Growing your own tomatoes

With the weather warming, now is the perfect time to embark on a grow your own project. Tomatoes are an excellent plant to get started with if you’re new to growing your own or are looking for an easy win, and you don’t need a greenhouse or any other fancy equipment to succeed.

Read our essential guide to growing your own tomatoes and look forward to all the delicious dishes you’ll get to enjoy during the months ahead.

Prepare your seedlings

If you’re just getting started, you’ll need to purchase tomato plant seedlings. Whilst growing your own tomatoes from seed is simple, you need to sow seeds indoors during February or outdoors (when the frosts have passed) in March. Seedlings however can be planted directly outdoors during June.

Find the perfect spot

Now it’s time to find the ideal final position for your tomato seedlings. Tomatoes grow best in full sun, but choose a sunny yet sheltered spot to ensure they are protected. The soil should also be rich, fertile and preferably peat-free. Plant your seedlings at a depth of 1cm, placing them in rows that are at least 40cm apart.

Keep on top of watering

Tomato plants need to be watered regularly, with moisture levels kept as even as possible to minimise the problems that are commonly encountered with fruit bearing plants.

Bear in mind that if you are planting your tomato seedlings in containers, the soil is more susceptible to drying out, so should be watered more frequently. If the weather is hot and dry, your tomato plants should be watered on a daily basis.

Add mulch to your soil

To give your tomato plants the best chances of success, add a thick layer of mulch over the soil. Mulch not only suppresses weed growth but helps to retain the moisture that tomato plants love. When adding mulch, leave a small gap around the base of the tomato stem to prevent rotting.

Wait for flowers before feeding

Feeding your tomato plants with a good quality, high potassium fertiliser will actively encourage fruiting, especially if you plan to grow your own tomatoes in containers. You should feed your plants every 10 to 14 days after the first fruits begin to swell.

When the stems are strong enough, pruning and training may also be required. Although this does vary from variety to variety.

Enjoy the fruits of your labour

For the best taste, leave your tomatoes on the plant to ripen the natural way. Once ripe, they can be eaten straight from the vine, or stored in the fridge or at room temperature. As the season comes to a close, get more out of your crop by pruning old leaves to encourage further growth.