Growing Tomatoes From Seeds

cram1971

Hi,

I normally sow my seeds indoors on a sunny windowsil mid Febuary but was thinking of starting them earlier this year could I start now?

Corsendonk

cram1971 wrote: »

Hi,

I normally sow my seeds indoors on a sunny windowsil mid Febuary but was thinking of starting them earlier this year could I start now?

Ohh yes you can, commercial growers will be planting in early jan but they have heated greenhouses with supplemented lighting. Have you got similiar area/conditions for planting out in?

Ever2010

Yes! I did last year - they can get a little bit leggy but when you re-pot them just top up the compost to about half way up the stalk. I've a window sill above a radiator which is south-facing - I found that perfect.

The only thing was that I didn't really find much of a time difference when harvesting those tomatoes as I did from the other seeds that I planted about 5 weeks later... but if you have a heated greenhouse then you might get yours earlier.

Best of luck!

cram1971

Thanks for the replies

Its just I have been growing them for 3 year now and the best harvest was year 1 I think I sewed the seeds late January that year

muckety

I'm planning to plant seeds this weekend. It will be my 3rd year trying! Disaster 1st year (went on hols and they dried out), last year was limited success (planted them too late - early march) so I have great hopes this year.

What advice would successful tomato growers give?

cram1971

muckety wrote: »

I'm planning to plant seeds this weekend. It will be my 3rd year trying! Disaster 1st year (went on hols and they dried out), last year was limited success (planted them too late - early march) so I have great hopes this year.

What advice would successful tomato growers give?

Funny my best year was the first year I think I planted the seeds around the end of January on a indoor west faceing bedroom window then out into the conservatory around early march and into a brand new greenhouse April.

The last 2 years I think I have had a combination of an over crowded greenhouse and blight. I am planning on planting far less and realy cleaning down the green house this year. I also plan on putting in some pavers as it is currently just sitting on a timber frame with a weed control fabric as a base.

AS For the seeds First year was just Moneymakers and a common cherry variaty, the last two years I have tried the later plus some plums (Very slow to come on) Beaf eaters (Found them to have not much flavour) and a couple of others.

anto2

Best to sow tomato seed around the end of March .I would use a heated propegator tray with cover indoors .The plants can be planted out in a cold Green house in Mid April ,or outdoors in early May .
Thats how i did it for years when i lived in Ireland .Now i live in Asia and its a different story .Here in Northern Thailand i have sown end of October and planted in early November .Plants now have 3 trusses with fruit starting to set .