Tomato 'Alicante'

Pot up, and grow tomato plants on in warm frost free conditions until large enough to plant outdoors. When all risk of frost has passed, gradually acclimatise them to outdoor conditions over a period of 7 to 10 days.

Choose a sheltered position in full sun on fertile, reliably moist, well drained soil, and transplant at a distance of 60cm (24") apart. Alternatively grow tomatoes in patio bags and containers in good quality compost such as John Innes No. 2. Drive a (5') cane into the soil adjacent to each plant to support them as they grow, and tie each main stem to its support with soft garden twine.

Water tomato plants frequently, to keep the compost evenly moist. Feed tomatoes regularly with a high potash plant food once the first truss of fruit has formed.

Tie the main stems to their supports and remove any sideshoots that develop between the main stem and the leaf stems. Once the plant has produced 6 or 7 trusses, pinch out the top of the main stem. This process of "sideshooting" and "stopping" will increase the availability of light and air movement around the developing fruit, and focus the plants energy on producing a good crop of high quality tomatoes. Tomatoes can be harvested as they ripen from July to September.

Seeds and garden supplies will normally be delivered within the time period stated against each product as detailed above. Plants, bulbs, corms, tubers, shrubs, trees, potatoes, etc. are delivered at the appropriate time for planting or potting on. Delivery times will be stated on the product page above, or in your order acknowledgement page and email.

Orders for packets of seed incur a delivery charge of £2.99.

Orders which include any other products will incur a delivery charge of £6.99.

Where an order includes both packets of seeds and other products, a maximum delivery charge of £7.99 will apply - regardless of the number of items ordered.

Large items may incur a higher delivery charge - this will be displayed in your shopping basket.

Please see our Delivery page for further details, and more information on different charges that may apply to certain destinations.

For more information on how we send your plants please visit our Helpful Guide on plant sizes.

Van Meuwen strives to ensure that all its plants are delivered to you in the perfect condition for planting. While the majority of our nursery plants cope well with slight delays in intransit, sadly, the time it takes to deliver to certain locations in the UK means that we can't guarantee this for some of our smaller plug products and tender bedding and vegetable lines, which do not respond well to the extra journey time. So regretfully while we offer the majority of our live plant offering nationwide, we are unable to ship plugs, begging plants and tender vegetable plants to the following areas: HS, IV41-IV49, IV51, IV55-56, KW15-KW17, PA34, PA41-48, PA60-PA78, PA80, PH40-PH44, TR21-TR24, ZE1-ZE3.