Which Tomato is Best to Grow With Children?

*Updated Jan 2024*

We visited the local garden centre to take a look at the tomato seeds on offer. We found 94 different types! If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to growing tomatoes with children, this can be very daunting. 

Let us help you

For a beginner or for children, we recommend either ‘determinate/bush’ varieties, or a cascading variety. Neither will require any complicated pruning, staking or removal of side shoots. They will also grow happily in large pots, hanging baskets or ordinary garden soil. Just make sure they're in a sunny spot, and no greenhouse is needed. 

Good starter tomatoes include:

• Baby cherry tomatoes – perfect for kids and look great on top of pizza or in pasta sauces
• Tumbling yellow tomatoes – a quirky novelty kids will love
• The bush variety ‘Red Alert’ - a favourite of ours at Gardening for Kids
• The cascading variety ‘Tumbling Tom’ – easy, reliable and delicious 

Be brave and experiment!

There are lots of suitable tomato varieties for children. The key is to persevere and keep trying lots of different types: you will quickly find one you (and they!) will love. 

Take a look at our range of tomato seeds, we've even got a complete tomato growing kit

We’ve got seeds for cherry tomatoes, table-top tomatoes and fabulously sweet apéritif tomatoes, to name but a few! 

While you're there, have a look at the tomato SeedCells - an ingenious, plastic-free way to grow tomatoes from seed.

  

Tomatoes need planting in February/March, so now is the perfect time to get ready

1. Start your seeds off inside from late January to early March. Keep them inside to protect them from frost
2. When it is warm enough – in late May or early June – plant them in large pots outside in a warm, sunny spot
3. Feed them with tomato fertiliser in the summer and give them lots of water (need a children’s watering can?)
4. Enjoy lots of delicious tomatoes in July–September.

We'd love to know how you get on - send us your pictures of you and your children on our Facebook or Instagram page! And if you get stuck, just get in touch and one of our team will be on hand to help you.