Want to grow tomatoes in your vegetable garden for the first time? Or are you already familiar with gardening, but still have questions to improve your tomato harvest? Below we answer frequently asked questions about growing tomatoes. From when to pre-sow them, to whether it's better to grow them in a greenhouse or outdoors.
Do you always have to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse or conservatory?
You don't necessarily need a greenhouse when you want to grow tomatoes, but it does come in handy. This is because in a greenhouse you can guarantee an optimal temperature so that your tomatoes grow well. Moreover, they are sheltered from rain and wind and you have control over how much water they get so the soil doesn't get too damp in heavy rain.
Don't have the option of installing a greenhouse? Then you can also feel free to grow tomatoes outdoors by planting them in the ground or gardening in containers. Just keep in mind that a cool or too wet summer is unlikely to yield a fantastic tomato harvest.
Tip! Not much space? Then you can also plant a vegetable garden and install a greenhouse.
The mini greenhouses from the ACD® Urban range are perfect for this. The Miccolo M03 wall greenhouse takes up only 1.85 m2.
What do I need to grow tomatoes?
Tomato seeds, healthy soil and water will get you a long way. But there are a few more nice-to-have's when it comes to growing tomatoes:
- Seed pots to pre-sow your tomatoes indoors.
- Fertiliser and compost to make your soil extra nutritious.
- Stakes or wire to grow your plants on.
Are you growing tomatoes in a greenhouse? Provide a shade cloth to prevent your plants from burning on very hot days. You can also use a drip kit to ensure that your plants are given moisture gradually instead of a lot of water at once. Discover more greenhouse supplies and accessories
A shade cloth prevents your greenhouse plants from burning on hot days.
With a drip kit, you can constantly give your plants small bits of water.
Can you grow tomatoes from a fresh tomato?
Of course you can buy seeds from the shop, but you can also grow tomatoes from another tomato.
Do you have fresh tomatoes in the house? Then do the following:
- Preferably choose tomatoes from someone's vegetable garden or organic tomatoes from the shop.
- Let the tomato ripen well and then take out the seeds, remove excess pulp and place the seeds in a dish or glass. Add a little water.
- Leave in a warm, sunny place for about a week.
- Pour the mixture through a fine sieve and rinse with cold tap water until you are left with clean tomato seeds.
- Let the seeds dry for another week on a sheet of kitchen paper. Make sure they are separate and not stuck together.
- Store the seeds in a dry, dark and cool place until you sow them.
When should you pre-sow tomatoes?
Tomato seeds germinate at a temperature of 18 to 20 degrees Celsius. So you need to pre-sow your tomatoes indoors or they would never germinate in time for the tomato season. Reserve a time in your sowing calendar to pre-sow your tomatoes in March. Some gardeners are overenthusiastic and sow tomatoes as early as January. But sowing tomatoes in winter makes for sensitive plants, and of course you want to avoid that.
How to: sow tomatoes with met Angelo Dorny
You can sow your tomatoes at home, but also in the greenhouse or greenhouse. Then take them indoors at night, because in March and April it cools down considerably when the sun sets and it can even freeze. Pre-sowing is done in biodegradable seed pots. Once your seedlings have several true leaves, you can move them to a larger pot so they have enough room to root.
How and when should you plant tomatoes?
The rule is that you only plant your tomato plants in the ground (or your greenhouse or vegetable garden) after the Ice Saints, around 15 May. Traditionally, this period means the end of the chance of night frost and it is finally warm enough to plant your tomatoes and other vegetable garden vegetables. Of course, it can still freeze after that time, but the chance is a lot smaller than before the Ice Saints.
When your tomato plants are allowed outside, it is a good idea to gradually get them used to the outside air. We call this ‘hardening off’. Plan about a week for this in your plant calendar. Leave the young plants in their pots and put them outside during the day, but take them back inside at night. After a few days you can also leave them outside at night and plant them out in the ground a little later.
Some points to consider:
- Ensure healthy, airy soil with sufficient nutrients.
- Plant the different tomato plants at least 30 cm apart. Plant the plants fairly deep in the ground so that they can take root firmly
- Stick the plants fairly deep into the ground so that they can root firmly.
- Provide bamboo sticks, string or tomato spirals so that your plants remain firm as they grow. Tie them with string, but not too tightly!
- To prevent evaporation, you can cover the ground with a layer of mulch.
- Pay attention to which other vegetable garden plants you plant next to them. Potatoes and cabbages are not good neighbours for your tomatoes. Basil and oregano are: they improve the flavour and keep insects away with their strong smell.
Which types of tomatoes should you grow?
What makes tomatoes so much fun to grow is the many different types you can choose from. Beef tomatoes are large, often ribbed and retain their shape and firm texture well. Cocktail and cherry tomatoes are slightly smaller and grow in large numbers on one bunch. These are perfect for an aperitif or in a salad.
Do you want to grow special types in addition to regular tomatoes? Then you can grow coeur de boeuf, tiger tomato or black cherry tomato . The possibilities are endless!
How do you pollinate a tomato plant?
When you grow tomatoes, you don't have to worry about pollination: tomatoes are self-pollinating. This means that pollen from the same flower can simply end up in the pistil to ensure that a fruit grows. In natural conditions, no intervention is necessary. However, if you grow tomatoes in a greenhouse or conservatory? Then you have to give them a helping hand by shaking the tomato plants..
What care do tomato plants need?
When growing tomatoes, three things are important:
- Watering
- Pickering
- Topping
First of all, you have to give your tomato plants enough water. It is better not to give too much water at once, but to give small amounts regularly. Water early in the morning and/or late in the evening when it is already cooling down outside. Watering in the heat causes the moisture to evaporate too quickly and your plants will burn or dry out. It is also important how you water: always on the ground at the roots, never on the leaves!
Thieving means removing the leaves in the ‘armpits’ of your plant. This ensures that the plant uses its energy for the fruits – read: so that they become bigger and tastier! – and not for these excess leaves. Topping is also crucial for a successful harvest. It often hurts novice gardeners: shortening your plant to two leaves above the last bunch. If you don’t do this, your plant will grow bigger but will grow fewer fruits. Also make sure that leaves that are too large do not cover your flowers and fruits, because this will not provide enough ventilation and sunlight will not be able to reach them. So don’t be afraid to remove leaves from your tomato plant to improve your harvest.
How many tomatoes will my plant produce?
The size of your harvest will of course depend greatly on the weather, the strength of your plants and how well you care for them. It is therefore difficult to predict how many tomatoes will grow per plant. As a standard, we speak of at least three and a maximum of eight trusses per plant. In a greenhouse, you will harvest more tomatoes than in the open air because you create a protected, sheltered microclimate and are therefore not dependent on the weather.
What is the best way to harvest tomatoes?
You can harvest tomatoes from July and August, but you can also enjoy your home-grown tomatoes in September. Make sure that the tomatoes have their full colour, feel softer and start to smell sweet before you harvest them – otherwise they are not ripe enough. Harvest your tomatoes by hand and with the crown still on, so that you can store them longer.
Do not put your fresh harvest in the refrigerator (they lose their flavour there), but give them a separate container on the kitchen counter. Make sure that they are not too close together so that they do not go mouldy.
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