Gardening: How to grow your own tomatoes from seed | Brian Kidd

There were roughly 10 seedlings wrapped up in wet newspaper. I bought £5 worth and managed to plant them alongside the others.

It was good to be able to split the clumps and two or three seedlings were planted in groups.

They were planted a little deeper to ensure the birds won't pull them out. Over many years I have found this to be the best way of growing them successfully.

Let's go indoors now!

Are you thinking about growing tomatoes this year?

In a couple of weeks we can sow the seeds indoors, either in a propagating box or in a warm window in a spare room.

Is it worth all the effort needed to grow them from seed?

Let’s look at the costs.

This year a single plant of the variety Shirley, which is a very good choice, will be 45p for a plant in a three-inch diameter pot. That’s not expensive because there will be 15lb of fruit from each plant.

Now look at the price of seeds. The cheapest is £1.95 for an ordinary variety but up to £4.99 for an F1 hybrid with 20 seeds in the pack.

The point is, you have a very good choice and can find exactly what you would like to grow. Yes, even vine tomatoes which we all know are the best-tasting ones at the supermarket. They taste even better when grown at home.

It’s a fact, supermarket tomatoes taste really good if you pick English-grown fruits, particularly those grown on the Isle of Wight where they ripen naturally.

Now, let’s sow some seed.

Choose an F1 hybrid, you don’t need 50 cheap plants! You probably only need 12 at the most.

Find a five-inch diameter half-pot, the sort you buy chrysanthemums in. Fill the pot with seed-sowing compost and stick in a label with the name of the variety at the 12 noon position.

Plant a single seed at each hour of the clock, cover them with a light layer of compost and soak the container in Copper Mixture using the strength recommended for copper deficiency.

Allow the pot to soak for about 15 minutes or until a sheen can be seen on the pot’s surface.

This trick will prevent fungal disease, such as damping off, ruining the seedlings.

Place the container in the propagator or into the window with a sheet of newspaper over the top and if the temperature is 15C (60F), the seedlings will emerge in about 10 days.

Give them lots of light. This keeps the plants short and the first truss of fruits will be near the base of the plants. Pot each one into a three-inch diameter pot, keep them in the light and they will be ready to go into greenhouse growing bags about six weeks later.

If you would like to grow them in the garden, keep them indoors and plant them at the end of May in a protected area.

Thanks for all your letters.

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