This is a question which I had in the back of my mind, even after having grown tomatoes over the past 3 years. Having no greenhouse, my experience so far is that it is best to sow 1st of April on my window sill, they are repotted atleast once to larger pots every time buried deeper and finally they go out mid-May. Location wise, I'm in Oxford right now, but the same schedule worked for me in the northwest too. HTH.
Also, I did sow a packet of old BBC dig-in gardener's delight seeds last month just to see whether they'll germinate and they did. I have given away about 10 potted seedlings to my neighbours who have heated greenhouse/warm conservatory. ☺️
Oxford. The City of Dreaming Spires.
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils (roses). Taking a bit of liberty with Wordsworth
There is no such time as the perfect week for sowing any seeds. There are so many factors that affect the seeds. Weather, light, temperature, heating or not, growing conditions such as watering or drying out, growing mediums. It is always a gamble whether your seeds sown early grow quickly and get leggy which develops weakly plants that struggle to develop adequately to crop well or you sow later for stronger plants that fruit a bit later. Read the instructions on the back of the seed packets, check the long-range weather forecast for frost warnings and go for a happy medium. This time of year is always a problem for gardeners. We all want to get out sowing and planting etc. but the weather can be capricious.
I have mainly bought plants in the past but last year sowed some on the 29th April which was a little late, but I got a fine crop. This year, 2nd and 7th of this month. But... buying or sowing, the main problem is what to do when they get too big for a windowsill and it's too early to risk going outside. (The bought ones are ordered from Suttons and generally arrive early April and I imagine were sown in January or February.) I usually end up with a lot on tables in the sitting room where I have French windows. It's not ideal, but it works out fine in the end.
So calculate backwards. How big is too big for you to keep them where you start them off? If it's ok to have 1 or 2ft tall tomatoes on the windowsill then now should be fine. The ones I sowed on the 2nd are now about 10cm high. (But they are in a vitopod with grow lights.) I will be pricking them out tomorrow. You can, of course, plant them deeper when you pot them on though, if they are a bit too tall.
The very first time I grew them, about 25 years ago- pre internet access, no books on the subject in my possession and no knowledgeable friends/relatives i.e. I was flying blind more or less - they ended up staying indoors until they were about 5ft high (behind French windows in another house.) If my housemates minded, they never said anything. They were Gardener's delight Grown as cordons and yes, cherry toms!
It's just a few years since I grew gardeners delight toms, at which time they were plants from the GC ( now I'm going to show my age 😊) and cherry toms were not really a thing yet. So they only had normal toms to grow cordon, of which this was one, so I only thought of them as small regular sized toms.
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Also, I did sow a packet of old BBC dig-in gardener's delight seeds last month just to see whether they'll germinate and they did. I have given away about 10 potted seedlings to my neighbours who have heated greenhouse/warm conservatory. ☺️
But... buying or sowing, the main problem is what to do when they get too big for a windowsill and it's too early to risk going outside. (The bought ones are ordered from Suttons and generally arrive early April and I imagine were sown in January or February.) I usually end up with a lot on tables in the sitting room where I have French windows. It's not ideal, but it works out fine in the end.
So calculate backwards. How big is too big for you to keep them where you start them off? If it's ok to have 1 or 2ft tall tomatoes on the windowsill then now should be fine. The ones I sowed on the 2nd are now about 10cm high. (But they are in a vitopod with grow lights.) I will be pricking them out tomorrow. You can, of course, plant them deeper when you pot them on though, if they are a bit too tall.
The very first time I grew them, about 25 years ago- pre internet access, no books on the subject in my possession and no knowledgeable friends/relatives i.e. I was flying blind more or less - they ended up staying indoors until they were about 5ft high (behind French windows in another house.) If my housemates minded, they never said anything.
They were Gardener's delight