Tomato is one of the most popular home-grown food. It looks lovely, tastes good, rich in nutritions and easy to grow! The most important tip is to sow the seed during the appropriate season. Never sow the seed in hot summer. If you are doing this in SE monsoon climate region, like HK, it will be the best to seed before late February.
Steps
1. You can either sow tomato seeds from a packet bought at the nursery or buy seedlings from the nursery. I’d do the latter if you haven’t grown tomatoes before.[nursery: place the seeds inside water for 6 hours, then cover them by 2cm think non-fertilised soil, add water till the soil is wetted. ]
2. Nurse the plant in small plot and transplant to a larger container when there are about 6-7 news leaves can be found.
3. Preparing to transplant. Fertilise the soil with Make sure to space each hole at least 20 cm away from each other in all directions. Tomatoes need space to grow! Transplanting is a stressful process for plants.
4. It is the time to add the stake when the tomatoes grow to about 15 cm tall. Bamboo or wooden ones are best. As your tomatoes grow, keep tying. Use a soft twine (strips of old stockings are good) and tie around your stake first, then the plant, so it won’t slip as it grows. Start fertilising the plant after another 20 days, then fertilise in every 7-10 days.
5.Iin 40 days you shall see the flowers grow. Leave your tomatoes on the plant until they’re really red – this way they’ll have the best flavour. After about 2-3 months they should be fully grown and ready to eat.
Source: MetroPop
