate is that a determinate will set fruit in a short period, profusely, while an indeterminate will grow and produce until killed by frost. Once you've sorted that out put your stake or tomato cage in place immediately! There's nothing worse than trying to stuff a half-grown plant into a cage or shoving a stake through its developed root system. Ouch!

Tomato plants do not like to dry out. Deep regular watering will prevent stress on both the plants and their fruit. You can lose one whole fruit set by letting the plants go dry just once. Inconsistent watering will also cause fruit cracking or dropping. A regular watering pattern is very important to tomatoes. When watering your tomatoes, be sure to water from the base - avoid overhead watering - it's a sure way to spread the disease.

Many of us have favourite fertiliser brands we like to use in our gardens and while tomatoes appreciate this they also like a bit of variety. Use your regular brand but supplement it with fish or seaweed fertiliser or some blood or bone meal or your own compost tea. You can fertilize your tomato plants weekly with your usual food, and then the following week with a supplement. This will give your plants all the fertilizer, trace elements and minerals they need to produce great crops while providing your tomatoes with some immunity to all those pesky diseases. It takes a lot of energy to produce all those good tomatoes!

Like all plants tomatoes have their enemies. Two things to watch for are late blight and blossom end rot. Late blight is a fungus that causes the plants to develop greenish - black areas on the stems. The disease travels through the plant and eventually kills it. Late blight is deadly so start your growing off right and you can help keep it away.

Tomato Blight Preventative Spray

The key word here is preventative! Apply weekly from the beginning of the season and continue. It won't help your plants if they are already infected, so start early. Apply in the early morning, preferably before 9 am, and reapply immediately after any rain. Spray the tomato plant, as well as the soil under it.

Mix the following ingredients:

    2 cups of water
    2 cups of 2% milk
    1-tablespoon horticultural oil
    2 teaspoons baking soda

Place into your designated "tomato blight" sprayer and completely use up the mixture, because it doesn't keep.

Because the disease remains in the soil year after year, it is recommended that you rotate your tomato crops and follow the golden rule: no potatoes near the tomatoes. Another preventative trick: when your plants are two feet high remove the bottom foot of leaves and add a two-inch layer of mulch. This will help to suppress the disease and prevent it from reinfecting.

Blossom end rot is another challenge you may have to deal with. If you notice a sunken black spot that appears at the base of the tomato as it begins to ripen, then you have blossom end rot. This occurs due to a calcium deficiency in the soil and the plant. Our suggestion: add 2 tablespoons of dolomite lime to your soil at the time of planting, or 4 tablespoons around the base of the plant after planting. This rule applies to most squashes as well.

And don't forget…throw out your infected plants - never put them in your compost.

Tomatoes are a wonderful gift from the garden, a great addition to a summer meal, and a ton of fun to grow! Don't forget that they are not just for the "big" garden. They can also be grown in containers, hanging baskets, and window boxes, and it only takes a couple of plants to add colour to your salads all summer long!