Guy Barter shares his expert advice on growing this extremely popular and versatile crop
The tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is the most widely grown vegetable in the world, mostly for canning rather than for fresh use. In warmer countries they are an outdoor crop, whereas in countries such as the U.K. they are commercially grown in large glasshouses.
As well as red and round tomatoes there are yellow, orange, purple, green, stripy coloured fruits in many shapes and sizes; cherry, currant, pear/teardrop, oblong, plum and beefsteak for example, which all have their followers and are equally easy to grow and in their own way delicious to a greater or lesser extent according to taste.
How to grow
Sow the seeds in seed or multi-purpose compost in either seed trays or small pots in late winter for greenhouse crops or early spring for outdoor crops.
Fill the pot almost to the top, tap the peat-free seed compost level, place the seeds on the surface about 7mm apart, label and then cover with a thin layer of fine sieved compost or fine vermiculite. Place in a heated propagator. Tomatoes need at least 18ºC and ideally 22ºC.
Set seedlings into 7-9cm pots filled with peat-free multi-purpose potting media once the two seed leaves have expanded and the plants can be handled. Biodegradable pots, such as coir or paper pots, are particularly good as plants won’t suffer root disturbance and there is no need to collect, wash and store plastic pots.
Keep the young plants in a bright frost-free place, even a sunny windowsill will do, while they grow and avoid letting their leaves touch if possible, to avoid ‘drawn’ weak plants.
Plant out when the roots of the tomatoes fill the pots, and the first flowers show yellow.
Greenhouse plants can be planted in their final position is borders, pots or growbags in April, but for outdoor crops wait until the risk of frost has passed, typically late May – mid June, Indeterminate (vine/cordon) tomatoes are supported on 1.5m stakes pushed firmly in the ground, or, in greenhouses, on 1.8m canes or strings.
Remove all sideshoots that form in the base of leaf joints when they can be handled by ‘pinching ou
