Gardening: Homebase shares tips to help grow tomatoes
Many gardeners start their tomato plants off indoors from seed before then transferring them outdoors. But the plant can also be bought as a young plant from a garden centre before then being grown either outdoors or in a greenhouse. Tomato plants are relatively resilient and can be grown either in pots, containers or directly into the ground.
While the crops aren’t too fussy, they do require a warm, sunny and sheltered environment in order to thrive.
Before planting tomato plants, gardeners need to ensure they position their plants correctly.
With this in mind, Jack Sutcliffe, gardening expert and co-founder at Power Sheds has shared an “important” care task gardeners need to “keep on top of” to stop the plant “collapsing”.
Jack said tomato plants are “ideal” for all gardeners as they can be grown in a plethora of ways.
He told Express.co.uk: “Thanks to the fact you can grow them in containers or soil, inside or outside, tomatoes are ideal for all gardeners.
“It’s important to keep on top of watering and feeding, as well as ensuring the vertical-growing cordon plants are tied to supports to stop them from collapsing.
“However, if you are looking for something slightly more manageable, bush tomatoes are the ideal choice for beginners as they can be grown in small gardens, growing bags or even hanging baskets.”
The gardening expert also shared a method for planting new tomato plants that could “maximise the number of roots”.
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He continued: “Tomatoes have ‘adventitious’ roots, which means that the roots can grow from anywhere up the stem.
“When you’re planting new tomato plants, place them in sideways to maximise the number of roots and amount of water and nutrients they can absorb.
“Tomatoes should be planted in the spring after the last frost has passed.
“This is because tomatoes are a warm-weather crop and will not survive in cold temperatures.
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“They typically take between 60 and 80 days to grow from seed to harvest.”
Homegrown tomatoes taste best as they have longer to ripen on the vine.
There’s also nothing better than picking a tomato directly from the vine on a sunny day.
However, the plants do require regular watering, feeding, pruning and mulching in order to help them thrive.
Tomato plants need to be watered regularly and evenly in order to keep their compost moist.
If the plant is watered sporadically, this can impact the fruit and can lead to blossom end rot.
Tomato plants also need to be pruned every 10 to 14 days with a high potassium liquid fertiliser once they start to fruit.
Putting mulch down around the plants helps them retain moisture while also deterring weeds.
The best mulch to use is compost or well-rotted manure.
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