A step-by-step beginner’s guide to sowing your own tomatoes

Tomatoes are one of the easiest crops to grow if you haven’t tried GYO before. Nothing beats the satisfaction of eating your own, home-grown produce, so we’ve put together a handy step-by-step guide to help you if you’re a bit of a beginner.

You will need:

• Tomato seeds
• Seed or multi-purpose compost
• A seed tray
• Heated propagator or plastic bag.

Method:

• Start by filling a seed tray with seed or multi-purpose compost. Make sure to level the compost, making sure it’s firm and give it a sprinkling of water.
  Sow the seeds 1.5cm apart on the surface of the soil and cover with another light layer of compost.
• Place the seed tray into a heated propagator or cover it with a plastic bag and keep at around 21°C.
• After 7 – 14 days pop the seedlings in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill and reduce the temperature to 18°C.
• After 10 days or so, carefully pick out the seedlings and repot into 7.5-9cm pots in order to grow them on.
• Once the first flowers appear, plant the tomatoes into patio pots, veg pots or into growbags.