Growing tomatoes - advice needed

[Spongebobpatrick]

I'm going to try and grow tomatoes with DS this year. He used to do it with his grandad (my DF) who unfortunately passed away. I've bought the seeds, I've bought a seed tray with 20 holes in it. The instructions look easy to follow but I have to get this right... so compost in the tray, one seed in each hole and a thin layer of compost on top? I'm going to keep them inside and water every day - am I missing anything?

Cover them up with a propergater lid until they sprout. Don't transplant until you get their second or third set of true leaves

They grow very big so you'll need plenty of room, you'll need to feed them and get the stuff in for the little flies. Keep them very warm and well watered with plenty of light.

And don't use compost from a supermarket. Pay the extra for the good stuff, allotment shops are your best bet, the stuff in shops is shit and I don't really think it's proper compost anymore.

If you don't have a propagator, once you've planted the seeds you can either put the tray inside a large transparent plastic bag, this keeps the heat and moisture in. You can even use cling-film to cover it. Once seedlings come up, remove from bag.
You don’t need to water every day, just need to keep the soil damp. ( I was going to use moist, by MNers don't like that)

Honestly, they are a piece of piss to germinate. Don’t fret about it at all. You don’t even have to cover them with a bag or anything if you leave it a week or two before sowing and pop them on a warm windowsill.

If they will be outside tomatoes rather than greenhouse tomatoes I would honestly leave sowing them for another 4 weeks because they can easily get very leggy indoors and that means less robust plants.

(Greenhouse tomatoes can be moved out to the greenhouse much earlier than outside tomatoes because they are protected from frost etc)

The principle mistake I made as a new gardener was sowing too early because I was keen, and overwatering (also too keen).

Have fun with your DS and my condolences on the loss of your father.

How many tomato plants do you want or have room for? Where will you be growing them, in a greenhouse or outside? Just check your chosen variety is suitable. I think a 20 module seed tray is too big unless you want 20 plants. I use a small (9cm) pot and space 5 or 6 seeds on the surface of the compost, then cover with a little compost. You will get almost 100% germination so don't sow too many. When they are about 3-4cm tall you can pot individually and keep potting on until they are finally big enough to go in their final place.

Tomatoes are pretty bomb proof to grow. You will almost certainly get blight around September, but you will have had tomatoes by then. One thing to know is whether you are growing bush or cordon ones. Bush ones will be smaller and just trail out. Cordon ones need to grow up a pole or cane and need side shoots pinching out.

Don't overdo the watering at this stage. Make sure the compost is well watered before you put the seeds in, and check every couple of days - if the seed tray is still heavy then it's probably fine, if is gets very light give it a gentle watering.

They should take about a week to germinate.

We finally got around to planting them last week and we have our first green sprouts today so looks like we have started off OK.
They are on a window sill in the kitchen, in the seed tray. We will just wait now and when they are ready pot them up and move the outside. Thanks for the advice.