With warmer weather arriving across the UK, many gardeners have started planting tomato plants outdoors. Tomato plants should ideally be positioned outside once the threat of frost has disappeared and night-time temperatures remain consistently above 10°C. For most UK residents, it means mid to late May or early June.
According to Jane Perrone, a houseplant expert and freelance journalist who presents and produces the indoor gardening podcast On The Ledge, one common mistake people make is planting tomatoes outdoors too soon. She said on her blog: "Tomatoes stop growing once the temperature drops below 10-12°C at night, and ideally they need 15°C in the day. And frost will kill them, so wait till the frost risk is completely over before sending them outside for good - which is the end of May in my neck of the woods, which is southern England."
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) goes even further, recommending that young tomato plants should be positioned in their final spot in early summer once temperatures are "reliably above 16°C (60°F)".
However, those who have a greenhouse can plant their tomatoes sooner as they'll be shielded from fluctuating temperatures and any troublesome overnight frosts.
Once your tomato plants become well-established, you'll want to encourage them to develop faster and yield a generous crop of tomatoes, and one of the most effective methods is by feeding your plants. While experts frequently suggest using a tomato-specific fertiliser, it's entirely possible to create your own at home using an everyday kitchen leftover: banana peels.
Banana peels contain high levels of potassium, phosphorus and calcium, which support tomato plants in flowering and bearing fruit. On YouTube, @kuhinjatanja, also known as My Kitchen Tanja, has demonstrated precisely how to prepare your own banana peel fertiliser.
The video description reads: "Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and even flowers grow faster and give bigger harvests with this natural fertiliser. In this recipe, I show how to turn banana peels into a simple liquid fertiliser you can use right away, an old gardener's trick that pushes strong growth, more flowers and more fruit."
The YouTube star, who boasts over 2.6 million subscribers, claimed this homemade fertiliser makes gardens "literally flourish". Initially, she chops the banana peel into the smallest cubes possible before transferring them into a jar. Following this, she adds half a litre of water over the banana peel and allows it to rest for several hours, ideally overnight. After it's had time to steep, filter the liquid to extract the banana peel. She uses the banana peel fertiliser on her plants on a weekly basis.
"This natural banana peel fertiliser works best on fruiting plants, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, but also on flowers that bloom much more," she added.
