📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Spring Tomato Prep & Spacing
- 🌱 Quick Spring Soil Prep: If you missed fall prep, just add a handful of compost and 1 tablespoon of balanced granular fertilizer to each planting hole. Mix thoroughly with the native soil before planting.
- 📏 Greenhouse Spacing: Standard spacing is 12–16 inches (30–40 cm) between plants. A typical 10×20 ft (3×6 m) greenhouse can hold about 48 to 52 tomato plants.
- ☀️ Smart Layout: Plant large, vigorous beefsteaks on the western side, hybrids on the east, and oxheart varieties in the center beds for optimal light distribution.
- 🥬 Bonus Seed Hack: Pre-sprouting radishes or pelleted lettuce on damp paper towels works great, but only transplant them into warm, loose greenhouse soil. Moving them to cold outdoor beds will kill them.
Photo author: MADanilych.
Could you tell me how you prep your greenhouse beds right before planting tomatoes? And what spacing do you usually use between the plants?
Kameya (Ganna) wrote: Could you tell me how you prep your greenhouse beds right before planting tomatoes? And what spacing do you usually use between the plants?
Ganna, that is a pretty broad question! A lot of folks prep their beds in the fall. Right now in the spring, you can just put a little compost (or well-rotted manure) and 1 tablespoon of a balanced granular fertilizer* into each planting hole. Mix it really well with the soil and then put your transplants in.
The distance between tomatoes depends on a lot of factors, but on average 12 to 16 inches (30–40 cm) is enough. That comes out to about 48 to 52 plants for a standard 10×20 ft (3×6 m) greenhouse.
I am planning to give them a bit more breathing room this year and plant no more than 46. I’ll do 15 on the side beds and 16 down the middle. I am putting the massive beefsteaks on the western side, mostly hybrids on the eastern side, and the oxhearts right in the center.
Russi wrote (Apr 14, 2021): Nah, I soaked them in a little plastic sauce cup on some toilet paper. They sprouted like a forest! Then I just grabbed them gently by the cotyledons and popped them into the dirt. I’ve already bordered all my greenhouse beds with radishes 😂
I wanted to add to this! I sowed pelleted lettuce seeds the exact same way. They popped up fast and all at once. I carefully picked them up by the seed leaves (cotyledons) and transplanted them into plug trays. It is an absolutely awesome method.
I just want to add a quick warning: both radishes and lettuce only survive the transplant shock if you put them into warm, loose soil. I tried moving radishes outside into the open garden too early in the spring, and they just stunted and died.
Also, the “toilet paper in a sauce cup” method mentioned by Russi is the Russian equivalent of our classic “Baggie Method” (sprouting seeds on a damp paper towel inside a Ziploc bag). It is a brilliant way to check germination rates or start tiny seeds before moving them to soil!
