Did you know that you can grow tomatoes from cuttings? ……and it’s so easy!

Its a great way to extend your tomato season after your first plantings have finished fruiting as well as using up excess foliage from thinning out.

This year my tomatoes have been quite prolific. I’ve also had a huge amount of excess foliage which I’ve had to trim off so that the energy goes into the ripening fruit as opposed to a jungle of green foliage as well as creating air flow through and around the plants to prevent disease.

There was so much excess I trimmed off that I felt compelled to use it in some way…..and what could be more perfect than creating new tomato plants!

First start with a cutting that has a nice long stem with a few leaves at the top. Pinch off any other leaves further down the stem. Then place in a glass jar filled with water and leave on a table inside away from direct sunlight.

In about a week you should have some little white roots growing out of the stem. Make sure the roots are long enough before transplanting them.

This could take up to two weeks.

You can then plant these straight into the ground or place into pots. I quite like putting them in pots as I can keep my eye on them a little easier as you need to keep them well saturated with water until the root structure becomes more substantial. If in pots I also recommend keeping them outside away from direct sunlight for the first couple of days so that the new root system isn’t over burdened if they get too hot in direct sunlight.

You can either leave them in the pots or transplant them to the garden bed and soon you’ll have an abundance of new tomatoes!