Quality seeds for kitchen, cottage and native gardeners
Vegetable Seeds Catalogue
Tomato
Sds/g: 300-400 Feed Requirements: Moderate Usual Seed Life: 4-6 years
Cultural Notes:
- In cooler areas start seedlings indoors 5 – 6 weeks before your last frost and plant out in week 8 to be on the safe side. Plant deeper than the roots as the stem will form extra feeding roots. Do not start seedlings too early as root bound, leggy plants are bound to disappoint and be poor croppers.
- Determinate tomatoes form bushes that do not need to be pruned and produce fruit earlier but over a shorter period than indeterminates. Indeterminate tomatoes need to be trellised, trained up a string or staked. Given the room indeterminate varieties are prolific growers and will easily outgrow your average tomato stake.
- For best results plant against a high north-facing fence.
- Plant into soil with good organic matter and do not provide high nitrogen fertiliser, otherwise you will end up with excess leaf growth and late flowering. It is possible to force flowering by stressing the plant a bit with infrequent watering, however, once flowers have started ensure the plant gets regular water. Plant indeterminate seedlings with 80-120 cm centres and determinate seedlings with at least 50-90 cm centres.
Problems:
- The best way to avoid problems with tomatoes is by supplying sufficient moisture applied at soil level and adequate calcium. As tomatoes respond very well to foliar feeds a good preventative is a seaweed foliar spray every 2 weeks.
Harvest:
- Your homegrown tomatoes will taste better than any from the supermarket.
- Cherry tomato varieties ripen earliest. Unripened tomatoes should be harvested before the first frost. Either pull the plant and hang in a shed with good ventilation to avoid moulds or harvest tomatoes and ripen them in the house.
Sowing periods
This heavy-cropping Russian heirloom produces flattish, soft-red tomatoes early in the season. A compact, bush variety, with attractive grey-green, finely-divided leaves, it does well in containers. Tomatoes produced are a meaty 7-10 cm flattened variety. A star performer in our 2017 trials, ripening before most cherry tomatoes. Surround the young plants with lots of straw around the base to keep the ripening tomatoes off the ground. Prepare the soil by digging in plenty of rotted organic matter and use lime if soil is acid. 30 seeds
A very early and cold-resistant staking variety with medium-sized, round, red, fruit. A Czech heirloom variety that is indeterminate, so requires staking. Richly flavoured, it slices well and is an ideal size for a couple of sandwiches. It even produced large numbers of fruit thorough the cold summer of 2008-09 when many other varieties failed! A very early and cold resistant, one-meter tall staking variety from Eastern Europe with medium sized, round red, fruit. Rich flavour and good slicing type. 40 seeds
This small to medium-sized, red tomato has orange stripes and makes a stunning addition to salads. This is one of our favourites as it is early, high yielding, looks good, tastes sweet and versatile in the kitchen (use in salads or tossed with garlic, parmesan and parsley into pasta). A 1m tall staking variety. 40 seeds
A miniature cocktail bush tomato with sweet, red fruit 2cm to 3cm in diameter. Excellent in containers or pots. Quickly maturing and often grown for (by) children. 40 seeds
One of the best tasting tomatoes on offer and as a result one of our most popular! A vigorous tomato producing clusters of apricot-sized, red fruit. A very tasty, juicy and productive tomato. An indeterminate variety that has good disease resistance. 80 seeds
An early dwarf variety that produces a prolific quantity of small red tomatoes on larges trusses. A great variety for growing in pots or small areas as it does not require staking. Grow indoors for an early harvest while your field tomatoes are still coming on. Use in salads, omelettes or eat raw. 50 seeds.
An old-time, early variety once very popular for market gardens. Very smooth, round, red globes with good, mild, sweet flavour. Heavy yielding and concentrated harvest time with some heat tolerance. A smaller indeterminate variety needing staking. 80 seeds.
A yellow, pear shaped cocktail tomato, carrying lots of fruit over the summer months. Grows well in a container. Low in acid, but very tasty. 50 seeds
A one meter tall staking variety with unusual and attractive, small to medium deep yellow fruit with a long oval/cigar shape. This tomato is well flavoured, low in acid and a prolific producer. 40 seeds.
This Swiss heirloom tomato variety has medium sized, round, red pinkish colored, delicious fruit. It is especially good for eating fresh in salads. A good type for cooler climates and short summers. Needs staking. 80 seeds
A small bush variety with medium sized red tomatoes. The Budiah has early ripening, sweet tomatoes on a compact bush that grow to 30-40 cm high, making it ideal for pots/containers, windy, small areas and/or junior gardeners. A pleasure to grow unlike some of its wild, sprawling relatives!! 25 seeds.
An heirloom variety developed in early 1900's. A reliable early – mid season red tomato. Medium sized fruit on an indeterminate bush that requires some staking. A vigorous and productive potato leaf variety that has some resistance to wilt. The red fruit have excellent flavour raw or cooked. 50 seeds.