Start with tomatoes - How to grow your own?

One of the most joyful and rewarding crops to grow are tomatoes. It’s easy, you don’t need much space -even a pot will do the job-, and you can use them in many recipes. I am crazy about tomatoes.

Pre-sowing. Not obligatory, but you will miss most of the fun if you don’t pre-sow your tomatoes at the end of February. Use a seed tray, fill it with potting soil and only put one seed per tray. Don’t you give in to the temptation to use all the seeds you have. Tomatoes germinate pretty easily with almost 100% success rate. Trust me, you don’t want to throw your seedlings away. Place this tray in a warm spot on the windowsill. 

Repotting & planting. Once they have reached a significant size and have outgrown their tray, you can repot them. One tomato per pot. Once they outgrown this pot, around mid-May, you can put them into their final destination, i.e. in the soil or in a bigger pot. You can also move them outside if you don’t have a greenhouse. We grow tomatoes both in the greenhouse and outside. As our spot outside is really sunny, some varieties thrive even better outside. Generally, they are quite robust plants. 

Supporting. Tomatoes need support structures. There are a variety of ways to do so. Some aesthetic and some less so. Some simple and some less so. The most simple way is to put a stick, for example, a firm but light branch like hazel, next to the plant and attach it with plastic binders. I prefer a 3 or 4 branch teepee structure. 

Taking care. Now all you have to do is take care of them. Keep an eye on the slugs and snails when they are small. As they grow, make sure the support structure is adapted accordingly. You can give them a boost from time to time. We give them a weekly shot of ‘tomato liquid feed’, an organic seaweed-based fertilizer rich in potassium. Finally, one of the most important jobs is to regularly remove the side shoots as shown in the picture below. In this way, you’ll have a vertical growing plant putting all its effort into producing tomatoes. There is no better way to start your day in the summer.  

Harvesting. By August you will have your first harvest which can continue until the end of September. Enjoy them freshly picked, as soup, or make hot tomato sauce, ready to be served on a cold winter evening.