Timing: Late Jan – April (sowing seeds in a greenhouse) / March-April (sowing seeds to go outside) / May-June (planting outside) / Late summer – autumn (harvesting)
Where to do it: Outdoors, Indoors (in a greenhouse / polytunnel)
Garden space: Large garden, small garden, balcony, greenhouse
There are two distinct types of tomatoes:
Cordon tomatoes
A huge variety of tomatoes are cordon type. They grow up tall and straight on a single stemmed vine. Because of this, they need to be supported as they grow so they don’t fall over.
Good reasons to choose cordon tomatoes:
Bush tomatoes
Bush type tomatoes grow, as the name suggests, in a bushy shape. On average, they grow to around 60cm high by 60cm wide. There are bigger and smaller varieties available.
Good reasons to choose bush tomatoes:
Tomatoes are a fruit, from a scientific / botanical point of view. This might seem strange, as they as usually used for savoury dishes! Because of this, some people say they are a culinary vegetable.
There are two main ways to grow tomatoes. Which you choose depends on how much time and energy you would like to put into growing. You could grow them:
1. From seed
2. From small plants (sometimes called plug plants)
Growing from seed is the cheaper option. You can start growing as early as late January / February if you have a greenhouse or polytunnel. If they will eventually grow outside, you want to wait until mid to late spring when the weather warms.
It takes about 12 weeks from sowing seeds to them being big enough to plant in their final growing space.
Read our guide to sowing seeds in trays for more advice.
I always wanted to grow my own veg. I started from seed and progressed onto a polytunnel … I love pottering about and seeing a new tomato!
Sandra, home gardener
When you grow tomatoes from a small plant, the first bit of work has been done for you. For this reason, these are usually available to buy later than seeds – typically, mid to late spring.
These can be planted straight into their final spot. That could be in the ground, in a container or a grow bag.
Tomatoes are wonderful for almost any size garden or balcony. They are a bit fussy when it comes to where they will grow best.
Sunny sheltered spots
Most tomatoes like to grow where they will get full sun (meaning 6 hours of more of sun a day). Some tomatoes will grow with less sun than this. Seed packets / plants should give information about how much sun that variety needs.
Try and find somewhere that is sheltered from the wind, especially if you are growing tall cordon type tomatoes.
Outside vs under protection
Tomatoes need heat and sunshine to grow. If you have a greenhouse or polytunnel, tomatoes can thrive. Because they are warmer than outside, you can start growing your tomatoes earlier in the year too.
If you don’t have these, tomatoes can be grown outside. Wait until late spring, when there is no more risk of frost, to grow them outdoors.
If you are further south in the UK, or have a sunny sheltered garden, you may be able to start growing outside earlier.
Containers, raised beds and grow bags
You can grow tomatoes directly in the ground, in beds and borders.
Tomatoes will also grow happily in all manner of containers, raised beds and grow bags. Some varieties will even grow in hanging baskets!
Tomatoes do ideally need a good depth of soil to grow in, If you are using a container, try to use something large sized. Growbags can be an easy solution but sometimes and particularly in windy gardens, there isn’t enough depth of soil in them.
Containers and raised beds may be easier if you garden from a seated position or find bending difficult. If using grow bags, you could put the grow bags on an old table so they are at a more comfortable level.
Watering
Tomatoes are very thirsty plants. Water them really well when they are first planted out.
If it’s very hot and dry, they ideally need watering every day.
If you have a lot of tomato plants, you could water some in the morning and some in the evening. This will save some energy.
Feeding
Giving tomatoes a feed can help them grow well and produce plenty of fruit.
If your tomatoes are growing in the ground, it’s not so important to feed them. They will get more nutrients from the soil. If your tomatoes are growing in containers or growbags, feed them once they start flowering.
You can buy special tomato feeds in garden centres and some supermarkets. Some will say on the label that they are for tomatoes. If not, any general seaweed based organic feed is perfect.
You can also make you own feeds using comfrey or nettles. Read our guide to making natural feeds for advice.
Adding support
Cordon type tomatoes will need support as they grow. You could do this in different ways:
Removing side shoots
Cordon tomatoes grow straight and tall on a vine. They produce lots of side shoots as they grow. It’s a good idea to remove these, so you have one neat, straight stem.
You can spot side shoots growing between the main stem and a branch (see image above). You can simply remove these with your fingers.
Stopping getting too tall
Cordon types could get extremely tall. It’s a good idea to stop them growing taller once they reach around 4-6 foot. Simply remove any growth above this height.
This should also help limit the number of fruit ‘trusses’ (a truss is the name for each small collection of tomatoes in a group or cluster. One plant will have multiple trusses). It’s a good idea not to have too many trusses, so your plant puts its energy into producing a few really good ones. It’s not a precise science, but around 4 -6 trusses is generally a good number.
There are a few different issues that can affect tomato plants.
Curling leaves
This usually happens because they do not have enough water. Give them plenty of water and they should soon bounce back.
Split skins
Sometimes, the skin of the tomato splits as it ripens. This is usually because of inconsistent watering – going from very dry soil to very wet. It could also be from changes in temperature.
There’s not much you can do to stop skin splitting once it starts. It’s just something to be aware of.
You can still eat a tomato with a split skin if the split is very small and new. But, if it’s a big split, it’s better not to in case any bacteria has got in the fruit.
Blight
Blight can affect outdoor tomatoes. It turns the tomatoes black and can kill the plant. If you spot any sign of infection, remove all leaves with blight. Hopefully it will be enough to save the plant.
Common pests
Whitefly and red spider mite can attack tomatoes in greenhouses. Keep your greenhouse well ventilated. In hot weather, damp it down to prevent pests.
You could also try planting marigolds near your tomatoes. These are meant to deter pests.
Anyone who has tasted a tomato fresh off the vine knows how delicious they are!
Keep harvesting your tomatoes as soon as they are ripe. Depending on the variety, this could be when they turn a bright red, golden yellow or even an inky purple.
By September, or maybe October if it’s a hot year, you may have a lot of green tomatoes still on the vine. You may choose to remove them now, before adding the finished plant to the compost pile.
There are plenty of things to be done with green tomatoes:
You may already have green fingers, or you may have never gardened in your life. Whatever your experience, there are many ways gardening can improve your health and wellbeing.
