Gardening Tips > ‘How to’? Sow tomatoes from pips

‘How to’? Sow tomatoes from pips

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:

  1. Leave the fruit to ripen past the point at which it would be good to eat, but before it gets mouldy.
  2. Scoop out the pips and juice from the fruit into a sieve and wash to remove the juice from the pips.
  3. Dry the pips on a plate – you can use these later or sow them straight away.
  4. Sow in a pot with pre-watered compost and keep warm (ideally 20 degrees).
  5. Check daily that the compost is kept moist. Germination should take 1-2 weeks.

Taking care of your plant:

  1. Re-pot the seedlings into the ground, a container or growbag.
  2. Put outside in the Summer, providing they were sown in early Spring, so they can grow fruit before autumn frosts.
  3. 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.

 

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