Tomato seeds

Chili Food also provides hobby gardeners with tomato seeds for growing brightly-coloured tomatoes at home, which are full of flavour. It’s easy to grow your own tomatoes, on your balcony, in your garden or in a greenhouse (Learn more on how to grow your own tomatoes and caring tips). You can easily order the seeds from traditional tomato varieties such as the Sicilian San Marzano tomato or the high-yield fleshy tomato as well as unusual breeds (tigerella tomato, cerveny fik) from our online shop.

Planting and growing tomatoes

We advise that you start growing your seedlings in your window sill from March/April. To do this, you should use high quality potting soil, which usually contains peat and is low in salts and nutrients; you can put this in a small indoor greenhouse or in plant pots. In your indoor greenhouse, make 1cm deep seed furrows, where you can plant the individual seeds, approximately 2cm apart from each other. Fill the furrow with about 0.5cm of soil and water evenly. As a general rule, the seeds begin to germinate within 5 to 15 days, if kept at a temperature between 20°C and 25°C.

Seedlings

Following germination, it is important that the seedlings get lots of light, otherwise they will grow too tall and the stalks will become too weak. The seedlings also grow stronger if they are exposed to cooled temperatures at night than during the day (16°C-18°C). Once the leaves of the plants start to touch each other, you should replant them into small pots, about 8cm in size. Place the seedlings outside as often as you can during the day as it is vital that they get lots of sunlight.

Planting in your garden or on your balcony

The tomatoes can be planted outside after the last frost. You can either plant them directly in your garden soil, or in larger pots on your terrace or balcony. Loose geranium soil is suitable for growing the plants in pots. If planting in the garden, make sure to plant the seedlings as deep as possible, with at least 50cm between each plant.

Tomatoes are susceptible to blight. The best way to avoid this is to build a rain shelter for the tomatoes or place them under the protruding edge of a roof or similar. Robust varieties have now been developed, which are more resistant to blight (e.g. Black Plum tomatoes).

Gardening tips

Remove the plant’s lower leaves as these remain wet for too long and are therefore more likely to develop blight. In addition to this, you should pinch out offshoots of these tall-growing stake tomatoes at the leaf axil. Furthermore, tomatoes need lots of water – up to 3 litres per day.