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Rewild Garden Seed Box2 Sept 2026
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Tom Waites
Tomato 'Moneymaker' Seeds
Solanum lycopersicum 'Moneymaker'
Moneymaker is the tomato that taught Britain to grow tomatoes. Bred for glasshouses in the early 1900s and named for exactly what it did for the growers who planted it, it crops heavily and dependably in a way few varieties match — smooth, round, medium fruits of about 5 cm, carried in even trusses up a single cordon stem. The flavour is the classic one rather than the fashionable one: clean, mildly sweet, properly tomato. Grow it in a greenhouse, or outdoors against a warm wall, and give it a cane to climb.
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Tomato 'Moneymaker' Seeds – Quick Growing Guide
Tomato 'Moneymaker' (Solanum lycopersicum) is a heavy-cropping British heirloom cordon tomato with smooth, round red fruits of around 5 cm. Sow indoors February to April, plant out late May, and grow it up a single stem with support. Reliable in a greenhouse or a sheltered sunny spot outdoors, and because it is open-pollinated you can save your own seed.
How to Sow, Grow and Harvest Tomato 'Moneymaker' Seeds
- Sow:Feb–Apr
- Germination:7-14 days at 18-21°C
- Grow:Full sun under glass or against a warm wall, one plant per 30 cm pot or grow bag
- Water:Little and often — irregular watering is what splits the fruit
- Harvest:July to October, picking as each fruit colours fully
- Best for:Greenhouses, grow bags, sunny patios and sheltered beds
It is the dependable one. Moneymaker will not win a taste test against a fancy heritage beefsteak, and it does not need to — what it does is crop, week after week, in a British summer that cannot be relied upon for anything. Even fruits, even trusses, no splitting to speak of. If you have one grow bag and one summer and you would like to actually eat some tomatoes, this is the packet.
Delivered within 2–3 working days. On its own, this packet ships letterbox delivery at £2.95. Fits through a standard letterbox, so no one needs to be home.
Delivery is priced on the size of your whole order, so adding more may move it into the next band:
- Letterbox delivery — small orders
- £2.95
- Standard delivery — most orders
- £4.50
- Large delivery — large orders
- £9.50
- Free delivery (orders £25 and over)
- Free
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Grow in Your Garden
Heavy, dependable cropper, smooth round red fruits, classic tomato flavour, cordon habit, open-pollinated so seed can be saved.
Calendar
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
SowFlowers / Harvest
How to Grow
Sow indoors from February to April in warmth — a windowsill propagator or a heated greenhouse is ideal, and 18-21°C gets seedlings up in a week or two. Pot on as they grow, harden off through late May, and plant out into a greenhouse border, a 30 cm pot or a grow bag once the nights are reliably above about 10°C. Outdoors, give it the warmest, most sheltered wall you have.
Sowing
Sow seed about 1 cm deep in damp seed compost, two or three to a small pot, and keep at 18-21°C somewhere bright. Seedlings appear in 7-14 days. Thin to the strongest and pot on into 9 cm pots once the first true leaves are up, keeping them in good light so they do not stretch.
Growing
One plant per 30 cm pot or grow bag, or 45 cm apart in a greenhouse border. Tie the main stem to a cane or twist it around a string run to the roof as it grows. Pinch out every side shoot that appears in the joint between a leaf and the main stem — this is the one job that matters, and it wants doing weekly. Stop the plant by pinching out the growing tip two leaves above the fourth or fifth truss.
Plant care
Water little and often rather than heavily now and then; erratic watering is what splits fruit and causes blossom end rot. Once the first truss has set, feed weekly with a high-potash tomato feed. Remove the lower leaves as the trusses ripen to improve airflow and let light at the fruit. Pick as each tomato colours fully, and at the end of the season bring any green ones indoors to ripen.
About Tomato 'Moneymaker'
Moneymaker is a cordon — an indeterminate tomato, which means it keeps growing upward rather than stopping at a set height, and will run to around 1.8 m given the season. That habit is the whole of the work: it needs a cane or a string to climb, the side shoots pinching out of the leaf joints each week, and the growing tip stopping once four or five trusses have set. In exchange it produces smooth, even, medium-sized red fruits in quantity, over months rather than weeks. It is happiest under glass in a British summer, but does perfectly well outdoors in a sheltered, sunny spot.
Eventual height & spread
0.5m
1.8m
History of Tomato 'Moneymaker'
The name is not marketing, it is a description. Moneymaker was introduced to British glasshouse growers in the early twentieth century and became the commercial standard for decades on the strength of one quality: it cropped, heavily and without drama, year after year. It made money. Newer varieties have since overtaken it on flavour, and it is grown now for the same reason it was then — you can rely on it. Being open-pollinated rather than an F1 hybrid, it also comes true from saved seed, so a packet is the start of a supply rather than a single purchase.
| Other Names | Moneymaker tomato, and simply Moneymaker in most seed catalogues. |
|---|---|
| Pet/Baby Safe | Ripe fruit is safe; the leaves and stems are toxic to cats and dogs |
FAQs
It is reliable rather than effortless. Germination and cropping are as dependable as tomatoes get, which is how it got the name — but it is a cordon, so it needs a support to climb, its side shoots pinching out weekly, and a high-potash feed once the fruit sets. None of that is difficult; it just has to actually happen. If you want a tomato that needs no attention at all, a bush variety is the better choice.
Sow indoors February to April at 18-21°C, and plant out from late May once the nights are reliably above about 10°C. Under glass you can start at the beginning of that window; for growing outdoors, sowing in late March or April is usually enough and avoids leggy plants waiting for warmth that has not arrived.
No, but it helps. Moneymaker was bred for glasshouses and crops best under cover, where the season is longer and the fruit ripens more evenly. Outdoors it does perfectly well against a warm, sheltered south-facing wall — expect a slightly later, slightly shorter harvest.
Cordon tomatoes throw out a shoot in the joint between each leaf and the main stem. Left alone, those grow into extra stems and the plant puts its energy into foliage instead of fruit. Snap them out between finger and thumb while they are small — once a week through the growing season is enough.
Yes. Moneymaker is open-pollinated rather than an F1 hybrid, so seed saved from a ripe fruit will come true to the variety. Scoop out the seeds with their gel, leave them in a little water for a few days to ferment, then rinse and dry them on paper. It is part of why the variety has stayed in circulation for over a century.
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