How to grow tomatoes: a complete beginner's guide
Everything you need for a heavy crop of homegrown tomatoes, from choosing varieties to the first ripe fruit.
Few things beat a tomato picked warm from the vine. The good news is that tomatoes are one of the easiest crops to grow well, as long as you give them three things: sun, steady water and food.
Choose the right variety
Tomatoes come in two main types. Determinate (bush) varieties grow to a set height, fruit all at once and suit containers. Indeterminate (cordon) varieties keep growing and fruiting until frost and need tall support. For a first season, try a reliable cherry tomato such as 'Sungold' or 'Gardener's Delight'; cherries ripen fast and forgive mistakes.
Start seeds or buy plants
Sow seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost date, about 5 mm deep in seed compost, and keep them warm (20 to 25°C). Move seedlings into individual pots when they have their first true leaves. If you're short on time, buying young plants in spring is perfectly fine.
Planting out
- Wait until night temperatures stay above 10°C.
- Pick the sunniest spot you have: tomatoes need 6 to 8 hours of direct sun.
- Plant deeply, burying the stem up to the first leaves. Tomatoes grow roots along buried stems, giving a stronger plant.
- Space plants 45 to 60 cm apart and put in a stake or cage at planting time.
Watering and feeding
Water deeply and regularly, ideally at the base in the morning. Irregular watering causes split fruit and blossom end rot (a black patch at the bottom of the fruit). Once the first flowers set fruit, feed weekly with a high-potassium tomato fertiliser.
Pinching out side shoots
On indeterminate varieties, remove the small shoots that grow in the angle between the main stem and a leaf. This keeps the plant's energy on fruit. Bush types don't need this.
Harvesting
Pick tomatoes when they're fully coloured and give slightly when pressed. At the end of the season, green tomatoes will ripen indoors on a windowsill or in a paper bag with a banana.
