NRTomatoSeed

Four hundred tomato plants including one hundred and seventy five varieties. Six locations including two greenhouses, a polytunnel, a poly-shack, a stable yard, and a garden. Three different types of AutoPot module in use with pot sizes ranging from 15-25L. All manner of cost-effective homebuilt innovations in potting, climate control, and system reconditioning. And a host of handy tips for setups, optimisation, and monitoring. Someone’s been a busy boy. 

That someone? Leicestershire-based seed grower Niall Radford. Plenty to report. We best get started!

The number of varieties Niall has got underway probably tells you everything you need to know about his motivation for creating this galaxy of tomato cultivation. It’s personal. It’s constantly curious. Not a trace of monoculture here. 

A wondrous love of growing is similarly reflected in the number of different locations that Niall’s utilised and the general approach to getting things done. Every available space has been turned over to his tomatoes. And whilst the plants and the setup are professionally executed there is a brilliantly homespun thread of horticultural passion running through everything Niall has achieved. Now, it’s time for us to pipe down and let him get a word in edgeways.

‘Over the years I’ve explored hundreds of different heirloom tomato varieties. The seeds for the ones that I sell are all varieties that I have personally enjoyed growing and eating and will definitely be growing again. These are my recommendations out of the many varieties I’ve tried, clearly my taste in tomatoes leans towards either green when ripe or anthocyanin tomatoes.’

‘The varieties I offer are amateur, open pollinated seeds, harvested from plants grown by myself. They have been grown without use of pesticide, have not been genetically modified in any way, and can be grown both outdoors and undercover.’

Niall’s season begins in the last weeks of March with indoor sowing and propagation. This is a quick process, which is one of the reasons he’s keen to promote open-mindedness about when you can start seeds.

‘Typically I’ll start tomato seeds on a Saturday in a heated propagator with a 21° air temperature setting. By Wednesday they’re starting to poke through and by Friday they’re germinated. Another week and they’re ready to prick out into 7cm pots. When germination is only a 4-7 day event it’s almost never too late to get going.’

Quite a juggling act ensues as Niall simultaneously raises the young plants and gets his systems in order for the season ahead – often in the same spaces at the same time. He took the plunge with a new polytunnel in 2025 which is his early season nerve centre. 

‘In the polytunnel I’m running with the following this year, 104 plants in AutoPot Watering Systems. 100 of these are in 50 two-pot easy2grow modules using the 15 litre pots. There are another 4 plants in 25L XL modules. These are all supplied by two 400L FlexiTank reservoirs. One of the Flexi’s serves the outside two rows of modules in the polytunnel, the other runs to the central two rows.’

It’s pretty self-evident that hand-watering would not be a viable option here. The number of plants is a definite factor. But so is the variety of plants in play. Each variety will have a particular watering profile that may be markedly different to that of it’s neighbour. Using AutoPot Niall is able to eliminate any concerns on this front. 

Housed in his AutoPot system the plants are free to draw water and fertiliser as-and-when required. Each module in the system operates entirely independently of the others and is controlled 100% by plant uptake. Once the system is set up there is almost no work to do in terms of managing irrigation.

Niall’s polytunnel is the ideal location for his easy2grow modules, as he explains. ‘I use easy2grows in the largest area (the polytunnel) because they require half the piping (as opposed to an equal number of 1Pot or XL modules) and they lend themselves to long rows of plants. On an uneven polytunnel floor it’s also half the pots to level than if I were using 1Pot or XL modules.’

Elsewhere setup involved some well-earned reconditioning for the systems. ‘My old XL’s were secondhand when I got them and must be well over 10 years old now. I’ve just updated the AQUAvalves in all of them, so everything runs on 9mm pipe and they’re still growing strong.’

‘Generally I use the XL’s for overflow plants and outdoors – in the stable yard and garden. With these I only fill to 15-ish litres as I don’t need that a full 25L of substrate per plant. They work great outdoors used that way as the height of the pot provides a modicum of shelter to the plants when young. In terms of watering they work perfectly well outdoors too, I just turn off the FlexiTank that supplies them for a couple of days if there has been particularly heavy rain.’

Over in Niall’s metal greenhouse there’s yet another tomato enclave. ‘There I’ve got 20-and-a-few ‘overflow’ 1Pot modules which fit in there perfectly, fed by a 225L FlexiTank. The floor is nice and level in there making them a shoo-in.’

‘I have both 15 litre and 8.5 litre pots for the 1Pots in the greenhouses and easy2grows in the poly’s – giving me the flexibility of pot size depending on what I’m growing. For regular sized tomato plants, I’ve found that 8.5 litres works perfectly well but in general 15 litre just works better.’

Lilliput land is to be found in Niall’s wooden greenhouse, wherein there are sixty-five micro dwarf plants in 3L pots on trays. And the final location is Niall’s poly shack, ‘a cheap green thing fit for a short period of time for extra capacity!’ Here he has another seventy plants in builders buckets, drilled out for drainage. Budgetary limitations dictated that he couldn’t quite go all-AutoPot this year, but the buckets are a neat solution nonetheless. 

‘I picked up some of the more durable black buckets on a 4-for-3, so they only cost 75p each. Quick holes to the bottom, three buckets to a growbag tray, stood on capillary matting, away we go.’ Job done. And saving money on this front was particularly important given the investment Niall was keen to make this year.

‘For 2026 I’ve bought 100 AirBases for the easy2grow fleet (I already had AirBases for the 1Pot and XL army). I recycle my substrate for other uses at the end of the season so putting clay pebbles in as a drainage layer just doesn’t work for me. I also found the plants on AirBases last year performed much better.’

That substrate is well worth saving, both in terms of it’s cost and long-term value. ‘I’m using Mills Light Mix substrate for the first time this year which has required a pallet of 74 sacks. We’ll see whether it performs better than the Growmoor multipurpose product mixed with perlite that I’ve used for the past 5 years. For comparison, I’ve planted plants of the same variety in both.’

Getting the plants established, potted, and automatically watered is one thing. Managing their development and the climate in general is another. Fortunately Niall has come up with some really innovative and efficient ways of keeping things running smoothly, with minimal effort.

‘Last year I experimented with using car radiator fans in the polytunnel for air circulation. It worked a treat! I’ve got two sets in there now (originally intended for a Nissan Skyline but far more useful in my poly’). Each pair are wired directly to a 100w solar panel – sun shines, fans spin. Genius!’

‘I’m also using tomato roller hooks to physically manage the plants in the polytunnel. This’ll be my first time using them in lieu of tried-and-tested baler twine. I decided to try them off the back of a recommendation and demonstration by Jason (Ralph-Smith, AutoPot MD). He showed me how they could be used to lower plants down when spent at the bottom for additional harvest from the top.’

Years of first hand experience have given Niall insights aplenty into AutoPot use. And whilst there’s a great deal of detail he can offer on optimising the systems his Top Five Tips are classics.  Simple but essential advice for users of all levels with setups on all scales.

1. When fitting pipes to fittings and AQUAvalves, dip the pipe in warm water first – they’ll go on much easier.
2. Make sure the tray for the AutoPot is level to ensure even distribution of water – I’ve found builder’s packing wedges to be ideal for the job on uneven floors.
3. Clean the filters on your reservoirs regularly, it’s simple task that makes a BIG difference
4. Always fit a tap at the end of a pipe run to enable the pulling off of a couple of litres of water / nutrient solution, it’ll allow you to a) wash the pipes and b) pull new solution into the system when reservoir topping or filling
5. Check the pH of the fluids in the reservoir and amend if sub optimal.

We say it often but it’s never truer than in the case of Niall – go check out his Insta and Facebook pages – there are boundless, accessible, genuinely useful insights into tomato growing. Not to mention the tomatoes themselves which are stunningly beautiful, worth every penny, and available as seeds from his store.

Finally! Niall has a code. Not a gentleman’s code, we’re not ruling it out, but we’re not talking about that sort of code. A promo code. And this code when deployed will save UK growers a cool 10% off everything at autopot.co.uk – use APRAD10 – T&Cs apply. 

Finally, finally! And because we will never end on ’T&Cs apply’ (how vulgar!) we’d like to offer our profuse thanks to Niall for his stunning work, use of AutoPot, and his taking time out to update us, he’s a top bloke. We wish him all the very best and look forward to this years crop!