Most years I start my tomatoes off sometime in February or even at the end of January (growing indoors, of course) but I’ve only just round to getting the seeds for this year going. Possibly it will delay the point where they start cropping. On the other hand, it might not hurt at all. Starting them too early and then leaving them in their seedling pots too long might be just as bad for their long term health.

Anyway, I’ve got four varieties going this year, which I hope will be easy to distinguish when harvesting:

• Moneymaker – a long-term standard in the UK
• Marmande – reasonable sized beefsteak fruit
• Golden Sunrise – yellow fruit
• Rosella – a cherry variety with dark fruit tinged with purple

The first two are from some quite old packets of seed but worth a chance – they worked okay last year. Golden Sunrise are from seeds I saved from last year’s harvest and I think were my favourite from that season. Finally, Rosella is a new variety.

Anyway, seeds sown at last and (hopefully) there will be signs of germination in a week or two.