Vegetable
Tomato
Solanum lycopersicum
The most popular summer crop in Adelaide, planted once soil and nights are warm and picked from midsummer to autumn. Stake or cage plants and mulch well. Deep, regular watering is the key; dry-wet cycles cause blossom end rot and split fruit.
- SunFull sun
- Spacing60 cm apart
- First pick11–16 weeks
- FrostFrost tender
- HeatHandles heat well
- Sow depth5 mm
When to plant where you live
Checking your area…
Add tomato to my gardenVarieties (4)
- CherrySmall sweet fruit over a long season; tolerates heat and fruit fly better
- Grosse LisseClassic Australian slicing tomato; large, juicy fruit; vigorous, needs staking
- RomaEgg-shaped paste tomato for sauces and drying; bush habit
- Tommy ToeAustralian favourite cherry type; very prolific and reliable
Neighbours
Grows well with
Keep away from
From seed to plate
Plant
60 cm apart, rows 90 cm, seed 5 mm deep. Full sun.
Water
Deep water two or three times a week in summer; mulch well.
Feed
Compost at planting, then a potash-rich feed once flowering.
Pick, from about 11 weeks
Pick when fully coloured and slightly soft.
Good to know
- Water at the base, not over the leaves, to keep leaf diseases down
- Stake or cage at planting so you don't damage roots later
- Plant seedlings deeper than they were in the pot; they root along the stem
- Remove lower leaves touching the soil to reduce disease
- Use shade cloth on extreme heat days to prevent sunscald
Common problems
- Blossom end rot (black patch on fruit base)water deeply and evenly, mulch
- Fruit flypick fruit as it colours and ripen indoors; destroy fallen fruit; follow SA biosecurity guidance
- Early blight and Septoria (spotted lower leaves)remove affected leaves, water at the base, rotate beds
- Tomato russet mite in hot dry weather (bronzed lower stems)use sulfur-based registered product following label directions; remove badly affected plants
- Grubs in fruit (heliothis)pick off caterpillars; use a Bt-based registered product following label directions
If you use a garden chemical, follow the label exactly. Try organic options first, and ask the community or Plant Doctor if you're unsure.
Guides
Safety: Leaves and green fruit contain solanine.
Where this information comes from
- Australian seed company regional sowing charts (temperate zone) (germination, low confidence)
- Alberta Agriculture: Soil temperature and field vegetable germination (FAQ) (germination, medium confidence, checked 27 Oct 2026)
- ABC Gardening Australia fact sheets (growing, medium confidence)
- Gardenate: Growing Tomato (comparison only) (growing comparison, medium confidence, checked 27 Oct 2026)
- Sustainable Gardening Australia: planting guides (sowing window, medium confidence)
- Poisons information centre plant guidance (Australia) (toxicity, medium confidence)
- ASPCA Animal Poison Control: Tomato plant (toxicity, high confidence, checked 27 Oct 2026)
Reviewed by AI cross-check (Claude), not a horticulturist on 27 Oct 2026. Version 2.