If you like the idea of making your own tomato sauces and ketchup then you should consider growing roma tomato plants. If you are new to gardening tomatoes then this is probably one of the best varieties to start with as regards to ease of care and tasty results.
Roma Tomatoes have a mild flavour and they are not very juicy but they are ideal to use if you are looking at making your own tomato paste such as pasata, ketchup or salsa. They are just as easy to grow outside as well as indoors. Just remember to keep the one simple but important rule in the forefront of your mind: “Make sure they get plenty of sunlight”.
Growing Roma Tomatoes from seed can be fun. Especially when you can see little by little and day by day they are getting bigger. It can be rather time consuming to quite literally start from scratch this way, but the feeling of achievement you will get when you see your very own fully grown fruits is something to be relished. If you’re a bit impatient (like I was) and don’t have lots of time on your hands, you can shorten the process by buying seedlings that are mature enough to be planted.
Growing your plants indoors will alleviate much of the worry you have with the usual problems associated with outdoor gardens. If you plant your tomatoes outside, even though you treat them with lots of care, you are still leaving them open to the risk of being attacked by pests and diseases. If the location for your tomatoes is going to be outside you should treat them with an organic pesticide before you get any plant destroying insects.
Using containers to house your Roma Tomato is a handy way to grow them indoors. Perhaps you have limited space. In which case, hanging them up in containers such as buckets or old water barrels is an ideal solution. You should make sure that wherever you decide to place or hang your containers that they will have adequate access to the vitally important nutrient giving sunlight. To ensure optimum growth they will need at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight every day.
An added bonus to placing your Roma tomatoes in a container is that if the area you chose to locate your plant looses sunlight at a certain part of the day (not every situation is perfect); you can easily move them around in order to gain sufficient access to the sun. Growing them indoors makes it virtually impossible for any pests such as horn worm to get to your precious plants.
Watering you tomatoes regularly is something you need to get into the habit of right from the beginning. You need to keep a close eye on the soil. It doesn’t want too be too dry, but if you over water your plants it can cause damage to the roots. If you are growing in a container, be sure to have adequate drainage at the bottom so that any excess water can drain away easily rather than causing a well of water that will damage the roots. You should look at keeping the soil moist rather than swimming in water!
Tomato gardening can be an easy and rewarding hobby. You just need to keep a few things in mind when caring for them: A good mixture of nutrient rich soil, a location with access to at least 6 to 8 hours of sunshine each day, regular but not too much watering, careful and correct pruning and a little patience. Yes, there is a bit more to it than that, but it’s a good starting place for you. Start growing Roma tomato plants and before you know it you will be making your very own pasta sauces and preserves that taste like nothing else you could ever buy in a store.
