Solanum, the species rather than the hybrids can be best thought of as 'proto' tomatoes. Thats not to say they will germinate as easily as tomatoes, they won't, but in essence they need very similar growing conditions.
Myth 1
They are tomatoes arent they, they will germinate rapidly and easily if I just sow them like tomatoes...
No they wont, they will sulk and languish in the soil and may not even sprout the first year if you just do this. They need pre-treatment, a good soak, preferrably in Salt-Petre solution, but warm water if changed a few times is almost as good.
Myth 2
They are annuals, so they will crop the same year no matter what.
No they arent. They are perennials, they will crop the same year from an early sowing, but if sown later, then they should be overwintered frost free and will crop well in subsequent years. Early sowings may need extra light, they certainly need extra warmth, but if you cannot do this, then sow them later and accept they may not produce fruit in the first season. The chances are they will flower the first season, but any fruit set may or may not ripen before the shorter days put paid to that.
Pre-treatment
Soak the seeds in warm water, with or without salt-petre, but if it is just plain water, change it every few hours.
Sowing
Sow on the surface of a good quality seed raising mix and lightly covered with the mix or with vermiculite. Water once, then place somewhere warm, close and light. Temperatures of around 24 - 28 Deg C work best, much cooler and they wont germinate, much warmer runs the risk of the soil drying out leading to a crop failure. In ideal conditions they may take up to 6 weeks or more to come up - see they are not 'tomatoes' (even though by Genus they are). The germination will be sporadic and uneven, which is a natural defence against a crop failure due to adverse natural conditions such as a drought...
Growing on
Grow on like tomatoes, you can grow them in pots till they are big enough to go in a grow bag or larger pot. If in a growbag, you will need to transplant it to a pot for overwintering as the growbag will subject the roots to too much cold possibly killing your plant.
Feed with a tomato fertiliser and when the fruit has set, double the amount. Germination to first fruit can take up to 8 months, so be patient the first year.
