Tomato Planting Masterclass: The Secret to Perfect Tomatoes

Terrific tomatoes are everyone's favorite vegetable garden crop! They offer an enormous choice of varieties to grow suited to all your tastes, from small, sweet cherry types to giants bigger than your fist, while being so versatile in the kitchen. And did we mention, they smell like Heaven!

What's not to love? Blight, slugs and frost, that's what! So how do we grow these tasty toms and avoid these terrible tests? Follow Ben! He'll tell you everything you need to know to get your toms off the best start.

For even more on growing tomatoes, watch these videos next:

Five secrets to growing amazing tomatoes

Top tips for trouble free tomatoes

Cucumber Growing Masterclass

And enjoy a no-obligation, completely free trial of the Garden Planner here:

[Uk-AirRifle-Hunter]

Started my allotments this year without a clue about gardening I’m only 27 & your videos have made me feel like a professional when I talk to people, thank you 😂

[gingerkissed]

Rosie is such a good helper. Everyone should have a gardening supervisor that cute!

[tankscape]

2:30 Rosie being the attentive student! so cute.

[ewannowak]

Yes! Ben pops up with a new video at the perfect time (for me anyway 😁). Always informative and good fun. One of the best channels on YouTube

[katalinhliva]

Dear Ben, Rosie is a sweetheart; I enjoyed the Tomato Masterclass. Can we please have more tutorials about peppers, aubergines, salads, raspberries, and radishes?

[karenchong]

Ben, you are such a good teacher! I like how you illustrate every important detail in the process. I have learned a great deal from you! Thank you so much!

[christavanderburg]

Last year I had 'black' cherry tomatoes in our garden. Both neighbours and tourists stopped to look at these black fruits. "Are those cherries? Or grapes?" I got frequently asked. For months people stopped by to ask about the black tomatoes. Some even came up to the door; they were so curious about these strange tomatoes!

These tomatoes were "Indigo Blueberry" and "Indigo Goldberry". In the green stage the purple blush can be so dark, it looks black - the more sun, the darker they get. When they ripen, they turn red or yellow beneath that purple blush. Lovely to see, and great sweet and sour taste for eating fresh or in salads. But my favorites last year were "White Cherry", "Green Copia" and "Dark Galaxy".

[laggywarden]

Started my tomatoes in late March indoors and planted them outside in early April, they’re growing a little slow but are starting to catch up now that it’s getting warmer:) can’t wait to smell them this year again lol

[wordwalkermomma]

Ben, you are a treasure to all gardeners.😘
Thank you!

[froginprogress]

A couple years ago, my brother had a gigantic Sungold tomato plant that he just stopped picking from as he got ready for his wedding. Tomatoes everywhere. Last year, lots of plants popped up. Same deal. Neither he nor his wife picked them. This year, there are tiny seedlings popping up all over along the fence between our garden plots, despite the weather being in the mid to low 30s (F) at night.

I like the slightly creepy looking tomatoes like reisetomate, because potential intruders are unsettled by their appearance. As is my mother😂

[lilybruggeman]

Again great tips and explanations. Thanks again!!! Unfortunately, the weather in Belgium is still very cold. The thermometer in the greenhouse can still go udown to 7°C at night, so much too cold. I will definitely have to wait until mid-May to plant the tomatoes/peppers in the greenhouse. Because I have already sown these, especially the peppers in January... and have raised them under light... some of them are already bearing flowers that I will pollinate myself in the house with an electric toothbrush. Fortunately, the tomato plants are not yet bearing flowers. I am also experimenting with micro tomatoes (bonzai style) that would only grow to 25 cm and can be sown and harvested indoors (under light) all year round.

[rogink]

Volunteer tomatoes. Yes, I carefully potted some new seeds and when they were ready, planted them out. Then when they stated getting bigger, noticed I had some intruders. These must have been left over seeds from toms I'd grown the previous year :)

My problem is I'm not ruthless enough. I let the old plants grow, but they took up space from the new ones. I should have pulled them out. I got a good crop, but also had a lot of blight.

[zoni]

Thanks for a great video! What a beautiful greenhouse! Definitely a bit jealous!!

[kennupoiss]

Watching your videos everyday.. so "no stress" watching, even i`m not in garden.

[paulinephillips]

Wonderful video, thank you so much 😊. I grew up gardening, but still have a lot to learn about veggies! I didn't know about planting the seedlings deeply, for a start. Your videos are informative, but enjoyable so that we can take the info in. Rosie is an added bonus! Thank you both.

[richswain]

Hi Ben, brilliance!!!! I love your use of spare sheep fence! That idea is going into or onto my new raised bed in the sunny corner. LOVE IT! Thank you

[theirishcailin]

I remember seeing you taste a tomato when you were with huw richards, honeycomb i think it was. You said it was the sweetest tomato you ever tasted. Meant to buy but only after thinking of it now!

[markhildred]

Thank you for a good explanation on how to deal with determinate tomatoes ( most channels just talk about indeterminates) . Hopefully my Roma will benefit this year !

[sleepymirin]

Cutest dog!! Also, great tomato tips.

[katiebee]

When we lived in Northern California in the 90s our landlord was a farmer (also in his 90s!) who at one time had grown tomatoes which he sold to Del.Monte for canning. He always started them under glass and aimed to pick the first one by the 4th of July. When he planted them out he gave them a good soak to settle them in, but then said he never watered them again after that as "tomatoes don't like having wet feet". Never forgot that!