What you need to know.
Tomatoes are the most rewarding thing I grow and also the most work. I grow six varieties: Cherokee Purple (a large heirloom with deep reddish-purple flesh and complex flavor), Sungold (a cherry tomato that tastes like candy and is almost impossible to stop eating off the vine), Celebrity (a reliable disease-resistant slicer for the main crop), San Marzano (paste tomato for sauce), Black Krim (another heirloom with dark flesh and rich flavor), and Better Boy for sheer production.
The most important technique I use: plant tomatoes deep. When I transplant a tomato seedling, I strip the bottom two-thirds of its leaves and bury the stem all the way up to the remaining leaves. Roots grow along the entire buried stem, which gives the plant a massive root system. A deeply planted tomato establishes faster, handles drought better, and produces more fruit than one planted at surface level.
"The first Cherokee Purple of the year gets sliced, salted, and eaten on white bread with mayo. That is the entire recipe. That is the whole point of growing tomatoes."
Step by step.
Start seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before last frost — in Zone 7b, that means early to mid-March. Use a heat mat (tomatoes germinate best at 75 to 80 degrees) and grow lights. Transplant to larger pots once seedlings have their first true leaves.
Transplant outside after April 15th when nights stay above 50 degrees. Strip the lower leaves and bury the stem deep — up to two-thirds of the plant underground. Water in well. Cage or stake the plant at transplant time, before it needs it.
Prune suckers from indeterminate varieties (Cherokee Purple, Sungold, Black Krim, San Marzano) — the shoots that grow from the crotch between the main stem and a branch. Removing them keeps the plant focused on fewer, better fruits and improves air circulation. Leave them on Celebrity and Better Boy, which are determinate types.
When to plant in Zone 7b.
Transplant outside in Zone 7b after April 15th. First tomatoes from Cherokee Purple and Sungold usually arrive in mid-July here in Apex — about 90 days from transplant for large heirlooms, 65 to 70 days for cherry types. Celebrity is reliably mid-July as well.
Production often slows in August heat and picks back up in September when temperatures drop. Our season runs through October until the first frost around November 15th. I cover plants with frost cloth to push the season a few weeks longer.
Problems I ran into.
Tomato hornworms — enormous green caterpillars that can strip a plant fast — show up in late July. They are well camouflaged. Look for dark droppings on leaves below chewed areas and follow the trail upward to find the caterpillar. Pick them off by hand and drop them in soapy water. If you see white cocoon cases on the back of a hornworm, leave it — those are parasitic wasp eggs that will kill it.
Blossom end rot shows up as dark leathery patches on the bottom of developing tomatoes. It is a calcium uptake problem caused by inconsistent watering, not a disease. Keep soil evenly moist — mulch heavily and water deeply and consistently rather than lightly and often. Once you see it, pull off affected fruit and improve your watering routine.
What I make with it.
The first ripe Cherokee Purple of the year gets sliced thick, hit with salt, laid on white bread with mayonnaise. That is the whole recipe. It is the reason I grow tomatoes. Nothing at a grocery store competes with a tomato picked ripe from your own garden.
The full first tomato sandwich recipe is on the recipes page, which also covers what I do with the enormous Sungold surplus — roasted cherry tomato pasta is the answer.