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
A German heirloom that translates as ‘German Diligence’. Diligent it is, being one of our best croppers in 2013-14. It was early and produced over a long period, up to our first frost. Medium, round red fruit that keep well once picked. This variety has a great tart tomato flavour. Crack resistant. An indeterminate variety that requires staking. 25 seeds.
A very popular cherry tomato due to their sweet flavour and that the tomatoes grow on attractive trusses with 6 -12 fruit. A heavy cropper with fruit 24 cm in diameter. The plant is semi-determinate, growing to 1.5 m high, requiring some basic staking. An early variety, suited to cool to warm climates. 50 seeds.
A wild and free tomato! This indeterminate variety loves to spread and produces a prodigious amount of fabulous flavoured 2” red, pear shaped fruit. Do not try to tame or prune, just let it roam and you will have more fruit than the garden fairies ever dreamt of! Needs staking. An early variety that crops until the first frost. 30 seeds.
A Swiss heirloom capable of handling shorter summers. An indeterminate plant with medium sized red fruit that are super tasty and fruit well into autumn. Early and productive, what more can you ask of a tasty tommy! Requires staking. 40 seeds.
A red beefsteak, heirloom variety that produces medium sized tomatoes with excellent flavour and yield. Tomatoes grow to 12 cm and are slightly lobed and flattened on top. Relatively early to ripen for beefsteak varieties. An indeterminate plant that requires some staking. 30 seeds.
A deep orange heirloom tomato with low acid content that grows to 10 cm. Reportedly the seeds were given to brides in Nebraska as a gift as the plants were able to handle the cold, windy environment. A good looking globe tomato that will add colour to any salad and holds well into autumn. 80 seeds.
A bush variety with medium sized red, slightly flattened tomatoes. An early, fleshy variety that is great fresh or cooked. Grows to 40-60 cm high and may need a little bit of support as it can yield well. A reasonably compact variety that’s suited to pots or small gardens. Originates from Czechoslovakia. Handles cooler climates well. 25 seeds.
Russian heirloom has a dedicated following amongst tomato lovers due to its distinctive rich earthy, smoky flavour with a good acid/sweet balance. A dark beefsteak variety that is slightly flattened and gets to 10 cm across. An indeterminate variety. Named in honour of a great athlete, activist & opera singer (1898-1976). 30 seeds.
A great tasting early, red tomato for cooler climates. As the name suggests it can set fruit in places where summer can be slow to start. A versatile medium round tomato with a slight acidic flavour. It can handle cooler weather but not frosts. While a determinate variety it still requires staking. 40 seeds.
A sweet and attractive cherry tomato. These 2-3 cm tasty morsels arrive in yellow, orange and red marbling encasing the sweet gold flesh. The flavour and cat’s eye star-burst pattern on the blossom end make them a hit with the kids. Good disease resistance & extremely productive indeterminate variety. 40 seeds.
A round, red heirloom tomato with a classic tomato flavour, acidic with a hint of sweetness. Very productive, especially in hot, dry weather. A fleshy thick-skinned medium tomato that does not crack. A popular all-rounder used raw or in sauces. An indeterminate variety with a long harvest. 40 seeds.