- Tomato seedlings
- Spade
- Hammer
- 1.8m or 2m steel stakes or star pickets (one per tomato plus one extra)
- Mid-strength wire (flexible enough to twist but stiff enough to support plants) or thick twine
- Wire cutters
- Pliers
- 1.Tino has picked four vine tomatoes: ‘Cherry Bell’, with sweet little fruit that is excellent in salads or to pop in your mouth while you’re gardening; ‘Bragger’ with a smooth skin and massive fruit; ‘Black Russian’ with attractive black-red fruit and delicious taste, and ‘Tigerella’, with striped fruit.
- 2.Choose a bed that’s in full sun and hasn’t had tomatoes or potatoes growing in it for the past two years. Add some compost before planting. Avoid adding too much nitrogen-rich fertiliser, such as blood and bone or fish emulsion, as this can encourage too much leaf growth at the expense of flowers and fruit.
- 3.Dig holes in a line about 1m apart and fill each one with water before planting, to make sure the roots have instant access to moisture.
- 4.Remove the bottom leaves from the tomato – this is because tomatoes grow roots from their stems so this allows you to plant the seedlings deeper and get a sturdier root zone. After planting, Tino top-dresses the area with a ring of sulphate of potash around the plant to make sure they have enough potassium to support root and fruit development. He’ll repeat this when the first fruit sets and again when the plant is laden with fruit.
- 5.To build the weave, hammer in your stakes between each tomato plant plus one on each end, then attach a line of wire across all the stakes about 15cm off the ground, so that all the tomatoes sit alongside the wire. Twist this on tightly at each end stake and, using shorter 15-20cm lengths, secure the wire to each middle stake as well.
- 6.Repeat this with another line of wire about 15cm further up, running it along the other side of the tomato plants. Any lateral stems can be ‘woven’ around the other side of the wire.
- 7.Continue stringing wire lines every 15cm up the stakes.