TOMATOES

1. Next time you slice a tomato in half, put the seeds on a kitchen towel and allow to dry for a few days.
2. Start sowing in late-January until late-March. Sow seeds in 7.5cm pots of moist compost, top with a thin layer of vermiculite, then water and cover with cling film. Stand on a warm, bright windowsill or in a propagator.
3. When your seeds have germinated, remove the cling film (or take them out of the propagator) and keep the compost damp. 
4. Transplant seedlings when they reach about 2-3cm tall into 5cm pots filled with moist multi-purpose compost. Return them to the windowsill. Keep potting on as necessary. Support stems by tying them to a pea stick with soft string.
5. Move your tomatoes outside after the last frost in May. Choose a sunny, sheltered spot, where you can plant them into a border (into soil that has had plenty of well-rotted garden compost added), or into 30cm pots, or put two or three plants in a growing bag. If growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, try growing alongside basil, which thrives in the same conditions.
6. Tall-growing cordon tomatoes will require pinching out (removing side-shoots) and staking (tying plants to canes with soft string). When the first tiny fruits begin to appear, strip away the leaves underneath to allow light and air to reach them better.
7. When there are four trusses (clusters) of flowers, pinch out the plant’s growing tip.
8. Feed your plants weekly with liquid tomato food.
9. Keep tomatoes well watered because irregular watering causes fruit to split or develop hard black patches, known as blossom-end rot. This is caused by a lack of calcium, which is found in water.

pinching out tomato side-shoots