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Tomato Head Start

For home grown tomato lovers in temperate areas it can seem like a very, very long winter. Have you been just itching to get your tomatoes going?  The arrival of August means that you can start off tomato seeds on a warm, bright windowsill, so the seedlings are ready for planting out as soon as any chance of frost has passed.

For tomato growing addicts that love a large a juicy tomato with old-fashioned beefsteak flavour, try Yates® Tomato ‘Big Beef’. It’s great for growing in vegie patches and also pots.  And if you love cherry tomatoes then try Yates Tomato ‘Sweet Bite’, which is a prolific variety that produces clusters of sweet, bite sized tomatoes.

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Here’s how to get your tomatoes started:

  • Fill some empty seedling punnets with a good quality seed raising mix like Yates Seed Raising Mix.
  • Sow seed 3 – 6 mm deep (check your chosen variety for the correct sowing depth), cover with seed raising mix and water gently.
  • Place the punnets in a warm, sunny spot. A brightly lit windowsill is ideal.
  • Keep the mix moist and seedlings will start to emerge in around 10 – 14 days.
  • When the seedlings are around 5 cm tall, they can be transplanted into their final home, in either a garden bed that’s been enriched with some handfuls of Yates Dynamic Lifter®  Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser or a container. Only transplant seedlings out once there will be no more frosts!
  • In a fortnight, start feeding each week with Yates Thrive® Tomato Liquid Plant Food, which will provide the tomatoes with a balanced diet of nutrients to promote lots of healthy growth and encourage lots of flowers which will turn into delicious fruit.
  • Green thumb tip: a Yates Mini Greenhouse creates a wonderful protected environment to start off tomato seedlings.

 

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You'll need

Tomato Sweet Bite

Tomato Sweet Bite

This prolific cherry tomato can produce 100 or more fruit on each plant.

Yates Thrive Tomato Liquid Plant Food

Yates Thrive Tomato Liquid Plant Food

Yates Thrive Tomato Concentrate provides tomatoes with the balanced nutrition they need to produce large crops of delicious fruit and strong, healthy growth.

How to grow

Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Harvesting your very own tasty tomatoes is one of life’s joys. They can be picked at their sun-ripened and sweetest best and go from garden to plate in a matter of minutes.