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Welcome to the Gardiners World magazine's Sower

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Long series, the podcast that inspires you

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to grow more from seed. Hello

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I'm Kevin, the editor of BBC Gardiners

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World magazine and I'm going to tell

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you about why I love growing tomatoes

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so much. The one thing that

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I always grow from seed, no

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matter what I'm doing in the garden,

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there's always room for tomatoes. I relish

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them, I absolutely relish them, I couldn't

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imagine not growing them. I've

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grown them since I had my very

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very first garden so I've had them

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in pots, in baskets, in growing bags

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and now I'm in a much bigger

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garden, fortunately I grow them in my

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greenhouse. There

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are two main reasons why I love growing

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tomatoes and the first one is for the

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variety. You could go to the

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supermarket and buy a tomato of course but

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it's likely most will be red, they might

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be a few different sizes but on the

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whole you're not going to have much choice.

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Whereas if you grow them yourself,

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especially from seed, you'll be able to

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have loads of different shapes, sizes, colours,

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from the smallest cherry tomatoes to the

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biggest great big beef steaks and you

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can have orange ones, red

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ones, yellow ones, black

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ones, the list goes on and

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that variety just can't be beaten.

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A bowl full of tomatoes

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of all different shapes and colours is just

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a joy so for me variety

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is key. The

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second reason I like growing them from seed

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is because the flavour. Nothing

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beats it. A fresh,

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warm tomato taken straight from the

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vine is just something to be

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absolutely relished. I'd be honest, not

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many of the tomatoes

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that I grow even make it into

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the house. So many are just picked

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and then eaten there and then and

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often I give tomatoes to my friends

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and family and they simply can't

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believe how different they taste to something that

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they've bought in a shop. It

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really really is uncomparably better. When

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I'm eating them there's lots of ways

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but I like to use them. That's

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if they do get to the house

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of course. We use them massively in

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simple salads with cheeses and mozzarella. I

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really really love making panzanella

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where you soak bread in

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milk and and fry it and then

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you mix it with tomatoes and

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anchovies and capers and olive oil. It's

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an absolute staple favorite in our house

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and then we make masses and

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masses of tomato sauce. It's

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just really simple. We roast the

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tomatoes with with garlic and oil

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and a bit of balsamic vinegar and then

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once they're all roasted and golden

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and lovely looking we just whizz that up

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in a blender for a really really simple

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sauce. We don't even bother taking out any

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of the seeds or removing the

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skin or anything like that. The flavor

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is so so intense and we normally

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manage to make enough to

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put a few tubs in the freezer which

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is just brilliant. You get that taste

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of summer in the winter months then which

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is just wonderful. I

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normally make my tomato choices, my

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variety choices that is over the Christmas

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period so in that lovely spot between

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Christmas and New Year where if you're

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lucky you might end up with a

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few spare days. I then

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have a think about the varieties I'm

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gonna grow. I've got my favorites. I

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always grow sweet aperitif and

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the clues in the name there. It

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is the sweetest tomato you could ever

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imagine growing. I also grow my

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scotch really regularly. That's

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normally destined for my raised beds outside. It's

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a really easy bush variety. that

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just can be left to its own devices and

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actually this is the variety that produces

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most of the tomatoes for my pasta

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sauces and tomato sauce. I

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also love black cherry simply

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because of the lovely variety. It's not

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quite black as the name might suggest

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but it is really really dark. The

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flesh is dark, the skin is dark

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and it just brings real variety. A

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new one for me this year is Sun

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Baby. We're giving it away with the magazine

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this year and I'm desperate

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to try it. I'm always keen to give

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something new ago so I'm fascinated to see

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how that will turn out this year. I

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normally sow my tomatoes in March or

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sometimes even April if I'm feeling a

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bit behind which I often am if

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I'm honest and I sow

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them on the surface of moist pea-free

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compost usually in small 9

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or 10 centimeter pots. I

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then cover the seed with vermiculite and

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put the pots on my kitchen windowsill

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which is always a great annoyance

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to my wife. She can't understand why

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I've got a big greenhouse out in

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the garden but I still like to

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germinate everything indoors. Well it's because it's

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nice and warm indoors there's heat but

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also I can keep a real eye on them

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see when things are popping up and make sure

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everything's on track. I normally

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move the seedlings out into the greenhouse at

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the point they're ready to be pricked out

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so I take the the

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seedlings down to the greenhouse and then

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I prick them into individual pots and

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then you know I just enjoy that

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process of growing them on actually watching

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them go from seedlings to sturdy young

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plants than anything that is

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a cordon variety so that's a type

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of tomato that goes straight up with

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side shoots that need pinching out. They're

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planted in my greenhouse bed and then

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anything that's a bush or a you

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know a miniature patio variety they go

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in my raised beds or in hanging

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baskets or pots nothing goes outside until

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the frost has gone. So,

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you know, that gives you some idea, probably things

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are planted out around the second week of May.

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I really enjoy the process

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of training tomatoes, pinching outside

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shoots, seeing how the flowers are

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progressing and then how the fruits are developing

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and, you know, it's all part of the

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process for me, part of the fun and

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the enjoyment. The watering

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and the feeding is all part of it too,

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you know, I keep on top of the watering

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as much as I can, as soon

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as flowers appear and fruits start

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setting I then begin to feed

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once a week, normally with a liquid

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seaweed feed, but there's plenty of other

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things out there that you can

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try that are just as good. The

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fun of course really starts when the

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harvesting begins and if I'm

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lucky I might get greenhouse tomatoes

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from sometime in July and then

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I'm often picking all the way through

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to the end of October. We're often

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in all honesty completely inundated. I always

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grow and sow far more seeds than

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I can actually manage, end up with

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more plants than I really need but

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I just can't resist it and

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I am always so grateful of

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that excess that I've frozen that's in

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the freezer, as I say when it

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gets to the winter. It

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is possible to save tomato seed if

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you like, you can, just take the

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seeds out of the tomatoes and dry

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them on kitchen paper but I don't

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do that, I either buy new and

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fresh each year or I sometimes actually

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have just got plenty of packets on

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the go from previous years, they normally

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last a couple of years so if

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I haven't found something the year a

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year ago or a year before then it

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all gets used up at some point. For

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me though I think the one reason I

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love tomatoes more than anything as I said

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is because of the flavour, you just can't

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beat it so for no other reason alone

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I can encourage you more to give them

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a try this year. Love

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growing from seed? You get free seeds

8:05

with the March, April and May issues of BBC Gardeners

8:08

World magazine. Get your

8:10

copy in stores or at

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magsdirect.co.uk. Our May issue also

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includes our 2 for 1 gardens entry

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card and guide, giving you discounted entry

8:18

to hundreds of gardens across the UK.