Growing Tomatoes from seed – Now is the time!

The best thing about growing your own tomatoes, is choice. There is such a wide variety of tomatoes to choose from when you grow your own.

The sizes range from, tiny cherry tomatoes, pointed plum tomatoes, right the way up to large beefsteak varieties.

And don’t be thinking that all tomatoes are red. They can be yellow, orange, different shades of red and even purple.

Growing a variety of colours, looks great in a salad.

How to choose your tomatoes

The most important thing, when you are growing for yourself is flavour! This is obviously personal preference.

So experiment, growing different varieties, but remember to keep records. You’ll soon build up a picture of what you like, and what you don’t.

Tomatoes are the first edible crop I grew. I now grow five different varieties, three staples grown every year and two new ones.

I personally avoid growing varieties that say, ‘heavy cropper’, instead looking for descriptions like ‘excellent flavour’.

Remember unlike the supermarkets you are not growing for volume. Your produce, doesn’t need to be robust enough to travel miles, and last for days, if not weeks.

Trust me, the amazing flavour of a home-grown tomato, will mean they don’t hang around long once you’ve picked them. There is nothing like picking a tomato warmed by the sun, and popping it straight into your mouth.

In the winter months, you can enjoy sitting in the warmth, flicking through seed catalogues. Making lists of which ones you fancy growing. Don’t get too carried away though, you need to think about the space you have to grow them.

Deciding where to grow your tomatoes

A greenhouse is the ideal place for growing tomatoes, but do not be put off if you haven’t got one. I grew tomatoes outside for years. They just take a bit longer to ripen.

You will probably find you’re left with some green ones at the end of the season. That’s not a bad thing though, as you can turn them into scrumptious, green tomato chutney.

Tomatoes fall into two main categories, cordon, which as the name suggests is grown as a single stem. Either up a cane or twisted around string, supported from above.

These are the type you usually grow in a greenhouse. But they do very well in a grow bag, against a sunny wall or fence.

The other is a bush variety which spreads out. These are ideal for growing in pots, or raised beds.

Some of them have been bred to tumble, and can be grown in hanging baskets. You won’t be able to resist picking and eating these as you walk past!

If you do grow in handing baskets, you have to be especially keen with the watering. They will dry out very quickly.

I would recommend putting an upside down plastic bottle in the middle. You pierce holes in the lid, and cut the base off. I do this anyway in the greenhouse, as it gets the water right down to the roots.

Sowing your Tomato seeds

You will need:

Seeds
Compost
A container
A lid, or a plastic bag & some string

Now you obviously can buy special seed trays with lids, or even heated propagators.

And of course, all of these things make it easier, but you don’t necessarily need them.

As I proved in lockdown, you can grow seeds in any household container. You just need a smaller one to pierce holes in. With a larger one for it to sit in. If you can find a see through plastic container to make a lid, all the better.

You don’t even need seed compost, multipurpose will do. Please always look for peat free though.

Three quarters fill the container with holes, with whichever compost you have. Give the compost a quick water – this stops you from washing the seeds around.

Carefully place the seed onto the surface, then lightly cover with compost.

To keep the moisture and warmth in, cover, with either a lid, or a bag secured with string. Make sure the bag is not touching the compost.

Place on the sunniest and warmest windowsill in the house. They will take one to two weeks to germinate.

Potting on

Once they have germinated, take off the lid or bag.

When the seedlings look robust enough to handle, you need to give each one it’s own little pot. Again this can be an old yogurt pot.

Carefully separate each one – I use an old desert spoon. If you have to handle it use the leaf, never the stem.

Add some extra compost to the pot, but don’t squash it down.

You can now grow your little tomato plants on.

As you can not plant them outside, until all danger of frost has gone. They may need potting on again into a larger pot.

Do this if you see roots, start to come out if the holes in the bottom.

Watering and feeding your tomato plants

When all danger of frost has past, and you’ve planted your tomatoes in the ground, grow bag or pot. It is really important to keep them well watered.

Once the fruit starts to appear, it is also important to feed the plants weekly. They need a high potash feed, you’ll find there are a lot of tomato foods available. Preferably choose an organic one.

When it comes to the watering, it needs to be done regularly. If you do let the mature plants dry out, before watering, they probably won’t die, but the fruit is likely to split.

Pinching out side shoots

If you are growing the cordon varieties, you need to regularly pinch out the side shoots. The aim is to keep one single stem. You’ll notice that where each leave attaches to the stem, a little shoot will try to grow. This is what you pinch out with your fingers. As demonstrated below.

Stripping the leaves

As your plants get bigger, with nice juicy tomatoes on them. You need to strip some of the bottom leaves off. This needs to be done little and often, so as not to stress your plants. The purpose is to get airflow around the plant, and to help prevent disease.

It also allows more sunshine to get to the fruit to ripen it. Eventually you only have leaves at the very top of the plants.

You may also find as the plants get taller, some of the lower leaves turn a bit yellow. This is because the plant is sending most nutrients higher up, to the new growth.