Sowing Tomatoes

How to grow tomatoes from seeds.

Growing your own tomatoes from seed is very easy. The advantage of doing it yourself instead of buying ready-made plants is having a much wider choice of varieties. And you can adapt your varieties exactly to your own needs and growing conditions.

The best time to start is from the middle of March on the windowsill. If you start before the end of February, the tender
seedlings may develop legginess as tomatoes need a lot of light. "Legginess" means that the little plantlets develop long, unstable stems to get closer to the light source. This carries the risk that the seedlings fall over and wither or become susceptible to diseases and fungi. It is also possible that the plants grow too tall too early, when it is still too cold to tranplant them in the garden. They develop too tender leaves and stems - also because there is too little light indoors - which can cause the plants to become susceptible to weather and diseases.

It is best to grow tomatoes in a mini-greenhouse (with seed trays or small pots), as the climate there is constant and the humidity is relatively high.

Tomato seeds germinate quite surely. Therefore, one seed per seed tray or seed pot is sufficient. You should use a well-sieved, germ-free and nutrient-poor growing soil and small pots into which you fill the soil loosely by about 2/3. Then place one seed in each pot, cover with a little soil, press down and moisten well, preferably with a spray bottle, so that the soil does not float up. Finally, place the pots in a mini-greenhouse, put the lid on and close the ventilation holes. During the growing period, it is best to aerate once a day to prevent the growth of mould.

It is also important to label the individual pots if you are growing different varieties. Otherwise you won`t know later which variety the small plants belong to and how you have to care for them, e.g. pricking out or not.

The germination temperature of tomatoes is about 18 - 25°, with an optimum of 20-24°C. Then the first sprouts appear after only 8 -12 days.
These need a lot of light so that they do not develop legginess. The right location is a bright south-facing window without shade or even consider buying a plant lamp.

Tomatoes are sensitive to frost and should only be planted in the garden when all danger of frost has passed. To harden them off and get them used to direct sunlight and wind, you can start by putting them outside for a few hours during the day when the temperature is above 15°C.
If you use a small greenhouse, foil tunnel or tomato house, you can bring forward growing and harvesting of tomatoes by up to four weeks.