Imported Marmande Tomato Seeds (5 Seeds)

Marmande is a classic French heirloom beefsteak tomato prized for its generous size and its deeply ribbed, slightly flattened, lobed shape. The fruit ripens to a rich, deep red and carries a full, meaty flesh with a balanced flavour that is sweet yet pleasantly tangy. Its dense, juicy texture and few seeds make it a favourite for thick slices, fresh salads, sandwiches and rustic Mediterranean cooking — a variety that stands apart from smaller, rounder tomatoes by its bold appearance and old-fashioned taste. These imported Marmande seeds let you raise this beloved heirloom at home.

Planting

Tomato is a warm-season, frost-tender crop, so start your seeds indoors about 5 to 8 weeks before transplanting outdoors, and move them outside only once frost danger has passed and the soil has warmed. Sow the seed around 0.6 cm deep in a sterile, soilless seed-starting mix. Kept warm at roughly 24 to 29 C, the seeds usually sprout in about 7 to 10 days; a heat mat helps hold that temperature until the seedlings appear. Choose a full-sun spot offering at least 6 hours of direct sun a day — ideally 8 to 10 hours — and a warm, sheltered position. When you plant out, space the transplants about 45 to 90 cm apart in the row, with roughly 90 to 150 cm between rows; vining types take the wider spacing while bushier plants can sit closer.

Fertilizing

At transplanting, use a starter fertilizer with an NPK ratio under 10, and steer clear of excess nitrogen — too much produces leafy plants that are slow to set fruit. Side-dress with nitrogen once the first fruits begin to enlarge, or apply a nitrogen and calcium source such as calcium nitrate (15.5-0-0) about 3 to 4 weeks after planting. For tomatoes grown in containers, feed every 10 to 14 days with a high-potassium liquid feed once the first fruits start to swell.

Care

Give your plants steady, even moisture — about 2.5 cm of water per week from rain and irrigation combined — and avoid swinging between wet and dry, which causes fruit splitting and blossom-end rot; container plants may need watering every day in hot weather. When you thin or move seedlings, set them about 5 cm apart once true leaves appear, and at final planting set them deep so only the top 2 to 3 sets of true leaves show above the soil, since the buried stem grows extra roots. Harden the plants off over about a week before planting out. Watch for common pests such as tomato hornworms, aphids, flea beetles, cutworms, Colorado potato beetles and whitefly, and for diseases including early blight, late blight, Septoria leaf spot, bacterial spot, grey mould and tomato viruses, alongside the physiological troubles of blossom-end rot and fruit splitting. Harvest when the fruit reaches full size and its colour starts to turn or is fully coloured, leaving the stalk attached for the best flavour; first ripe fruit usually comes about 52 to 90 days after transplanting depending on the cultivar, and any green fruit can be ripened indoors at around 21 C.

Growing in Egypt

Tomato thrives across several windows in Egypt's mild winters and hot summers. The main, highest-yielding crop is the summer crop: sow or transplant in late winter to early spring (roughly February to March) once frost risk passes, using the warming spring temperatures for good fruit set before peak heat. In the cooler Nile Delta and around Cairo, wait until February to March, as earlier transplanting risks frost injury. An autumn/winter crop transplanted around October to November suits warmer Upper Egypt, where mild winters let the crop continue. A mid-summer planting (July to August) is done commercially for winter markets but suffers high-temperature injury and poor fruit set, so for a home grower it is the hardest window and is best avoided or protected. Practical rule: in the Delta, prioritise a February to March transplant — starting seed indoors around December to January — plus a secondary September to October planting; in hotter Upper Egypt, lean toward autumn (October to November) and late-winter (January to February) plantings to dodge the extreme summer heat.