Grow Your Own Tomatoes

Lesson 2: Growing Tomato Seedlings

Into the Light
Tomato seedlings normally emerge between one and two weeks after sowing. A light location such as a windowsill is a good place to grow your seedlings but don't position them in direct sunlight all day. Too much sun may burn the young leaves. Once the seedlings are big enough to handle, remove the weaker plant. Don't forget to water the seedlings. If the surface compost is dry, you've definitely left it too long.

All Change
After around four weeks, the roots of the seedlings should start to peep out of the bottom of their 7.5cm pots. They need more growing room but they're not ready to go into growing bags yet. Transfer them into 12.5cm pots to finish off the first stage of the growing process. They should be ready for transplanting into growing bags in another three weeks.

Choosing Growing Bags
In the next lesson, we'll be looking at transferring your tomato plants into growing bags. Although that stage is still a little way off, it makes sense to buy the growing bags now. They're popular items and garden centres can run out of them. The last thing you want is several tomato plants bursting out of their pots and no growing bags to transplant them into! When choosing growing bags, go for quality. They may cost a bit more but they'll give you much better tasting tomatoes. Cordon varieties need supporting. If you plan to position your growing bags on the earth, you can use garden canes to support the plants. But, if the bags are destined for a patio or other hard surface, consider using a support frame specifically designed for growing bags.

Pic: GAP Photos/FhF Greenmedia