Miracle Tomato Seeds 10 Seeds

Miracle Tomato is a giant slicing variety bred for big, weighty fruits packed with dense, meaty flesh and a rich, traditional tomato flavour. The fruits ripen to a deep, glossy red and stay firm and juicy, making them ideal for thick slices on a sandwich, a fresh garden salad, or a slow-cooked homemade sauce. Like all tomatoes it is a warm-season, frost-tender plant, so a sunny, sheltered spot and even watering bring out the best of this big-fruited variety.

Planting

Start the seed indoors about 5 to 8 weeks before you plan to move the plants outside, since tomato is a warm-season crop that frost will kill. Sow each seed roughly 0.6 cm deep in a sterile, soilless seed-starting mix. Kept warm at about 24-29 C, the seeds usually sprout in around 7 to 10 days, and they need a minimum of about 18 C to germinate. Once the first true leaves show, thin or prick the seedlings out to about 5 cm apart, then harden them off over roughly a week before planting out. Move them outdoors only after all danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed, setting each plant deep so that only the top 2 to 3 sets of leaves stay above the soil; the buried stem grows extra roots. Space plants about 45-90 cm apart along the row, with around 90-150 cm between rows. Give them a warm, sheltered site in full sun, at least 6 hours of direct sun a day and ideally 8 to 10 hours.

Fertilizing

At transplanting, use a starter fertilizer with an NPK ratio under 10, and steer clear of too much nitrogen, which pushes leafy growth and delays fruiting. Once the first fruits begin to swell, side-dress with nitrogen, for example a calcium-nitrate source, to keep the plants feeding through the harvest. If you are growing in containers, feed every 10 to 14 days with a high-potassium liquid feed from the moment the first fruits start to set.

Care

Keep the moisture steady, aiming for about 2.5 cm of water a week from rain and irrigation combined, and avoid swinging between wet and dry, which causes the fruits to split and triggers blossom-end rot. Plants in containers may need watering every day in hot weather. Watch for common pests such as tomato hornworms, aphids, flea beetles, cutworms and whitefly, and stay alert to diseases like early and late blight, Septoria leaf spot and grey mould. Harvest when the fruit reaches full size and its colour starts to change, or once it is fully coloured, leaving the stalk attached for the best flavour; the first ripe tomatoes usually arrive about 52 to 90 days after transplanting depending on conditions. Any green fruit left at season's end can be ripened indoors at about 21 C.