To make the most of your new seasons tomato crop you can start off your seeds quite early either indoors or in a heated greenhouse. This is done usually about six to eight weeks before the last frosts are anticipated. In Great Britain this would usually be around May, but if you are not sure a good guideline would be to put plants out when average day temperatures are reaching over 20 degrees Celsius and when night temperatures aren't dropping below 10 degrees Celsius. Be careful with your timing though because if you start too early your seedlings can outgrow their pots resulting in weak, and "leggy" plants. If they are planted outdoors in this condition then valuable time is wasted while the plants devote energy to recovering their health, rather than to producing normal growth and flower production.
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How to grow outdoor tomatoes from seed |
Once germinated, tomato seedlings will require plenty of light, in fact for optimal growth they will need a good 12 to 16 hours of light a day. If the weather isn't yet suitable for planting outside then they will need to be placed onto a south-facing window sill but remember to turn them daily to keep them from taking on a permanent lean. Once the seedlings have produced four leaves they will be ready to prick out into individual pots, but you need to be careful so as not to damage the fragile root system. The safest way is to gently hold onto one of the sturdier leaves while using either a pencil or slim dibber to lift the roots as intact and undisturbed as possible.
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How to grow outdoor tomatoes from seed |
Once the threat of frost is over you can be safely plant your mature tomato seedlings outside. Like most garden plants success is all in the preparation and tomatoes love a rich, free-draining soil that has had plenty of organic compost or well-rotted farm manure added. When it come to planting try placing young tomatoes either on their side so that they are lying horizontally in a trench or up to their first set of leaves in a deep hole. With either situation, backfill the plants with soil and water in. Roots will develop all along the underground stems helping to produce bigger plants and bigger crops.
Main image credit - Mason Masteka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
In text image - Dennis Brown https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
In text image - Tigris Lagoona https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
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