I love the vibrant colours, smell and taste of fresh homegrown tomatoes – worth every bit of effort put into growing them. But do they need starting off as early as February, requiring extra heat and light and a constant red alert for drops in temperature? Or can you wait until April, still opting for growing from seed, giving a greater choice of varieties than the first potted seedlings on sale?
Scouring garden centres last April, I found cherry, salad and beefsteak seeds, including promising new varieties and old favourites. I sowed them the next day and then judged them on their harvest, especially taste. For a direct comparison of whether to sow earlier or later, in terms of picking times and fruit weight per plant, I also resowed five varieties I had already sowed in February.
All seedlings were grown in the ground in my polytunnel for protection. February seedlings were planted out in early April, eight weeks after sowing; April seedlings were planted out in early May, just five weeks after sowing, by which point the early-starters were already 75cm up their canes and setting fruit.