Tomatoes - an update!

Well, I checked the propagator yesterday, and some of the seedlings are up. Hurrah! The Principe Borghese variety seem to be doing the best, with about 40% germination so far, with Gardener's delight around 25%. No shows from San Marzano to date. I have turned the tray to prevent the stems becoming drawn to the light, and I will have to remember to check on them daily from now on.

More seed sowing today I think.

Home Grown Tomatoes - Sowing

The sun is shining, but the ground is still a little frozen from the snow yesterday and overnight frost, but this, and being very pregnant, is not going to stop me from making a start on sowing some veg undercover.



I have a greenhouse just next to the vegetable garden in which I can start off all my hardier seeds that don’t mind being transplanted, and I have an electric propagator for ones that require real heat to get them going, like tomatoes, peppers and courgettes.


I’ll tell you more about the garden and what I grow there (and why!) as we go along.


Today I am going to make a start with some tomato seeds. I have a selection of seeds that are left over from last year (and even the year before), and so I will give them a try before I buy fresh ones. There is still plenty of time to get good sized plants going for both outdoor and greenhouse planting, so if nothing comes up in a week or so, I will go out and get some fresh seed. The saving from using old seed is only worth it if you are confident that you are not going to waste too much time – losing a year’s crop for a pound or two is a false economy. More about how to keep seed fresh another time.


So, to the varieties. Last year I planted San Marzano, Gardener’s Delight, Principe Borghese and Yellow Cocktail. By far the best performing for me were Gardener’s Delight, a cherry variety, though the Principe Borghese were very tasty and good in cooking, just not very prolific for me. Like all gardeners I will hope for better success this year. I did actually win 2nd Place in the local village show for three of my tomatoes, but I can’t remember for certain which variety they were and I will only be able to tell by the shape of the fruit this year.

I have some good commercially-produced multipurpose compost that is quite sandy, so seems to work well for seeds. I tend to use little seed trays, about a quarter of the standard size, as I plan to pot them on early, and I space the seeds out as I sow. I roughly fill the trays – one for each variety - with compost, tap them level and firm lightly, then sow each seed about 2 cm apart. I then cover with a very fine dusting of compost. I have used vermiculite to cover them previously and not seen much difference in germination, but it is interesting to try new things. I then pop them into the propagator that maintains a heat of about 18-20 deg Celsius. I water from the bottom up, by adding water to the propagator tray. I should really have some capillary matting in there, but it has gone missing. I'll add that to the list of things to pick up the next time I am at the garden centre.