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VegetablesTenderAnnual
Tomato
Tomato is a tender warm-season crop grown for juicy fruits that can be eaten fresh, cooked, bottled or dried. Plants crop over a long season in greenhouses, polytunnels or sunny sheltered beds, and range from compact bush forms to tall cordon types that keep climbing and setting trusses through summer.
Basic information
Category
Vegetables
Lifecycle
Annual
Hardiness
Tender
Planting partners
6 companions · 2 crops to avoid
Growth profile
Days to harvest
80 days
Germination window
5–10 days
Germination temperature
18–21 °C
Plant spacing
50 cm
Row spacing
75 cm
Sowing depth
0.5 cm
Height
180 cm
Spread
50 cm
Calendar
JJan
FFeb
MMar
AApr
MMay
JJun
JJul
AAug
SSep
OOct
NNov
DDec
Sow Indoors
Sow Outdoors
Plant Out
Flowering / Harvest
Timings based on average frost dates in the UK. Sign up to set your frost dates.
Care tips
Grow tomatoes in rich fertile soil or large containers, and keep watering steady so fruits swell evenly and resist splitting. Tie in tall plants as they climb, remove side shoots on cordon varieties, ventilate well under cover, and feed regularly once the first trusses have set to maintain strong cropping.
Common pests
Aphids, whitefly, slugs, tomato blight.
