Growing Tomatoes: From Sowing to a Bountiful Harvest

Tomatoes – King of the Vegetable Garden

Hardly any vegetable delights gardeners as much as the tomato. The variety is enormous: from small cocktail tomatoes to large beefsteak tomatoes, in yellow, red, purple, or striped.

Sowing & Starting Indoors (February–March)

Tomatoes need an early start, since they have long ripening periods.

1. Sow in seed-starting mix, about 1 cm deep, at 20–25 °C (a heat mat helps).
2. Germination time: 7–14 days. Once seedlings appear, move them somewhere brighter.
3. Pricking out: once 2 true leaves are present, move into individual pots (9 cm Ø).
4. Hardening off: from April, short spells outside – first in shade, then in more sun.

Planting Out (from mid-May)

Only after the Ice Saints (May 15) into the open ground – tomatoes are not frost-hardy.

• Spacing: 60–80 cm between plants, 1 m between rows.
• Plant deep: bury up to the lowest leaves – extra roots form along the stem.
• Staking: set up stakes or strings right at planting time.

Care

• Removing side shoots: regularly remove side shoots in the leaf axils (except with bush tomatoes). Boosts yield.
• Watering: evenly and at the root – wet leaves promote disease. Water in the morning.
• Fertilizing: every 2 weeks with tomato fertilizer or nettle liquid manure.
• Topping: at the end of July, cut off the shoot above the 4th–6th flower truss – so the existing fruit ripens better.

Greenhouse vs. Outdoors

Harvest & Storage

Store tomatoes at room temperature – never in the refrigerator! Cold destroys the flavor. Only put very overripe tomatoes in the fridge, ones that would otherwise spoil.