I honestly believe there is nothing nicer than growing your own tomatoes from seed. Any home grown fruit or vegetable tastes so much better than those you buy from the supermarket, but for me, my own home grown tomatoes are like sweets I can pick and eat any time I am in the garden during the summer. My favorite variety is Gardener’s Delight – a lovely sweet cherry tomato, which happily for the rest of my family is a prolific grower!
You can grow your own tomatoes either inside a greenhouse or outside in a sheltered sunny spot. Growing them from seed is easy and often means that you end up with plenty of young plants not only to grow on yourself but to give away to friends and family. Here is a quick and easy guide to growing tomatoes from seed.
Whether you are growing large beefsteak tomatoes or a tiny cherry variety, the principle is the same. Find some small six inch plastic pots and fill them with peat free compost. Water the compost well before planting the seed, otherwise you risk washing the seed in too much. Empty around five tomato seeds into your hand and place them at intervals around the pot onto the moist compost. Once you have done that, sprinkle a small amount of compost on top of the seeds. Cover the pots with cling film, or a plastic bag sealed with an elastic band. This will create a mini greenhouse and the correct conditions in which the seeds can germinate. Place the pots on a sunny window sill and don’t let them dry out. If you are growing in a greenhouse, the whole process can take place there.