Tomato Growing Thread 2022

I have an unheated greenhouse and I sow my tomato seed end of Feb, early March (about month after chilli seed). Start off on a heated mat with growlights in the garage and then after pricking out into individual pots they start spending mild days in the greenhouse with fleece over them, to help prevent sunburn, and come in at night. mid to late April they start overnighting in the greenhouse, on mild nights, with fleece and/or newspaper over them.

 

Thank you guys! I would consider myself as a very young person not only in growing but also on my passport as well. In general gardening takes SOOO MUCH knowledge that I am literally crying. My granny had an allotment ( I am Lithuanian!). But when I was a kid, green "stuff" for me did not exist.

Well that changed in my first uni year. So in tropical plant growing "industry" I am counting around 5 yrs. Some shows, some prizes, some "acknowledgment", but when it comes to soil I am looking at it and asking myself "Where is that BIOLOGY teacher when i finally NEED HER".

Also I am all about ecology - so no nasty chemicals in my yard! Which makes my life even more complicated. Not that long ago I was reading about nematodes and I could not believe how we, Homo sapiens, ARE SO CLEVER!! Used nemaslug in greenhouse, seen all those dead bodies and thought I will call my Biology teacher (although i guess she doesnt even remember my name anymore ).

Where we were at.. when to sow - its my biggest question every year. I have greenhouse, i have half of the greenhouse heated... i have lamps, but its still every single year: " WHEN?". I think last year I even subscribed to Chelmsford weather station for them to inform me WHEN is the last day of frost haha.

Ok, made a note - no sowing in January yet February (but I can't promise.... its so tempting).

Also one more question:
Where do you buy seeds after brexit?
Vertiloom refuses to ship and I did not see a huge versatility among UK sellers.

 

Hi DieAna, if you find tomato growing groups on facebook, you'll be surprised, how mahy varieties you can buy . I did buy on ebay too.

 

Nickys Nursery have a good selection of tomato seeds. Simply Seeds is another. Just search for a few names of tomatoes and suppliers generally pop up especially if you put seed after the name.

 

Sounds crazy but @DieAna I have grown tomatoes from seeds taken out of a regular "store bought" tomato. I dried it, and then sowed it in potting soil, not too deep. And later it became a seedling. Maybe I got lucky but if you buy tomatoes, the seeds would be "free" for you to try

 

I have used supermarket fruit and it seems to work for me, but then I'm no tomato expert.

I wouldn't grow seed from any you dont really like, but that's stating the obvious.

It works for peppers as well.

 

First of all, guys - thank you all for such a warm welcome. I think it's the first time people welcomed me warmly and did not shout: "YOU WROTE IN a WRONG THREAD". Hah, thank you for that.

Now with seed situation - I tried growing supermarket fruits and oh no.. thats deff not for me. Amount of fruits are very scarce and taste is... like from supermarket in winter time. Cherry tomatoes are not bad - but hey, theyre not bad even in supermarkets!

So after realising this fact - and as @JWK mentioned - usually supermarket vegs are hybrids and you loose half of the good features if you grow it from seed..
My first seeds came from family heritage - it was russian varieties - Cosmonaut Volkov ( did you know the story behind this tom name?) and Gigantic sugar. Obviously, with time - collection grew, but pretty much I am still into eastern europe (Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Siberia, Ukraine ) tomatoes.

I just "facebooked" today any UK groups and sadly.. i could not find any. Ebay doesnt do justice either. Am I just fussy ...???? If you could share pages it would be helpful !

By the way, members of this forum doesnt sell any seeds?

@shiney - By any chance, could you shout at me when your tom seed will touch the ground please? :D Also, as I mentioned - I was inspecting Chelmsford weather station ( i think its the nearest bigger on in essex) and they posted "last day of frost" when it was end of spring - when they were 100% sure in stats... so I was a bit confused, where do I need to get this information prior of sowing, because as you mentioned - you never know when the minus will hit you!



I just read, guys, your recommended months and I am scared - because till this day I was planting them way earlier... even into open ground.. And none ever died. But maybe I was just lucky..

 

Real seeds have a couple of Russian bred tomatoes

I bought a few from tomato eden in Poland but they seem to have stopped selling seeds

You can buy a lot of seeds on Etsy

Also all the usual suppliers, premier seeds direct, tamar organics, kings, seed cooperative etc etc

 

@DieAna You could ask relatives/friends to drop some seeds in the post to you. Perhaps look into saving some of your own seed. Tomato seed keeps well, I've germinated 5 year old seed without too much issue.
Tomatoes are fairly hardy plants so don't worry too much if you are a bit quick of the mark. Likewise if you are a bit late don't worry they will catch up and if not you get an extended season.