How to Grow Vegetables
Vegetables are… well, exactly what the VegTrug is for! Fresh produce, eaten raw or cooked always tastes better when it is fresh from your garden moments before.
How to grow Beetroot
Beetroot is a popular root vegetable that’s packed with nutrients and tastes great roasted or just chopped or grated raw into a salad.
How to grow Carrots
Carrots are a super popular root vegetable that are packed with vitamin A and are roasted, boiled or grated raw into a salad. It’s even a cake ingredient.
How to grow Cauliflower
It’s been said that cauliflowers can be tricky to grow. But if you love cauliflowers there’s no reason why you can’t grow your own, you just need the right conditions. And they’ll taste better than anything you find in the shops.
How to grow Lettuce
It’s a firm favourite base of any salad throughout the fair months of the year. And it’s easy to grow too.
How to grow Onion
Onions are a very easy vegetable to grow. Few vegetables have more uses in the kitchen, making them an excellent candidate for the VegTrug.
How to grow Peas
Peas are best when they are eaten green, fresh and in season. They can be grown in the VegTrug a little way in from the back or front edge and will produce a wonderful crop.
How to grow Potatoes
The humble potato helped create farming as we know it today. Its arrival from Peru to northern Europe in the late 1500s staved off famine, introduced an agricultural revolution and the use of fertiliser and insecticides in farming.
How to grow Radishes
Radishes add crunch and colour to salads and are very easy to grow in the VegTrug. They can handle most soil types and that fiery colour means kids will love seeing the results.
How to grow Runner Beans
As well as being really good for you, runner beans are easy to grow too. Most need support in the form of bamboo canes or wigwams, but a few smaller varieties are perfect for the VegTrug.
How to grow Tomatoes
Tomatoes generally come in two different growth habits, Cordon (or indeterminate) tomatoes grow tall, reaching up to 1.8m (6ft) and require support. Bush (or determinate) tomatoes are bushy and are great for smaller gardens and pots - or a VegTrug.
How to grow Beetroot
How to Grow Beetroot
Beetroot is a popular root vegetable that’s packed with nutrients and tastes great roasted or just chopped or grated raw into a salad.
It’s easy to grow and won’t make too many demands, although rich soil will certainly give you the best tasting beets. Sow a handful beetroot every couple of weeks to enjoy a season of these delicious vegetables.
For lovers of baby beets, the root can be harvested early, or enjoy the complete beet experience when they are tender and tennis ball sized, at the peak of their growth.
Read more on how to grow beetroot below.
Sowing
If you choose beetroot that doesn’t bolt, you can sow at the very end of the winter, but you’ll need to keep it under cover. Beetroot sown in early summer can be harvested and kept throughout the winter. Choose different varieties to give you a choice all year round beets.
Take a couple of seeds and plant them around 3cm deep and at 10cm intervals. If you’re planting in rows, keep them about 30cm apart. When the shoots come though you can thin them out. These young beets can be eaten raw in salads.
Beetroot is one of the best veg for growing in large containers, like a VegTrug. Plant your seeds in combination with a high quality, well-drained soil. The roots aren’t happy when there are a lot of large stones.
Growing
Water your beets regularly and keep the area around them free of weeds, which will compete for light and nutrients.
If they need a perk, give your beets a boost with a nitrogen fuelled plant fertiliser.
Pests and Bugs
When approaching how to grow beetroot properly, you’ll need to consider pests and problems too. Snails and slugs might take a shining to your beets, and fresh leaves can be attractive to birds. A VegTrug can help stop snails climbing, or if your beets are in the ground, try a layer of eggshells or sawdust. While the beets are fresh and young cover with nets to help keep birds at bay.
Preparing and using Beetroot
If your beets get too large they become woody and won’t have that tender taste you want, so choose to harvest early rather than late.
Make sure that you twist rather than cut the tops off, not too near to the roots themselves. Store them in sand in a cool place for use over the winter.
When cooking, wash the beet gently and keep the roots in place to retain the succulent flavours.
How to grow Beetroot is part of the VegTrug Grower’s Guide.
How to grow Bay
How to Grow Carrots
Carrots are a super popular root vegetable that are packed with vitamin A and are roasted, boiled or grated raw into a salad. It’s even a cake ingredient.
Grown at home, they’ll taste great and don’t need much attention. They’re not all orange varieties either.
Read more on how to grow carrots below.
Planting
Carrots are usually sown from seed during the spring, but as with many vegetables, you can enjoy them all year round by planting those varieties that are suitable for late or early sewing.
It’s best to sow carrots thinly from the start and choose a well-drained soil where they can get full sun. They grow really well in deep containers like a VegTrug. Aim for about 1cm deep and in rows that are between 15cm and 30cm apart. The seedlings can be slow to germinate, and if you need to thin them out aim for a separation of about 6cm between each plant.
There is a risk with thinning out, however. Carrot fly can detect the scent of carrots when they are thinned out. They will seek out your patch and lay eggs in the soil. Carrot fly larvae eat the carrots from inside the roots.
Growing
Problems growing Carrots
When learning about how to grow carrots, you find carrot fly is a specific problem. Some people choose to grow onions and garlic alongside carrots, as the strong smell can put carrot fly off.
Aphids can also be found on carrots, enjoying the sap of young shoots. As well as damaging the plant, aphids’ excretions can cause black mould on the carrot. Remove aphids by hand or, if your carrots are covered, introduce a natural predator, such as ladybirds.
Preparing and using your Carrots
Once you know how to grow carrots you can enjoy months and months of these fresh-tasting vegetables. You should be able to harvest your carrots around 14-weeks after sowing, but don’t let them get too large or the flavour will suffer. Watering the ground first will help you pull the carrots without damaging the roots, unless it’s already wet, and watering afterwards will help the roots that are still in the ground.
If you store your carrots in sand they can keep for months, but ensure they aren’t touching.
How to grow Carrots is part of the VegTrug Grower’s Guide.
How to grow Cauliflower
How to Grow Cauliflower
It’s been said that cauliflowers can be tricky to grow. But if you love cauliflowers there’s no reason why you can’t grow your own, you just need the right conditions. And they’ll taste better than anything you find in the shops.
Cauliflower likes cooler months and once you’ve learned how to grow cauliflower, you can harvest it all year round.
Read more below.
Planting
Sow your cauliflower seeds in late spring, and 60cm apart in rows. Cauliflowers need space. If you’re growing in a VegTrug place them in the centre, where it’s deepest. They mature fast, so it’s best to sow a few regularly, rather than a lot in one go.
Sow thinly, at around 2cm deep. Spacing depends on the size of the variety. Mini cauliflowers will only need 15cm, whereas the largest will need 60cm of space between them.
Growing
Make sure that your cauliflowers always have plenty of moisture, as they can’t withstand drought, top dressing with fertiliser and nitrogen if necessary too. If the growth gets stunted at any time the heads produced will be tiny and misshapen.
Cauliflowers need moisture and nutrients When watering make sure the roots are well covered and it’s a good idea to thoroughly water the cauliflowers and the hole into which they are going if you’re transplanting them. Make sure the soil is tight against the roots as you do so and make sure the lowest leaves are at the soil level too. Keep it all packed tightly and well-watered.
Pests and Problems growing Cauliflower
Cauliflowers attract birds, caterpillars and there’s a fungal disease called Club Root, which affects this family. But it’s all part of the process of learning how to grow cauliflower.
Birds will eat the seeds and seedlings, so cover with a net. Pigeons in particular are ones to watch out for. A mesh netting will also discourage the caterpillars of the ‘cabbage white’ butterflies. Nasturtium is a good alternative meal for these if you find any on your prized cauliflowers.
Club root is a little more tricky to get rid of and will stay in the soil for many years. It’s a fungal disease and causes the roots to become deformed. The leaves will wilt and yellow. Better drainage and reducing the acidity of the soil with lime can help. Long term, crop rotation can help reduce the chance of club root occurring.
Remove the affected plants, but don’t dispose of them in the compost and clean any tools you used. This will help prevent further spread.
Preparing and using your Cauliflower
Cauliflowers should be ready in three to five months and once you know how to grow cauliflower you can enjoy year-round supplies. The different cauliflower varieties will have different harvesting requirements.
Don’t wait until the heads turn yellow or separate – this means bitter-tasting cauliflowers and not the reward you want for months of effort.
The heads should keep for about a week in a plastic bag in the fridge. They can be frozen too but should be blanched first.
How to grow Cauliflower is part of the VegTrug Grower’s Guide.
How to grow Lettuce
How to Grow Lettuce
It’s a firm favourite base of any salad throughout the fair months of the year. And it’s easy to grow too.
Lettuce comes in two main types: those with a dense central heart and those with loose leaves. Experiment with different varieties in your VegTrug, that way you’ll have a wonderful range of lettuces to choose from, that will add new dimensions to any salad.
Read more on how to grow lettuce in our guide below.
Planting and Sowing
Sow your lettuce about 1cm deep in rows in the spring and then thin the plants out to about 30cm between each. You can sow earlier (or later) in the season but you will need to cover them to protect from frost.
When to sow depends on when you want to harvest, but some varieties might struggle to germinate in the hottest soil temperatures. Lettuce thrives in temperatures between 15°c and 21°c.
Leafy lettuce varieties can be harvested in around 30 days whereas other varieties can take up to eight weeks. Lettuce does not like really hot weather and tends to go to seed early when the temperature soars. Digging in good compost before sowing can help stop your lettuce going to seed.
Growing
Keep the soil around the plants weed free and water whenever necessary. Mulch can help keep moisture in your soil.
Thin out lettuce to about 30cms apart. You can re-plant the thinnings into another row, or another VegTrug, because they do transplant easily.
But a good rule when learning how to grow lettuce is don’t sow too many at one time but instead try and keep sowing a few each week throughout the summer. This will give you a constant crop.
Pests and Problems growing Lettuce
Sparrows will eat your young lettuce, so cover with a net or fleece. A mesh netting or VegTrug cover will also discourage the snails and slugs that will find your lettuce so tasty.
Root aphids are another lettuce pest and you may not see them as they attack the root. Ants are often a sign of aphid root as they feed on the honeydew that aphids leave behind. If your older lettuces suddenly wilt and die, it could be root aphid.
Other problems include grey mould which can damage your crop. If you start to see fuzzy, mouldy growth then remove the affected leaves before it can take hold in a big way. Improving air circulation around the crop and reducing humidity can help.
Preparing and using your fresh Lettuce
Once you’ve learned how to grow lettuce you can enjoy a long supply. As soon as a firm heart has formed you can cut the lettuce away at the stem, wash and add it to a colourful salad. If it’s a leafy variety with no stem, just harvest some or all of the leaves when they’re big enough to enjoy.
Lettuce is very sensitive to the temperature and the leaves can sometimes taste better if picked in the morning before the sun is too hot.
How to grow Lettuce is part of the VegTrug Grower’s Guide.
How to grow Onions
How to Grow Onions
Onions are a very easy vegetable to grow. Few vegetables have more uses in the kitchen, making them an excellent candidate for the VegTrug.
From soups to curries, onions are everywhere in the kitchen and they store well, so you can have a constant supply of your favourite varieties.
Read more on how to grow onions below.
Sowing
Generally, most onions are planted in the spring although you can start growing seed indoors from the start of the year. Some varieties are also sown in autumn. Once the seedlings have started to shoot you can transplant them outdoors.
Sow the onion seeds very thinly into drills in a row only 2cm deep, in rows around 20 to 25cm apart. Carefully cover the onion seed with soil and gently water in. They will germinate in around 21 days.
You can grow onion from seed but sets of young seed onions grown especially for ready planting, are much easier. Simply empty the onion sets into a tray and keep them in a cool dry place until you are ready to plant them. Cut off any excess dead growth from the growing tip so that birds do not pull at them.
Plant in the spring, spacing them 10cm apart in each row. Just make a small hole in the soil with a trowel and put the onion set in so that the growing tip is just below the surface of the soil. You can then firm the soil around it. Do make sure that you water in after sowing.
Growing
When they have pushed through the soil and are standing about 3cm to 5cm high, thin out your onion seedlings to about 5cm apart. You can then thin them again later pulling every other plant until they are about 10cm apart. Make sure that the soil is moist when you pull the onions and that you clear the thinnings properly so as not to attract the onion fly.
Feed occasionally with a liquid fertiliser and water every two weeks if the weather is dry for a long period of time.
Cut off any flower stems that appear because you want all the energy going into swelling the bulb and not setting seed. Stop watering once the onions have swollen and begin to ripen.
Also weed the area regularly, being careful not to damage the bulbs.
Pests and Bugs
Unfortunately, dealing with pests and other problems are all part of learning how to grow onions.
Nets can help stop any birds who are tempted by the young seedlings and the risk of onion neck rot can be reduced by spacing out the plants.
Onion fly is a particular problem for onions. Unfortunately, once the signs are there – drooping yellow leaves – the larvae will have damaged the plant and be eating the bulb.
Planting parsley alongside onions can help keep onion fly away.
Harvesting and storing your Onions
As soon as your onions are big enough you can gently lift them with a fork. When the leaves turn brown, the onion has stopped growing but be sure to harvest before the plant dies back completely.
Autumn-planted onions can be stored up to the winter, whereas those planted in spring can last longer. If you are storing them, make sure the foliage is dry before storing them in a cool, ventilated place. And it’s a good idea to let them ripen them for a couple of weeks first.
How to grow Onions is part of the VegTrug Grower’s Guide.
How to grow Peas
How to grow Peas
Peas are best when they are eaten green, fresh and in season. They can be grown in the VegTrug a little way in from the back or front edge and will produce a wonderful crop.
In a container, the easiest peas to grow are the sugar snap types, snow peas or English peas.
Read more on how to grow peas in our guide below.
Sowing
Peas thrive in an open, sunny place. Make sure there’s good drainage and add lime if the soil is acidic. They like it cool too, so sow when the temperature is lower, but don’t sow in wet or cold soil. Sowing peas is best either earlier or later in the season.
Plant them in a small trench, roughly 3cm deep, throughout the length of the VegTrug in spring.
For a very early crop and if you have a mild climate, favour round seeded peas, because the wrinkly pea-types can be harder to grow. Most of your crop should be sown from spring onwards however you can make sowings in the VegTrug right into the middle of summer. In this case, use ‘early’ varieties which will ripen quickly before any frosts come.
Dig a little trench about 8cm deep with a hoe and plant each pea 5 to 8cm apart. Cover and firm the soil
Try soaking the peas for a couple of days first to get them germinating so that they sprout earlier.
Growing
Once you know how to grow peas, they require very little care. When you see the first pea shoots give them a water. You shouldn’t need to water for another couple of weeks, but don’t let the soil dry out. Unless your peas are dwarf varieties, they’ll need support from canes or pea netting.
Once your peas have flowered, water regularly. Mulch can help keep the soil moisture rich.
Pests and Bugs
Mice and pigeons will eat the seeds and voles are also hard to control. Placing tempting alternatives, such as peanut butter for mice and carrots or apples for voles, can be effective. Human trapping is another option, but other animals can get caught in traps.
Pigeons are notorious for attacking plants, sometimes leaving just the stems behind. The best solution is to grow the plants under nets or in a cage.
Pea moth is another pest you might discover when you’re first learning how to grow peas. The pea moth lays its eggs on peas that are flowering, and you’ll discover the caterpillars when you’re shelling your peas. Sowing outside the pea moth’s flying period often means your peas won’t be damaged.
Other problems include powdery mildew on the leaves and stems. Improving air circulation around the crop and keeping the soil moist can help.
Harvesting and storing your Peas
Think about when and how to grow peas in terms of when you want to harvest them. Peas are best when they’re fresh and the best time to pick depends on the variety. For some, sugar snap varieties for example, it’s when the peas first form, for others it’s when the pods are seen bursting with fresh peas.
How to grow Peas is part of the VegTrug Grower’s Guide.
How to grow Potatoes
How to grow Potatoes
The humble potato helped create farming as we know it today. Its arrival from Peru to northern Europe in the late 1500s staved off famine, introduced an agricultural revolution and the use of fertiliser and insecticides in farming.
And if you want to know how to grow potatoes, you’re in company that dates back possibly as far as 10,000 years.
There’s a huge choice when it comes to choosing which potatoes you want to grow and they’ll thrive happily in bags or a quality container, like a VegTrug.
Read more on how to grow potatoes below.
Chitting
Before planting you should ‘chit’ them. Leave your seed potatoes for about 4 weeks in a cool but light place, not a dark cupboard, so shoots can start to grow. With their individual compartments, egg boxes offer a good home, as you don’t want to pile the potatoes on top of each other.
Sowing
Potatoes are generally earlies or maincrops. Maincrops stay in the ground longer and produce larger potatoes. Earlies are harvested earlier and are much smaller. ‘New potatoes’ are, for example, earlies.
To start, you’ll be planting seed potatoes and the shoots from the seed potatoes will create the tubers, vegetables that grow in the soil on the root of a plant.
While any potato is capable of producing roots, supermarket potatoes might be treated, to prolong their shelf life, and not produce quality shoots. Choose a disease-free seed from a quality supplier instead.
Plant your seed potatoes in spring, but no earlier than a month before the last frost is expected. Potatoes like the soil to be warm, at least 7°C, before they will start to germinate and can rot if the soil is too wet. Plant in well-drained soil.
Potatoes need a sunny home. Also be aware that any late frosts can damage new leaf growth.
The trench should be around 15cm deep and each potato spaced out around 30cm apart.
Growing
Once you learn the techniques of how to grow potatoes successfully, you can enjoy a good yield of this tasty crop and try varieties that aren’t frequently available in the shops.
Water your potatoes well and add soil around the base as the plants get bigger, keeping just a few inches of shoots sticking out the top. Once the first shoots are around 22cm tall, you should add soil to a height of about 15cm. As they grow, add more soil.
This protects the young shoots and stops the emerging potatoes turning green and therefore becoming inedible.
Pests and Bugs
Put the word potato in front of blight, rot, scab, blackleg and you have a range of diseases you might find when you’re learning how to grow potatoes.
There are two blights, early and late. Late potato blight often appears when there is a wet but warm summer. And it’s difficult to remedy. The leaves turn to a wet rot, the stems can have lesions too, or the tubers have a reddish-coloured decay. But removing leaves just stops the tuber’s ability to grow more. Earthing up offers some protection and planting for early harvesting helps, because the chance of blight increases with the progression of summer.
In contrast, early blight is fungal disease from a different organism, and more often reported in North America.
You can help control blackleg by removing the affected leaves and rotating where you grow the crop.
Potato scab won’t be seen until you lift the potatoes. It can’t be controlled but won’t affect the taste. It’s easily removed through peeling, and keeping your potatoes properly watered in dry seasons can help. Similarly, with potato rot you might not see it until you pull them up.
Harvesting and storing your Potatoes
The different varieties are harvested at different times. Earlies typically need 100 days, whereas maincrops will need around 120.
Earlies don’t store that well, so dig them up as you need them. When the potatoes are about the size of an egg, cut the stems and leaves to ground level and gently prize up the potatoes with a fork.
With maincrops wait until the leaves have turned yellow and died back, then cut the plants to ground level and gently lift with a fork.
Store your potatoes in a cool, dry place and they’ll be good for a few months. Frost will damage them. Remove any that have signs of rot or scab and keep an eye on any signs of disease on the stored ones. Finally, don’t wash them before you store them.
How to grow Potatoes is part of the VegTrug Grower’s Guide.
How to grow Radishes
How to grow Radishes
Radishes add crunch and colour to salads and are very easy to grow in the VegTrug. They can handle most soil types and that fiery colour means kids will love seeing the results.
The small red spherical are perhaps the most commonly known, but there’s a range of other radishes to choose from too. Just sow the large seeds in drills and simply pick them when they are ripe. They’ll be ready in just a few weeks.
Read more on how to grow radishes below.
Sowing
Sow a few radish seeds every few weeks throughout the spring and summer and you’ll have a good supply throughout the season.
Plant your seeds on a dry day and in soil that’s been raked thoroughly. Big clumps will cause problems for the emerging seedlings.
Aim for short drills that are about 1cm deep. Sow by hand and space about 3cm apart. Then gently cover with soul and water.
The different varieties can be sown and harvested at different times of year. Any early sown radishes will need to be sown in warmed soil and covered to protect from frost. If you’re growing in a VegTrug you can use a frame cover.
You can easily have a season-long supply once you know how to grow radishes.
Growing
Because they grow and mature fast, some gardeners plant radishes in between slower growing crops. Not only do they help stave off weeds, radishes can act as row markers. They’ll be pulled before they have any effect on the main growers.
If they’re growing too close together, thin out any seedlings as soon as possible and make sure your radishes are well watered and that the soil retains moisture. Without enough water the roots can split.
Pests and Bugs
Slugs and snails will find your radishes tasty. You can cover them with a net or mesh or grow under cover in a VegTrug. They find the young leaves especially appealing, so make sure your add any defences as soon as you’ve planted the seeds.
Flea beetle is a small beetle that appears in spring and peaks in midsummer. They jumps when disturbed and if your radishes have this, you’ll see small holes in the leaves.
Their larvae hatch at the bottom of the plants and eat the roots.
Growing under a mesh is the best way to prevent flea beetles.
Harvesting and storing your Radishes
You’ll enjoy radishes best when they are young. Harvest them when the roots are around 2.5cm across. Just lift as and when you want radishes in your salad, but if they’re left too long the summer varieties can taste bitter. If you’ve sown a winter variety, these can be left in the ground or stored over winter. Placing the radishes in a sealed plastic bag and in a cool place, such as a fridge, will help them fresh for a couple of weeks.
How to grow RadissVegTrug Grower’s Guide.
How to grow Runner Beans
How to grow Runner Beans
As well as being really good for you, runner beans are easy to grow too. Most need support in the form of bamboo canes or wigwams, but a few smaller varieties are perfect for the VegTrug.
Read more on how to grow runner beans below.
Sowing
Runner beans like rich and deep soil, so plant them in a long row towards the centre of the VegTrug, where it is deepest. They’ll also need a good sunny spot, but if growing in a container you might need to move this out of full sun on the hottest days. For large containers you could also choose a dwarf variety that can grow beans but without needing canes for support.
You can start to germinate your plants by growing them in pots indoors in spring, before moving them outdoors after the last frosts.
Outside, sow your runner beans in early summer about 5cm below the surface and about 20-25cm apart. Beans also need canes for support so put tall sticks in the soil as soon as you see the first shoots.
Some people tie their canes together to form a wigwam-shape to give their growing beans good support. In the ground you might need canes up to 3m high, whereas in a heavy container, a 6ft cane wigwam will support the climbing varieties. If space is an issue, you can create an A-shape or X-shape from bamboo.
But in general runner beans are really easy to care for vegetables. Once you know how to grow runner beans, You can easily have a season-long supply.
Growing
Beans need water so keep them well watered especially in a dry season. Mulch with compost to help lock in moisture and spray the flowers with water occasionally.
Pinching off the top buds once the beans reach the tops of the canes will result in bushier growth.
You also can improve your chances of getting a good crop by having bees pollinate the beans. Adding a VegTrug bee bar encourages non-stinging bees to your container.
Pests and Bugs
Unfortunately, pests and other problems are all part of learning how to grow runner beans. Slugs and snails will find your runner beans tasty. Cover the beans with a net or try defences such as eggshells or sawdust as soon as you’ve planted the seeds.
Runner beans can also suffer from rust, a fungal disease that shows itself as orange or black blisters. If this happens remove the affected leaves or plants and dispose of, but not in the compost which can increase the spread of spores to other areas.
Black bean aphids can infest your beans too. You can try to fix the problem by removing the affected leaves or the bugs themselves when there’s just a few. You might also see common green shield bugs, but these (as opposed to the southern green shield bug) are not harmful to plants.
Preparing and using your Nasturtium
You can usually harvest runner beans around mid-summer, depending on the variety. Choose young beans that are around 20cm long and harvest every couple of days or the pods will become mature and stop growing.
Eat them fresh, or blanche and freeze them.
How to grow Runner Beans is part of the VegTrug Grower’s Guide.
How to grow Tomatoes
How to grow Tomatoes
Tomatoes generally come in two different growth habits, Cordon (or indeterminate) tomatoes grow tall, reaching up to 1.8m (6ft) and require support. Bush (or determinate) tomatoes are bushy and are great for smaller gardens and pots – or a VegTrug.
Read more on how to grow Tomatoes below.
Sowing
Tomatoes are easy to grow from seed and a quick check of the packet will tell you if the tomatoes are right for your space. If you are growing the plants outdoors, you can sow seed from early spring. If you are planning on growing your tomatoes in a greenhouse, you can start sowing seed earlier.
Sow in small pots indoors, using a propagator or place the pots in a plastic bag and keep on the windowsill. The young seedlings need to be kept at around 18°C (64°F). Transplant into 9cm (3½in) pots when two true leaves have formed.
Young plants are available from garden centres in spring if you don’t have the space to raise tomato seedlings. But they will still require frost-free conditions and hardening off before planting outside.
Once you know the fundamentals of how to grow tomatoes, it’s pretty straightforward to enjoy a season of this healthy fruit.
Growing
When the flowers of the first truss, the stem that bears the flowers, begin to open, transfer to 23cm (9in) pots, growing bags or plant 45-60cm (18-24in) apart outside. Plants for growing outdoors should be hardened off first.
For cordon tomatoes, tie the main stem to a vertical bamboo cane or wind it round a well-anchored but slack sturdy string. Remove the side shoots regularly when they are about 2.5cm (1in) long.
When eventually plants reach the top of the greenhouse or have set seven trusses indoors or four trusses outdoors, remove the growing point of the main stem at two leaves above the top truss.
Those grown as bush or hanging basket types do not need support. You won’t need to remove side shoots.
Water your plants regularly to keep the soil/compost evenly moist. Fluctuating moisture levels can cause the fruit to split. Feed every 10-14 days with a balanced liquid fertiliser, changing to a high potash one once the first fruits start to set. Irregular watering, together with a lack of calcium in the soil leads to blossom end rot – the bottom of the fruit turns black and becomes sunken.
For indeterminate (vine or cordon tomatoes), there is evidence that removing some leaves above the ripening truss (which allows the fruit to be warmer during the day but cooler at night) can encourage slightly earlier ripening without negatively affecting cropping. Removing leaves below the ripening truss does not improve ripening but can help reduce the spread of diseases such as tomato leaf mould or tomato blight where these are a problem.
Pests and Bugs
Blossom end rot, tomato leaf mould and tomato blight are all problems that you might come across when learning how to grow tomatoes.
Blossom end rot shows as dark, leathery sunken patches at the bottom of the fruit and is caused by a lack of calcium. Tomato leaf mould is rare on plants grown outdoors, but on indoor grown plants is found as yellow blotches on the upper part of the leaf with grey mould underneath. Blight rots the fruit.
You might also spot whitefly on indoor tomatoes.
In general tomatoes are easy to grow and creating good conditions, including proper spacing and regular watering can help prevent problems.
Proper watering and feeding correctly will stop the tomatoes from splitting too.
Harvesting your Tomatoes
Tomatoes do the best when they are left on the plant to ripen. Eating them straight from the vine delivers the best taste too. The smaller varieties will ripen faster than the larger ones, and tomatoes grown in greenhouses will also ripen quicker than those grown outdoors.
Tomatoes don’t freeze well, but can be kept at room temperature for a week or so. Keeping your fresh tomatoes in the fridge for too long can affect the taste, so pick and eat straight away as much as you can.
How to grow Tomatoes is part of the VegTrug Grower’s Guide.