How to Get a Head Start on Tomato Season

Early Season Tomato Varieties

Large Sized Tomatoes

There are plenty of generous sized tomatoes to choose from in the Yates range. Our go-to favourite is Yates 'Big Beef' Hybrid, which delivers large, juicy tomatoes with old-fashioned beefsteak flavour. It's great for growing both in vegie patches and pots.

Or if you want BIG tomatoes, you could grow Yates 'Mortgage Lifter', a hearty slicing tomato with rich, sweet pink-tinged fruit that can weigh up to 1.5kg.

Small Sized and Cherry Tomatoes 

If you like smaller tomatoes, try Yates 'Tommy Toe', which produces particularly delicious apricot-sized bright red fruit. For similar-sized tomatoes in a smaller space, Yates 'Patio Mini' is an absolute winner.

If you have space for a taller plant, Yates 'Sweet 100' is a prolific cherry tomato that produces amazing yields of 100 or more delicious fruit on each plant. Petite red cherries are produced in clusters on distinctive long trusses. 

How to Start Tomato Seeds Indoors

Step 1 - Fill Pots or Punnets with Seed Raising Mix

Fill small pots, punnets or trays with a quality seed raising mix, like Yates Black Magic Seed Raising Mix.

Step 2 - Sow Tomato Seeds

Make small holes in the seed raising mix, 3–6mm deep, with a pencil or similar. Check your seed packet for the correct sowing depth. Place 1-2 tomato seeds in each hole, cover with seed raising mix and gently firm down, to ensure good contact between the mix and the seeds. Water gently to moisten the mix.

Step 3 - Early Care

Place the pots or punnets in a warm, sunny spot. A brightly lit windowsill is ideal. Keep the mix moist and seedlings will start to emerge in 10–14 days.

How to Prep the Soil for an Early Tomato Season

Choose a Location

Tomatoes need a warm sunny position that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day.

It's always best to avoid growing tomatoes (or other vegies in the Solanaceae plant family, like capsicums and eggplant) in the same spot each year. By practicing regular crop rotation, you can reduce the risk of diseases and soil pests. The same goes for re-using potting mix, just make sure you're planting a different vegie group into last year's mix.

Enrich the Soil

Before planting seedlings in a well-drained garden or vegie bed, enrich the soil with some handfuls of Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food.

Choose a Pot, Fill it with Potting Mix

When growing tomatoes in pots, use a pot that's at least 40cm in diameter. Use a good quality potting mix, like Yates Premium Potting Mix.

Transplanting Tomato Seedlings

When Are Tomato Seeds Ready for Transplanting?

When the seedlings have grown to around 5cm tall, they can be transplanted into their final home; usually a vegie bed or a container.

Only plant out seedlings when frosts have finished! Tomatoes aren't frost tolerant at all, you risk undoing all your work if you jump the gun.

How to Transplant a Tomato Seedling

Gently remove plants from their container; if more than one seedling has grown in each spot, carefully separate them. Don't handle seedlings by the stem, lift them by carefully pulling one of the leaves.

Unlike many other plants, tomato seedlings can be transplanted quite deeply. Up to a third of the lower stem can be buried. Additional roots will develop on the stem, below the level of the soil or potting mix.

Do I Need a Stake or Cage for My Tomato Seedlings?

If the variety of tomato you're growing is tall, it will need support: insert tall stakes or a tomato cage around the seedlings at the time of planting. You can also suspend tall tomatoes from stretchy plant tie or string, by spiral wrapping it around the tomato stem as it grows. Dwarf tomatoes don’t really need staking, but you can still prop them up with a tomato cage to keep them from sprawling.

How to Care for Tomato Seedlings

To promote healthy plants and a great harvest, tomatoes need regular watering, feeding and protection from pests and diseases.

For garden-grown tomatoes, feed with Yates Thrive Tomato Granular Plant Food.

For container-grown tomatoes, feed with Yates Thrive Fish Blood & Bone Plant Food.

Visit our comprehensive guide on How to Grow Tomatoes for more detailed information.