Start small if you’re a beginner. If you’ve limited space grow some tomatoes in a pot.
Try out some endangered varieties which have proved reliable, such as ‘My Girl’, which has medium to large, plum-shaped fruits with few seeds, ‘Kenilworth’, a classic round, red sumptuous tomato with a sweet and herby flavour, or the early ‘Whippersnapper’, which produces an abundance of attractive, small, oval, pinkish-red fruits and is ideal for tubs and hanging baskets. If you can’t get these, heirloom varieties such as ‘Red Beefsteak’ and ‘Red Cherry’ are also easy to grow.
Spring is the time to sow your seeds. They’re not hardy, so start them off inside – a greenhouse or windowsill will do perfectly. Sow your seeds into a seed tray which has been filled with good quality seed compost, firmed gently and watered. Try recycling containers like yogurt pots, washing them thoroughly and punching a few holes in the base for drainage. Drop just one or two seeds on the surface of the compost in each module – this avoids wastage but allows for the possibility that one may not be viable – then cover with a thin layer of compost and label.
Once they start to put on growth, they’ll need to be re-potted into larger containers to allow space for the rapidly developing root system. Keep moist and when the risk of late frosts has passed and the first flowers have appeared – usually some time in May – help the young plants to acclimatise gradually to outdoor conditions by popping them outside during the day and bringing them in again in the evenings. After a few days transfer them to their final growing position. Secure the main stem to a sturdy cane and keep them well fed and watered during the growing season.
Keeping the soil healthy is at the core of successful gardening, so continually feed and improve your soil quality and structure by adding copious amounts of home-made compost.
Tomatoes can often be affected by whitefly. To combat this organically, be vigilant and look out for the eggs on the underside of the leaves, spraying them off with a blast of the hose or wiping thoroughly by hand. Greenfly (aphids) are also common and can be swept away with thumb and forefinger.
Ladybirds feast on aphids, so encouraging them into your garden will also help to control them. Flowers such as calendula, fennel, Californian poppy and poached egg plant tempt other predatory, pest-controlling insects, including hoverflies and lacewings.