How to Grow Tomatoes – A Guide to Growing Tomatoes

Growing tomatoes, especially in the English summer, is not always an easy task!

But the flavour of home grown tomatoes is unbeatable, no shop bought tomato can ever compete with a thin skinned variety picked fresh and sun warm from the vine.

These guides will give you an idea of what I do to grow tomatoes and other method. They will show you that, whichever way you grow tomatoes,you can have success.

There are a bewildering number of varieties of tomato you can buy to grow at home and I have put down my thoughts about the relatively few I have tried and others I have been told about or tasted.

Reading some books you may be worried about diseases and problems that can affect tomatoes but I have never found those to be as much of a problem as the weather. Growing tomatoes outdoors does carry more risk than under cover but you can minimise those risks and gain a useful crop even in a poor summer.

The most critical thing with growing tomatoes is to keep them fed and watered properly. More than any other crop, they need regular watering and feeding to produce successfully.

I hope you find these guides and articles useful.

Growing Tomatoes Guides & Articles

Grow Unusual Tomatoes!

I think the tomato is probably the most popular crop for home-growers, with good reason. What beats the delicious taste of a freshly-picked, sun-ripened tomato? Yet too often we grow the same old varieties and miss out on new flavours. Thanks to...

Types of Tomatoes - An Introduction to Tomato Growing Part 1

One of the most rewarding crops you can grow is the tomato. The taste of a fresh picked sun warm tomato is legendary and far superior to anything you can buy in the supermarket. Unfortunately, tomatoes are not the easiest crop and are often misunderstood...

Sowing and Starting off Tomatoes - Introduction to Tomato Growing Part 2

This article covers the life of your tomatoes from sowing the seeds to transplanting the seedlings into pots ready to plant out in their final positions. Sowing the seed I start off all my tomatoes in the same way between late February and early...

Growing Tomatoes in a Tomato Grow-house (Mini-Greenhouse)

If you do not have a greenhouse or a small greenhouse that doesn't have enough room for the number of plants you would like to grow, a mini-greenhouse / tomato grow-house could be the solution for you. They are cheap to buy (around £20) although ...

Growing Tomatoes in a Greenhouse

Growing tomatoes in a greenhouse is far more certain to produce a good crop than outdoors as you control the climate. In fact, I would not even try to grow outdoors in the ground north of the Midlands in the UK without some extra shelter. Growing...

Growing Tomatoes in the Greenhouse Border

It is certainly more natural to grow tomatoes in a border than in containers. But for me the big advantage of growing in a properly prepared border over containers is that it stores enough water that missing watering for a day isn't a big problem. ...

Growing Tomatoes in Pots or Grow Bags in the Greenhouse

The advantage of greenhouse growing tomatoes in pots and grow bags is that the compost is fresh each year. This means that it is free from disease build up and pests. Once the season is over, the spent compost from the pots and grow bags can be used as...

Growing Tomatoes by Ring Culture

Ringculture is a traditional method of growing tomatoes that was as a commercial method of greenhouse tomato growing but has developed to become a popular home growing method in conjunction with growbags. Ring culture developed as a commercial...

Growing Tomatoes in Straw Bales

This traditional method of growing tomatoes in straw bales and other tender plants like peppers and cucumbers is a great way to produce an early crop in our uncertain climate. Basically the straw bale is being composted and the heat from that process...

Growing Tomatoes Outdoors

Growing tomatoes outdoors is a chancy business in Britain, even in the sunny south of the country. Tomatoes are very dependent on having enough warmth for enough time to grow and crop before the cold comes again. As if that wasn't enough in recent...

Planting & Growing Tomatoes Outdoors

Tomatoes are one of the most valuable crops to grow at home - not because of their cost but because you can grow varieties that the shops do not sell. Tomatoes selected for thin skins and flavour rather than the ability to travel and shelf life. This...

Growing Patio Tomatoes - Dwarf Bush Variety Patio Tomatoes

In recent years growing tomatoes in a pot or even a hanging basket on the patio has become very popular. When fruiting, the dwarf bush varieties promoted for patio tomatoes are attractive plants anyway. To get a good crop from patio tomatoes isn't...

Water Requirements for Tomatoes

More people have problems due to irregular watering with tomatoes than any other cultivation issue. Allowing tomatoes to dry out and then deluging them with water causes the fruit to suddenly swell, cracking the skin of the tomato and this allows fungal...

Ideal Temperatures for Growing Tomatoes

The tomato is an import from a warmer climate to Britain so it's no surprise that the ideal temperatures for growing tomatoes are higher than is usual outdoors here. Tomatoes can be grown successfully outdoors in the warmer parts of Britain, if the weather...

Removing Tomato Side Shoots (Suckers) & Stopping Tomatoes

I have noticed that many American web-sites refer to suckers rather than side-shoots. Suckers in Britain are stems growing from the base which occasionally happens with tomatoes. Since I don't think the Americans will change their language for me, if...

Best Tomato Varieties – My Top Tasty Tomato Picks

The range of tomatoes available is huge and new varieties appear every year. The sheer choice is bewildering. It's no wonder I often get asked what are the best tomato varieties? There is no clear-cut answer as to what are the best tomato varieties...

Heirloom Tomatoes (Heritage Tomatoes)

The term heirloom or heritage tomatoes just means an old variety Whilst breeders are always looking to improve existing cultivars and develop new ones, the rush of progress sometimes leaves a real gem behind. Recently some of these old varieties...

Best Tomatoes for Greenhouse Growing

You can grow any type of tomato in a greenhouse but the bush (also known as determinate) varieties take up a lot of valuable floor space whereas the cordon (also called pole or indeterminate) varieties make best use of the vertical space and are, therefore,...

Tomato Troubles & Diseases | Causes & Cures of Tomato Problems

You'll find a host of potential problems with tomatoes listed in the gardening books but in the real garden it does not seem to be so complicated. Many of the problems listed are more likely to be encountered by the commercial growers. The main tomato...

Raising Tomato Plants from Seed

This guest article on raising tomato plants from seed is by Philip Swindells. When reading this, do remember that the author is writing for an international audience and in the UK growing tomatoes outdoors is always chancy. Late unexpected frosts, a cool...