Orangello is a bush tomato and the close relative of Romello. The strong growing plants are excellent in hanging baskets, a brilliant, very sweet orange plum shaped variety.

Sow the Orangello cherry tomato about 1 cm deep, sow always indoors in the UK, cover seeds lightly, watered and placed at between 10-18 Celsius on a windowsill, heated greenhouse or propagator. Sow February - April. Germination takes 8-11 days.

 Starting Indoors

By starting your tomatoes from seed you can try a number of varieties of seeds that wouldn’t be available to you if you were just to purchase your tomato plants at your local nursery. Tomatoes are relatively easy to grow from seed even if you do not have access to a greenhouse, all you need is a sunny spot in your home.

Tomato seeds can be started indoors six to eight weeks prior to the last frost date for your area.

To plant tomato seeds you will need small pots and potting or seedling soil mix. Each pot should be filled to within ½” of the top and two or three seeds placed in each pot. The seeds then should be covered with approx. ¼” of soil and watered lightly. Planting more than one seed in each pot ensures that you will get germination of a plant in each pot and you can pinch off the weaker plant.

The pots then should be placed in a sunny spot such as a window sill. Your newly planted tomato seeds should receive a minimum of four hours of sun each day. To speed up the germination process you can cover the pots with plastic wrap, however once germination has taken place you need to remove this plastic right away.

Once your plants begin germinating, keep them watered to ensure they continue to grow. Do not overwater, this will encourage rot, however underwatering is just as dangerous as your plants will not thrive.

Planting Outdoors

To successfully move your seedlings outdoors, wait until any chance of frost has passed then transplant your tomato seedlings from indoors to your garden or containers. You can help ease this transition by moving your seedlings outdoors during the day and back inside at night for about a week prior to transplanting.

Your garden soil should be well drained and rich in organic matter. Tomatoes can be planted in vegetable beds in the ground, in raised beds or in containers. Most tomatoes do well in containers.

When planting your tomatoes, add some organic matter to the bottom of each hole, this will help to encourage the roots to take hold. Remove your seedling and be sure to leave the root ball intact. Staking your tomato plant at this time will ensure that it grows straight and will support your plant as it begins to bear fruit. Water at the base of the plant and feed well with and continue to water as needed.