Tomatoes

Tomat · Vegetable

Sow indoors or outJan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Nov
TransplantMay, Jun
HarvestJul, Aug, Sep
Tomatoes — hand-drawn botanical illustration

Picking varieties

Many varieties work well — pick by purpose: fresh eating, sauce, and so on. My ratings for the ones I've actually grown are in the table below.

Sowing

Sow on the surface and cover lightly with soil. Keep it moist and warm until germination.

Care

Water regularly and feed through the season. Tomatoes want lots of sun and warmth.

Harvest & storage

Pick when the fruits are fully coloured but still firm. They keep for several days somewhere cool — or turn them into sauce and preserves.

Month by month

March: sow indoors, 1–2 cm deep in rich soil, kept moist and warm (20–22 °C).
April: late sowings still work early in the month. Start acclimatising plants: a few hours outside on sunny days.
May: plant out for good once frost risk is over. Water the soil, not the leaves. Feed with something potassium-rich.
June: tie the plants to stakes or a trellis and pinch out side shoots, so the plant spends its energy on fruit.
July–August: keep watering, keep an eye out for pests, and start picking as the fruits colour up.
September: keep harvesting as long as they ripen; ease off the watering as the season winds down.
October: pick everything left before the frost takes it. Clear the plants away, and write down what worked and what didn't — next season starts now.

Methods

Outdoors (friland)

For outdoor beds I use Balkonzauber, a compact 60 cm variety. Sow indoors in March, pot on at 2–3 leaf pairs, and plant out when frost risk is over. Give it support and keep the soil evenly moist.

From the log

When You Think There Is No Tomatoes Left, There Is Always a Few Kilos to Be Found What a difference bokashi compost makes This year's first sowings: tomato, aubergine and early cabbage Padrones Went Overripe and Fiery Red, but the Tomatoes Turned Out Well Photo Bomb: What I'm Harvesting in September This Year Cutting Back the Greenhouse to Find the Treasures Underneath I Prune the Tomatoes Brutally, and It Usually Works The Hundred Thousand Tomato Photo Bomb: Tomatoes in the Greenhouse Photo Bomb: Harvest Time A Garden Tour in Mid-June Finally Pruning the Tomatoes Properly in Early June The Kids Are Helping — Slow but Cozy Work Cleaning the Greenhouse With Help From My Child My Tomatoes Aren't Pretty, But They Work The Garden in Early August A Report from the Greenhouse Time to Tackle the Greenhouse Coming Back to an Overgrown Garden Pruning Tomatoes Hard, Companion-Planting the Rest Everything Is Growing in the Greenhouse Maximizing the Usage of My Small Greenhouse: Tips and Tricks for Abundant Harvests The Smell of Success: Embracing Ensilage in My Garden Turnover Day in the Greenhouse Early Cabbage Heads to the Greenhouse Tomato Season February Sowing Pesticide residues in Organic Fertilizers killed all my Tomato Plants 2020 Pick Tomatoes early to avoid blight! Vegetables to sow in January Milk Cartons for Tomato Plants January Gardening Blight Hits the Tomatoes Tomato Chaos After the Holidays Wild Strawberries everywhere - have to remove them.. Pruning Tomato Plants Transplanting Tomatoes, Basil, and Marigold Outdoors My new Polytunnel Greenhouse - Palram Bella Marigold Started, Tomatoes Growing Fast Second Transplant: Tomatoes Into Milk Cartons Grow Light and Temperature Experiment - Basement vs. Room Temperature Starting Tomatoes, Basil, and Early Asian Leaves Garden Plan Raised Beds 2017 How to fix tall, thin and leggy Tomato Plants Topping Tomato Plants and growing new Plants from Cuttings Post Reply Tomato Leaves turning purple Planting Cucumber Seeds Self watering Seed Starter - DIY from Recycled Plastic Bottles Starting tomatoes from a tomato slice - again DIY Mini Greenhouse Growing Tomatoes upside down Mini Greenhouse Grow and Harvest pics Mini Greenhouses Building Worm Towers Growing tomatoes from a tomato slice

Grows well with

Basil Onion Parsley

Get the complete guide

The printable Tomatoes guide goes beyond this page — everything you need to actually grow it well, start to finish. It hasn't been made yet — it's coming as a printable PDF. Sign up for the Vegocracy newsletter below and you'll hear when it, and every other new guide, is ready.

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🔒 Coming soon — in the printable guide
Sowing to harvest

Step-by-step notes for every stage — sowing depth, spacing, care and what to watch for.

Choosing a variety

What to think about when picking a variety for your own garden, not just which ones earned their place in mine.

Tips and tricks

Do's and don'ts — what worked, what I'd skip next time, and the mistakes worth avoiding.

The month-by-month schedule

Full sow, transplant and harvest calendar for tomatoes.

General know-how

The background knowledge behind the how-to — why it behaves the way it does, and what it actually needs.

Join the Vegocracy newsletter One newsletter for the whole site — you'll hear about every new guide there, not just this one.

A friendly reminder: every garden plays by its own rules. Zones, soil, weather and a hundred small things decide what works — so this is how I did it and what worked for me, not a promise. Try, learn, adjust, try again.. that's half the fun anyway.

Also grows well in these combinations

Tomatoes + Marigold + Basil + Pak choi — complete bed recipe

Full guide with layout, timeline and instructions for every plant in the bed — coming as PDF

Tomatoes grow best with friends

This crop is part of one of my field-tested bed recipes — complete layouts with timing for every plant in the bed.

See all bed recipes