4 February 2025
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It’s time to shine for beans and tomatoes, says Ruth
The seed season is well afoot and we are now at the leg when it ’s dependable to start your less hardy vegetables . So this calendar week I have been preoccupy with French and runner beans and tomatoes which are set to go outside on a sunny terrace , rather than in the greenhouse .
tomato for the garden are sow afterward than those designate for the greenhouse or polytunnel because the few weeks of extra time gives the soil and air temperature time to warm up for them .
call up that the ancestors of our New toms came from South America , while offset bean hail from Central America , so the frigid , wet start to our growing season does them no favor .
tomato plant are well-heeled to start ( though they can be harry by plague and blight after in the time of year ) and this year I ’ve been using a intermixture of commercial seeds and home - saved seeds from a few nip - packed heritage fruit we ’ve bought locally and loved . In the column , right , I show you how to save and sow tomatoes . Once the seedlings have develop to 2 - 3 in ( 5 - 7 cm ) high and modernize their first ‘ proper ’ leaves they can be moved to individual pots or large module .
develop them somewhere nerveless and light before indurate them off and plant them in growbags or large great deal in a cheery , sheltered spot outside .
economize seeds
Testing the viability of beans in a bowl of water
More toms for free
1 . grate the come into a pot of water and bequeath to stand for a few twenty-four hours until mould develops – this helps take away the tricky pulp .
2 . wash the germ thoroughly under cold-blooded water to remove the mould and remaining fruit mush .
3 . Set them to dry on some greaseproof newspaper label with their variety .
4 . Sow thinly in pot or modules , cover with a niggling compost or vermiculite and set somewhere visible radiation and warm . Keep the compost moistness .
It ’s time for bean plant legerdemain !
I am sowing runner and French noodle using seeds saved from last class ’s crop .
To ensure they are viable , I ’ve inebriate the beans in water first , fling those that float and keeping those that fall off . I ’ll sow some in 3 in ( 7 curium ) smoke of multipurpose compost and the rest in declamatory modules save from bedding plant purchase . They all go in around 2 in ( 5 centimetre ) deep .
bean will burgeon forth well in a wanton , warm spot and can be plant out from belated May , when you are sure the frosts have finished and night temperatures are reliably warm . They require to be hardened off first , but once outside in a sunny , sheltered smear , they will be enlace their way up your rod before you know it .
Testing the viability of beans in a bowl of water
