How to Grow Tomato
Tomato At a Glance
Difficulty
Moderate
Category
Fruit
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Frost Tolerance
Frost Tender
Cold Hardiness
Survives to 2°C
Plant Family
Solanaceae
Growing Season
Warm Season
Plant Lifecycle
Annual
How to Start It
★ Recommended for beginners
Our summers are too short for tomatoes to ripen from an outdoor sowing, so start them inside. Sow 2 seeds per small pot 0.5 cm deep, 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost, keep them warm, and they sprout in 7 to 14 days. Plant out 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost, 45 cm apart, burying the stem up to the first leaves so it grows extra roots. Before planting out, set the pots outside in a sheltered spot for a few hours a day, a little longer each day for about a week, so they toughen up (this is called hardening off).
Tomatoes come in two growing styles. Tall types keep growing and fruiting until frost and need a stake or cage, while bush types like Tiny Tim stay compact and need little care. Big slicing types like Beefsteak take longer to ripen, about 78 days after planting out, so start them on time.
When To Start
First chance to plant
10 Days After Last Frost
Last chance to plant
60 Days Before First Frost
When should you plant Tomato?
Your planting dates depend on your local climate. Sign up and add your location to unlock personalized dates.
Your Tomato Planting Window
Start planting
May 15, 2026
Last chance
Sep 10, 2026
Your Tomato Calendar
Set your location to turn these into exact dates and reminders.
Start tomato seeds indoors in a warm spot
7 weeks before your last frost· every year
Plant tomatoes out deep, up to the first leaves
1 week after your last frost· every year
Pick tomatoes as they colour up, every few days
10 weeks after your last frost· every year· optional
Start hardening off your tomato seedlings: an hour outside today, a little longer each day.
3 days before your last frost
Water your new tomato plants well while they settle in. Deep and slow is best.
About 1 days after you plant it
How are your tomatoes doing? Give them a stake or cage now while they are still small.
About 40 days after you plant it
Your tomatoes are coming along! Water deeply and evenly while the fruit grows.
About 66 days after you plant it
Picking time may be here: check your tomato.
About 78 days after you plant it
The Journey Ahead
Tomato's Lifecycle
Seedling
Mature Plant
Seed Production
Step 1
Prepare Your Space
0.5 cm
Seeding Depth
45 cm
Plant Spacing
75 cm
Row Spacing
1
Plants / Sq Ft
Vertical Growing
Yes: Trellis.
Method: Trellis.
Succession Planting
Yes.
Step 2
Planting & Sprouting
Expect sprouts in 7–14 days
Growing Tips
- 1Give tomatoes your sunniest spot, with at least 8 hours of sun a day.
- 2Plant them in soil rich in compost, or in a pot at least 40 cm wide and deep for big types.
- 3Water deeply at the base whenever the top 2 to 3 cm of soil is dry, and mulch, because uneven watering causes split fruit and dark, sunken spots on the bottom of the fruit.
- 4Feed with worm castings or compost tea every 2 weeks once the first fruits form.
- 5Tie tall types to a stake or cage and pinch out the side shoots that grow between the main stem and a branch, but let bush types grow freely.
- 6Pick off big green caterpillars (tomato hornworms) by hand, and remove lower leaves that touch the soil to keep leaf spots away.
- 7Tomato leaves and stems can make cats and dogs sick, so keep pets from chewing them.
Seedling Phase
Step 3
Growth & Maturity
~78
Days to Maturity
150 cm
Mature Height
60 cm
Mature Width
Pests to Watch For
Diseases to Watch For
Mature Plant
Step 4
Harvesting
Harvest Window
60 days
When to Pick
Pick fruits when fully ripe
How to Harvest
- 1Pick tomatoes when they are fully coloured and give slightly when you squeeze them gently.
- 2Green-when-ripe types like Aunt Ruby's German Green are ready when they turn yellowish green and feel soft.
- 3Twist the fruit off or snip the stem just above the green cap so you do not break the branch.
- 4Pick every few days, and before the first fall frost, bring in the green ones to ripen on the counter.
- 5Keep ripe tomatoes on the counter, not in the fridge, for the best flavour.
Step 5
Saving Seeds
How to Save Seeds
Tomato flowers pollinate themselves, so the seeds grow true as long as the variety is not a hybrid (hybrid F1 seeds will not), and keeping different varieties about 3 m apart is plenty. Squeeze the seeds and their jelly from a few ripe fruits of your best plant into a jar with a little water. Leave the jar for 2 to 4 days, stirring once a day, until a thin layer of mould forms on top: this ferments off the jelly that stops the seeds from sprouting. Rinse the seeds in a sieve, spread them on a plate (not paper towel, which they stick to) and let them dry for about a week. Store them labelled in a cool, dark, dry place, where they keep 4 to 6 years.
Seed Production
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