Growing tomatoes

[Breelander]

I find the compost makes a big difference to the taste. I bought Ailsa Craig seeds for my first attempt over 10 years ago. The taste was disappointing in commercial compost.


So the following year (with seeds from that same packet) I planted them in pure home-made garden compost. The taste was fantastic.

As I sow sparingly (I just sow two to a pot, half a dozen pots) I still have plenty of seeds left. Despite a 'use before' date of 2011 on the packet I still get 90% germination (and they still taste great).

[sg31]

I find the compost makes a big difference to the taste. I bought Ailsa Craig seeds for my first attempt over 10 years ago. The taste was disappointing in commercial compost.


So the following year (with seeds from that same packet) I planted them in pure home-made garden compost. The taste was fantastic.

As I sow sparingly (I just sow two to a pot, half a dozen pots) I still have plenty of seeds left. Despite a 'use before' date of 2011 on the packet I still get 90% germination (and they still taste great).

Interesting. What mix do you use for your homemade compost.

[Breelander]

...I planted them in pure home-made garden compost. The taste was fantastic...

Interesting. What mix do you use for your homemade compost.

Mix? No, I literally use just what comes out of the bottom of my compost bin after the worms have done their 'magic'. 100% pure and organic - nothing added. And at the end of the season the spent compost gets spread on my flower beds as a mulch.

[sg31]

I will give that a try if I can ever get some decent compost out of our bins. They have only recently been installed and I'm struggling to get them up to critical mass. We aren't producing enough kitchen waste quickly enough. When we start cutting things back as winter approaches things should get better.

[Breelander]

I will give that a try if I can ever get some decent compost out of our bins. They have only recently been installed and I'm struggling to get them up to critical mass. We aren't producing enough kitchen waste quickly enough. When we start cutting things back as winter approaches things should get better.

Kitchen waste (uncooked, vegetable matter only) any odd weeds you pull up (no seed-heads*) any pruning from the garden, even grass cutting (in moderation) It all soon adds up. Roughly equal parts of 'greens' and 'browns' (dead and/or woody material, chop up well). The key is to stir it up regularly to keep it well aerated. Takes about 6-9 months in my 'dalek'.

Monty Don's take on it...
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/m ... compost-2/


* unless you like surprises - I let poppy, foxglove and antirrhinum go into mine.

[Gengulphus]

... even grass cutting (in moderation) It all soon adds up. Roughly equal parts of 'greens' and 'browns' (dead and/or woody material, chop up well). The key is to stir it up regularly to keep it well aerated. Takes about 6-9 months in my 'dalek'.

I find grass cuttings and the shreddings from my document shredder do quite well for bulking out the kitchen waste, provided in the right proportions and well mixed together. Either on its own is liable to work badly, but together the paper absorbs moisture and counteracts the tendency of grass cuttings to go slimy and the absorbed moisture helps the paper rot down.

Gengulphus

[shadowside]

I live in North Yorkshire and have been growing tomatoes in an unheated greenhouse for 30 years. Have never had any problems with them ripening and usually have lots of tomatoes from June through to the first frost.

When do you sow your seed Didds ? That seems to be a variable that has not been discussed.

I sow in heated propagaor in January. By Mid March they will be in 4-6" pots in propagator and planted out in green house in Mid April by which time first flowers will be setting. I have a Vitopod propagator which is the bees kneees.

I grow a mix of cherry/normal/beefsteak. Gardeners Delight was my go to cherry but quality is much more variable lately and find Sweet Million better.

This year have Shirley as normal and Country Taste as Beefsteak.

S

[Breelander]

When do you sow your seed Didds ? That seems to be a variable that has not been discussed.

I raised in in my first post on this thread, but didn't get a response then either. Your schedule starts even earlier than mine, but I agree - the earlier you start the better. Being further south than you, mine are in their final place in the 'greenhouse' (6ft tall propagating tent) by the end of March.

[malkymoo]

Your schedule starts even earlier than mine, but I agree - the earlier you start the better. Being further south than you, mine are in their final place in the 'greenhouse' (6ft tall propagating tent) by the end of March.

Do you get any problems with frost planting out that early? I never plant out earlier than early May (I live in Gloucestershire), but perhaps I am being too cautious.

[Breelander]

Do you get any problems with frost planting out that early? I never plant out earlier than early May (I live in Gloucestershire), but perhaps I am being too cautious.

No, I plant out into their final pots in the bottom of something like this...
https://www.charliesdirect.co.uk/gardma ... rced-cover
...with all other wire shelves removed, but their three horizontal supports left in place. Strings are tied from the top centre horizontal pole to the bottom one to support the vines as they grow.

The door is kept fully closed until all risk of frost has passed. Like the one in the link above, mine is standing against a wall that gets the sun, plus the pots are full size, so also hold some of the day's heat through the night. - seems enough to do the trick.

[brightncheerful]

I haven't grown tomatoes for some time but when i did almost always successfully.

I used to grow them outside in pots or troughs (on one occasion in a hanging basket) abutting the back wall of our house. The wall gets very warm and sometimes very hot in sunshine and I assume that the heat radiates onto the plants.

After planting, I'd diligently apply feed for a few weeks before often forgetting to water the plants.

The only unsuccessful time was colder weather-related so with the unripened we made green tomato chutney and for a while I deliberately grew green toms so that we had a ready supply for making chutney.

[Pipsmum]

Mine have begun ripening slowly outside in their tin troughs. No greenhouse but quite a sunny protected yard bit.

The Aromatico are really small cherry tomatoes and very piquant. All ripening nicely and are like sweeties on the vine.
The Tomkin have quite tough skins but maybe that's because they dried out early on quite a few times. Tastier when ripened on the plant than the windowsill. Quite tasty when left to be really red. Not so interesting when still an orange hue to the red.
The Rotoro larger tomatoes aren't ripening so well yet. A few have only just begun to go an orange tinge. They're the ones that seem to get the bottom rot.

The French beefsteak pips were planted far too late. Not even a blossom yet. I wonder if their season can be extended if I move them to the greenhouse now. I planted the yellow ones, the red and the black, but perhaps should have saved the seeds till next year. But hey ho.

[colin]

but the vast majority resolutely remain green until september when we either make yet another tonne of green chutney or throw them away or they just rot on the vine.

Uh? if you want red tomatoes just cut them of green in September with some inches of vine remaining,tie them together in bunches and hang them up somewhere dry to ripen.

[Skotch]

We are in Leicester and have an allotment and polytunnel. We've experienced both blight and lack of germination and ripening in previous years. This year, our outdoor crop has been brilliant - just 3 varieties: - Crimson Crush (blight resistant), Black Russian - bred specifically for a Northern European climate, and a variety called Zlatana (gold?), which originates from Poland I think. Because of the weather this year, they have all flourished with bumper crops of really tasty toms.

Will definitely be growing the same varieties again.

We tend to sow in mid February and keep the plants under cover until mid April and then plant them out. The site is quite open, but we've never had a problem with late frosts.

Hope that helps?

[jackdaww]

we have tomatoes this year , well ripened , but they are not sweet.

(gardeners delight) - they always have been in the past .

[Pipsmum]

Update on the outside toms. All the small ones are ripening nicely in the late october sun.

Aromatico are just delicious and so will definitely grow these again. Asda sell them on the vine and they're fairly expensive (but not when you get tons more from their pips).
Tomkin are tasty but the skins on ours are extremely tough. Spit outable tough. Might bother with a pip or two next year but not as a main crop.
Rotoro are finally beginning to ripen and are perfectly ok. Resistant to rough treatment as some of the fallen over branches I cut off, grew in buckets of stagnant leafy water because I didn't have time to replant them, and they still produced massive tomatoes.

I like the stagger factor of the differing ripening types. It saves getting so many at once.

[bungeejumper]

I like the stagger factor of the differing ripening types. It saves getting so many at once.

That's the whole secret, isn't it? Outdoors, I usually grow Ferlines (blight resistant, August/September/October), Marmandes (September/October) and a small-calibre trailing variety such as Red Alert, which we grow in pots (June onwards!) Our granddaughter loves it that she can grab a small tomato from the kitchen island any time that she's passing through. Feels pretty good for us as well.

This year, the Marmandes were disappointingly small - perhaps they didn't like our authentically French/Italian summer climate? And our courgettes were the same, they flowered nicely but stopped setting during August. Presumably because we weren't watering them? Either way, we've had upwards of 30 pounds of tomatoes this year, all of them outdoors. Not too bad really.

BJ