Starting late February or early March, get some small plant pots and fill with good quality compost, almost to the top. Gently firm down the compost and water. Now take your tomato seeds and scatter them thinly on top of the compost. Most of your seeds should germinate, so don't use more than needed. Cover with a thin layer of vermiculite if you have some, or just a thin layer of compost if you don't. The vermiculite helps the seeds to germinate as it retains water and aerates the compost. Place your pots on a windowsill, and with regular watering, seedlings should appear in about 2 weeks. Allow the seedlings to grow for about 8 weeks before carefully separating the plants into individual 7.5cm pots. When the plants outgrow these pots, move to 12cm pots.

Planting

When the first branch of flowers appears on you potted plants, you can move them into grow bags outside or in the greenhouse. Break up any lumps of compost in the grow bag and poke some drainage holes in the bottom. Place it on a level surface and cut out the pre-marked holes in the top. Scoop out some compost to accomodate the root ball and place your plants into the growbag. The top of the rootball should be slightly below the level of the compost, and be covered by a thin layer. Gently firm in the plants and water well. Place a growbag frame over your growbag and insert a cane beside each plant. As the plants grow, tie them to the cane every 10-15cm.

Maintaining Your Crop

With most tomato plants, you should aim for a single strong stem. To achieve this, pinch off the shoots that grow out of the leaf joints. The exception to this rule is if you are growing bush tomatoes. When your plant has grown 4-5 sets of flowering branches, pinch out the growing tip. This will help the plant put all its energy into the fruit. Water once a day and add tomato fertiliser once flowers have appeared. The tomato fertiliser is not essential, but really helps to produce the best crop.

Harvesting

You can pick your tomatoes as soon as they are ripe, and continue picking as long as your plants are producing. If you are left with several green tomatoes at the end of the season, try placing them in a cool, dry place with a banana. The banana should help them to ripen quickly.

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