Home Gardener's Top 3 Tips for Beginners Growing Tomatoes Go Viral
If you're new to gardening, and you ask any experienced gardener what fruit, vegetable or herb you should try growing first, the low-maintenance tomato will certainly make the list.
That said, they aren't foolproof, and there's always a chance of accidentally messing up your tomato harvest. To help you get started, TikTok creator and home gardener Katie Plants Plants (@katie_plants_plants) recently shared a video with her top three tips for beginners growing tomatoes.
"Beginner gardeners out there, let's talk tomatoes," Katie said in her TikTok. "I have a history of growing some pretty nice looking tomatoes, and in my opinion, tomatoes are the most beginner-friendly plant that you can start in your garden. Tomatoes are super easy because they just want to grow like weeds."
Read on for her tips and more details!
1. Bury Your Tomatoes Deep
Don't just plant your tomatoes a few inches below the soil's surface - bury them deep!
"If you haven't put your tomatoes in your beds yet, you want to bury them deep," Katie explained in her video, which has more than 239,000 views. "Tomatoes are really cool because all along their stem, if it has dirt around it, it's gonna grow roots. And the more roots it has, the more nutrients it can get from the soil."
2. Let Some of Your 'Suckers' Grow
According to Katie, tomatoes have two kinds of branches that grow tomatoes, both of which come out of the plant's central stem.
First, there are the regular stems, aka the "sun leaves." The job of these stems is to photosynthesize, or soak up the sun and turn it into nutrients for the tomato plant. These stems typically grow in a 90-degree angle from the main stem.
The second type of stem is known as a "sucker" and grows in between the main stems, or in their "armpit." Katie explains that suckers are "a big debate amongst the gardening community." Many people cut off all their suckers, since they suck energy from the rest of the plant and the tomatoes they grow aren't as big. However, Katie likes to let some of her suckers grow, since they still do produce tomatoes. And then, for the suckers she does cut off, she uses them to propagate new tomato plants.
3. Prune Your Tomato Plants
"Prune the crap out of your tomatoes," Katie said in her video. She then showed footage of herself cutting off the leaves from her tomato plants, and explained that pruning will help your fruit grow bigger and prevent diseases.
Watch her full video here:
@katie_plants_plants Go grow tomatoes! #garden#gardenlove#gardeningtips#tomato#pruningtips
original sound - Katie Plants Plants
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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 7:00 AM.