Home Grown Tomatoes.

[thingamybob]

I love tomatoes but positively despise the flavourless acidic examples sold in supermarkets etc. For years I have grown my own using either Alicante or Ailsa Craig strains of this delicious fruit. Most of the supermarkets use the Moneymaker variety of the fruit which is picked before ripening and matures in transit. Not only is the variety flavourless but the treatment of the tomatoes make the flavour basically insipid.

I always feel that Spring and Summer is on the way when I see the little plants pop their heads above the compost and it gives me a happy feeling. They will end up in my greenhouse when it gets a bit warmer.

I put eight seeds in some ericaceous compost in a small seed tray at the end of January which I kept warm near a radiator. I now have seven plants which is not a bad yield. I used to put in a load more seeds and give the plants to family and friends but discovered that the plants were not properly tended and all the feedback I received was "oh I got a few tomatoes but they never did much good".  Since my windowsills were bunged up with plants for weeks and well looked after it was a bit disheartening.

So, the question is: Do any of the other forumites grow their own tommies?

Regards.

Thingamybob

[SteveO]

I grow my own every year, in pots stood against the south-facing wall of the house.I always raise my plants from seed and generally prefer to grow smaller varieties, such as Gardener's Delight and Golden Sunrise, a tasty yellow one. We had problems with blight a few years ago and so I moved to blight-resistant strains - Ferline and Losetto, These were OK but not as prolific or tasty as my favourites, which I reverted to last season, with good success.  My plants are a couple of inches tall now and are in the cold-frame. I will move them into progressively bigger pots but will not put them outside until all risk of frost has passed.  I also grow chilli peppers, but that's another story.

Steve

[Gramps]

I also grow tomatoes from seed for greenhouse cultivation even though I do not like to eat them. All the more for her indoors, I only grow two varieties now Alicante, an excellent cropper, and Sungold a very sweet bite size tomato, the wifes favourite. Each plant produces 100s of small fruits and can still be harvested when all other varieties have finished fruiting.

Ron

[teadaemon]

I've grown them in the past, even though I don't like them raw (I do however cook with them).

I tend to go a little off the beaten track with varieties, I can strongly recommend http://realseeds.co.uk/ if you're looking to try out something unusual (their centiflor tomato really is quite impressive both to grow and to eat - two or three trusses on each plant, but each one has literally hundreds of yellow cherry tomatoes). I've tried some of their peppers too, and those have been very good.

[Jonathan]

Thingamybob,

Apologies in advance for a tangent to your thread but I thought I would comment on your first paragraph.  Firstly, let me say that I cannot grow anything, so cannot help at all with your question. Sorry!

A good friend of mine has grown tomatoes commercially for many years.  He has been awarded “grower of the year” (or similar accolade) for this, and in blind tasting events at trade conferences, his crop was voted as “best” more than once.  Similarly he received many complementary comments and reports from supermarket executives who visited his greenhouses.  He has gone out of business.

The supermarkets insisted on contracts which did not allow him to sell elsewhere.

I have seen skip-fulls of “perfect” tomatoes which were slightly too big, or the wrong shape etc.!

The supermarkets would request a particular quantity level of supply per week, which would be put into production, but the supermarket might not take that supply (which could not be sold elsewhere) if they could buy it cheaper elsewhere.

Foreign producers do not need to put the same level of heating into their greenhouses, do not need to pay the same wages, do not comply with U.K. H&S and hygiene regulations (and so on).  His greenhouses are always pristine.  Genuinely cleaner than my house!

He was also frustrated to see produce on the supermarket shelves that would have been rejected if he had supplied it.

Luckily for him and his family, he has been able to transfer his skills into another business, but the U.K public have lost a good-tasting product and I have lost a source of (reject or surplus) tomatoes!

[stumpy]

The best tomatoes I've ever tasted come from an old boy in my local who works in the local sewage farm - various varieties but all organic, he says.

[SteveO]

The very best tomatoes are the ones you used to buy when on holiday in Spain - lumpy, partly green miss-shapen but the tastiest ever. I guess by now they have been phased out in favour of watery, tasteless "commercial" varieties.

Tomato seeds pass through the human digestive tract unchanged and so it is not surprising they end up growing prolifically in the sunny corners of sewage works. 

Steve

[Baitrunner]

I gave up growing from seed mainly because I can only get about 8 plants in the greenhouse. They don't seem to do as well outside. 

 No idea what we grow. Tend to be lured by names and colours. 

We had a good variety last year and very tasty. A lot were roasted and then used to make soup. The in unripe ones used to make chutney. I played around with adding chilli, garlic and ginger last year. I think I have the proportions right for this year. 

Courgettes are a good crop. One plant produces more than enough for 2 of us. And giving some away. In fact just used the last of the frozen ones. Along with the runners. 

Roll on the growing season. 

[thingamybob]

My Ailsa Craigs are doing well on my kitchen windowsill and are about three inches high. I do not heat my greenhouse so that is the only place where they will get sunshine and heat.

I have a little trick that helps prevents them becoming drawn and lanky. I put some kitchen foil behind them to reflect the sunlight onto the back of the plants. They grow almost straight upwards instead of bending towards the window. The kitchen window faces South so it is an ideal position. When it gets a bit warmer outside I will put them outside on the patio in the full sunshine  to strengthen them and bring them in when the sun goes away.

Since I am only growing seven plants I am going to try something I have never done before. I am going to allow them one branch ie. in a Y shape but still limit each plant to six trusses to see if this improves quality. Does anybody else have any experience in this method? I read about it in a very old beloved gardening book.  

[teadaemon]

5 hours ago, thingamybob said:

My Ailsa Craigs are doing well on my kitchen windowsill and are about three inches high. I do not heat my greenhouse so that is the only place where they will get sunshine and heat.

I have a little trick that helps prevents them becoming drawn and lanky. I put some kitchen foil behind them to reflect the sunlight onto the back of the plants. They grow almost straight upwards instead of bending towards the window. The kitchen window faces South so it is an ideal position. When it gets a bit warmer outside I will put them outside on the patio in the full sunshine  to strengthen them and bring them in when the sun goes away.

Since I am only growing seven plants I am going to try something I have never done before. I am going to allow them one branch ie. in a Y shape but still limit each plant to six trusses to see if this improves quality. Does anybody else have any experience in this method? I read about it in a very old beloved gardening book.  

Personally, I've always just let mine grow without any pinching out and supported them as required. It's not the neatest solution, but it seems to work for me. All of the tomato family (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, etc) will keep going pretty much indefinitely provided they don't suffer from frost, mites, or blight - I've got a couple of chilli plants on the kitchen windowsill that I brought indoors last autumn, they started flowering again in January and one already has a few fruits ready to pick. In this situation, the limiting factor is nutrients, but if you keep feeding them, they keep growing.

[thingamybob]

Its been a lovely day today. I nipped down to my local farm shop which also hosts a mini garden centre. I raided the shop for some bits and pieces to stock my grub locker on the boat. I also bought a large bag of ericaceous compost. On the way home I stocked up on some tinnies and set to sorting my tomato plants out, punctuated by a few sips of beer.

My plants were getting a bit leggy as they were on the kitchen window sill. they are about eighteen inches high now and just showing the first truss of flowers. This afternoon I planted all seven plants in my little 6ft by 6ft greenhouse and strung them up. As I said in a previous post I intend to let them branch once and grow them on two strings (cordons?).

Happy days! I am also growing some cut and come again lettuce, radishes, spring onions, parsley and basil. All will be watered using a cunning gravel trough system incorporating my pond pump delivering a shot of water every day using a timer.

Hopefully I will be able to leave it all and push off to the Broads after the World and his duck have gone home after the Easter hols. Possibly there may be a few radishes and a bit of lettuce to harvest on my return after two weeks if not, I can wait.

[thingamybob]

Update on my tomatoes:

The seven plants were transferred to my greenhouse in the middle of April and are doing really well. The plants are now about four foot high and I have allowed them to branch once and picked out all the other side shoots. I am growing each branch on its own string (cordon?). There are lots of flowers and even one fruit around the size of a marble on one plant. I try to leave the greenhouse door open in good weather and there are lots of small bees around that visit so I am anticipating a good crop. I have just started watering with a reasonable tomato feed (Wilco's). I do not buy brand names and if you look on the packaging the stuff is just the same.

I mentioned my automatic watering in my earlier posts. This comprises a pond pump, a timer and a bit of hose pipe. This delivers four minutes a day, not sure about the gallons, but it keeps my plants going when I am out causing chaos in my boat  . My pond is large enough to take this depletion of water and I am sure the tomato plants appreciate the waste products from the pond.

I have attached a picture taken today showing the plants. You can see also some lovely spring onions growing in pots on a shelf behind the tommies. By the way, spring onions are a ridiculous price in the shops. They are so easy to grow even if you do not have a greenhouse. They can be grown in pots, even window boxes etc. Buy a packet of seeds and sow some every fortnight and you will have some lovely spring onions year round to put in your cheese sarnies.