Tomatoes are the most popular homegrown crop. Everyone has a go at growing them at least once. Tomatoes are pretty easy to grow and being able to pick your own, ripe and warmed from the sun, is one of the joys of summer.
By now, you will have planted yours so I won’t repeat myself and describe how to plant them.
I will, instead, deal with summer care. Tomatoes are always easier to grow in a greenhouse or polytunnel. If this is not possible then put them in a mini-greenhouse on the patio. And if that is not possible, grow them somewhere sunny. The reason for this, apart from their liking for sun and warmth, is that the biggest problem is ‘blight’. This fungal disease will not affect the plants if the leaves are dry. If they are wet for long periods – usually in stormy weather in August, the leaves (and fruits) will be affected and turn black and the crop is lost. Having got that sorted, let’s move on to more positive things.
If the plants are growing in pots or growing bags they will need watering frequently and regularly. Without getting bogged down with negatives, irregular watering, allowing the plants to wilt too often, results in a problem called ‘blossom-end-rot’. The base of the tomatoes becomes sunken and turns black. It is not a disease but is caused by the plants drying out. If the plants are grown in beds where the roots can go deep in the soil, it is not likely to be a problem. But in shallow growing bags, plants dry out within hours in summer so you need to keep on top of the watering.
Unless you are growing dwarf, bush tomatoes, you will need to support the plants. In my polytunnel I use strings and twist the plants round these but if you do not have overhead supports you can use canes and tie them to these with soft twine.
Apart from watering, you also need to feed your plants, especially if they are in pots. Feed them at least every week with a tomato fertiliser. As the plants get bigger and fruits are ripening, feed more often.
You also need to remove the side shoots on your tomatoes to restrict it to a single stem so you get ripe fruits and not a mass of foliage. The side shoots grow where the leaf meets the stem. If the shoot is small you can simply snap it off. But if it is large or the plants are a bit dry, you will need to snip them off.
The flower clusters grow directly from the stem – NOT from where the leaf is attached to the stem – so you should not get them confused.
Tomatoes are ‘self-fertile’ and every flower should set a fruit. But beefsteak kinds, which tend to have large flowers, will only set the first few flowers in each cluster (truss). The plants simply can’t cope with producing many huge fruits. Varieties with smaller fruits, especially cherry ‘toms’ should set every flower but tapping the flowers, to dislodge the pollen, can help fruit set.
If the plants get dry or very hot the flowers may not set and drop off but this is only temporary and later flowers should set.
It can sometimes seem like the first fruits will never ripen! Once they start there is usually no problem but the first tomato sometimes seems like it will never ripen. Never strip off the leaves to expose the fruits to the sun*. Tomatoes ripen with warmth and not sun. Exposing the green fruits to hot sun can cause ‘greenback’ which is where the shoulder of the fruits are green and ‘crunchy’. It is like a vegetable sunburn. It is true that ethylene gas can help ripening, so putting a ripe banana or banana skins under the plants ‘may’ help. It certainly won’t do any harm.
Later in the season when lower leaves turn yellow, you should remove the lower leaves but not until they start to discolour. Once the plants have produced four or five trusses of fruits you should remove the tip of the plants to control growth and ensure that the fruits that are there ripen. But that is something to think about in late August!
Tomatoes are easy and fun and provided you give them a little care they will reward you with a great crop of delicious fruits.
*If you are growing the new ‘blue’ tomatoes you do need to expose the fruits to direct sun or they will not develop their characteristic colours