What is the Best Soil for Growing Tomatoes?

“What’s the best soil when planting tomatoes?” Question from Jonathon of Centreville, Alabama.

Answer: Getting your soil and feeding regime right is so important for growing great tomatoes. In general, tomatoes like fertile, well-drained soil that is high in organic matter and has a relatively neutral soil pH of around 6.0 to 6.8.

If you are growing plants in the ground, amend your soil well with a quality amendment that’s high in organic matter, like OMRI Listed Black Gold Garden Compost Blend. Our compost blend is approved for organic gardening and has the right pH. Be sure to raise low soils, so they are well-drained. It is also essential to feed regularly with a fertilizer formulated for tomatoes and to keep plants evenly irrigated. [Click here to learn more about growing super tomatoes, or to read all about our favorite sauce tomatoes and monster beefsteak tomatoes.]

If you are interested in growing tomatoes in containers, please watch the video below.

Happy tomato growing!

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

About JESSIE KEITH


Plants are the lens Jessie views the world through because they’re all-sustaining. (“They feed, clothe, house and heal us. They produce the air we breathe and even make us smell pretty.”) She’s a garden writer and photographer with degrees in both horticulture and plant biology from Purdue and Michigan State Universities. Her degrees were bolstered by internships at Longwood Gardens and the American Horticultural Society. She has since worked for many horticultural institutions and companies and now manages communications for Sun Gro Horticulture, the parent company of Black Gold. Her joy is sharing all things green and lovely with her two daughters.

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