I tried a different technique. I went out to the shops in London and bought tomatoes that I like to eat. Ended up with eight varieties. I enjoyed the fruit and saved some seeds.

They took a little longer to germinate than the packet seeds but eventually the little buggers popped up (some oddly with 3 leaves already??).

I found that placing them on the floor in 3″ pots in a tray did the business. I have underfloor heating and the room gets lots of light. Strangely, they did an awful lot of growing during the night.

I’m after strong plants so I sow them deep and add more compost as the leaves get further away from the surface.

Small as they are, they have had to go out ‘neck deep’ in growbags in a PVC greenhouse as I am off on holiday for 6 weeks. They seem to have taken to it really well with the formation of leaves 3 & 4 and a maturing look to the stalk in just two days! Have left instructions with me Dad to feed and water whilst I’m away.

I hope to come back to some nice looking plants. How big do you reckon they will get in that time?

Thanks for your response – I dont think I have any special tips but I have listed below my experience

1. Good Seed F1 resistant type
2. The light was all natural on my Kitchen window sill (I have a South facing garden, thats a great bonus as the light was strong and natural).
3. All the seeds were individually placed in a 3″ pots (pots having been dipped in a domestos filled bucket and rinsed very well).
4. Fresh steralised compost mix (for Tomatoes).Seed dropped on top and very lightly covered with say 2mm of compost. A daily mist of luke warm water (about 10ml worth will take several minutes each in super fine format)
5. Got a simple PH and Water Soil meter from Wilkinsons for £3.99 to make sure the soil was damp but not soaked so it does not stick when pressed, rather it still feels loose. I feel the idea is to make the plant work for water rather than take it for granted. Once every two days a direct root water 80 ml. PH must be neutral or 2 points below. I found the young shoots just went into overdrive and super healthy.
6. A good super fine mist of diluted weak tomatoe growing solution sprayed from 12″ away after that. This I find helps to broaden the leaves and canopy vegitation (but only in the initial stage upto 6″ / 8″ as later they will take too much away from the fruit therefore I dont mind if the leaves thin and curl slightly).
7. Every 2 days turn the pots 180 degrees so that the stem bends back to the light. Again and again will make the stems extremely thick. This makes the plant seem dwarfish but its ok as good quality will result as opposed to quantity and thats whats important. If you need to prune, the plant seems to be more hardy, being a “stocky little fellow” rather than being shocked.
8. The temp. indoors, for me is always 22 – 25 deg since mid march – never below.
9.Only when they are nice and sturdy did I transplant to thick 50ltr growing bags (3 per bag). The compostl from the growing bag and pot were the same and only 1 repot

Im not realy good at gardening and only started recently. I dont know if I am doing anything special but I have used this method for all my growing – bar direct to soil crops from bulbs such as onions. Some of the great gardners I know say that creating strong young plants is the key as the rest is standard aftercare . I guess its understandable – I was told that Pepsi Max/diet Pepsi and diet Coke make good insect / pesticides for some reason but without the chemical worry. I will try that this summer as pests are still not the main worry yet – rather the climate and let you know the result.

I have many pictures, if you wish I can email them.

I hope there was some information of use for you.

Regards Briggs

Have planted 6 F1′s in the house since mid March. Put them out 2 weeks covered with poly bags. (also strawberry’s).

Just started to flower. All are fine and strong bar 1 which is slightly limp and less vegitation.

I have noticed slight browining under the leaves but health not affected.

I feel the initial care in the house upto a strong thick stem helped as the weather has gone below 15 deg.