You can’t beat the taste of fresh, homegrown tomatoes! Growing your own produce is incredibly satisfying and this is a fun project for children or adults.
Tomato plants grown from pips are more than likely to give a good harvest. Ideally, make sure you sow the pips in March but any time of year is possible.
You will need:
Tomato
Sieve
Plate
Small pot with compost (around 9cm)
Sowing your seeds:
- Leave the fruit to ripen past the point at which it would be good to eat, but before it gets mouldy.
- Scoop out the pips and juice from the fruit into a sieve and wash to remove the juice from the pips.
- Dry the pips on a plate – you can use these later or sow them straight away.
- Sow in a pot with pre-watered compost and keep warm (ideally 20 degrees).
- Check daily that the compost is kept moist. Germination should take 1-2 weeks.
Taking care of your plant:
- Re-pot the seedlings into the ground, a container or growbag.
- Put outside in the Summer, providing they were sown in early Spring, so they can grow fruit before autumn frosts.
- Once your plant starts to flower and grow fruit, feed it regularly with a high-potassium fertiliser.
Vine tomato plants will need tying to a cane or stake as they grow. Side shoots and leaves below the lowest ripening truss should be removed to allow sunlight to help ripen the fruit.