If you want a crop of tomatoes that taste better than anything you can buy in the shops, now is the time to plan your sowing and planting.
Tomatoes are not difficult to grow but there are a few important considerations regarding what type to grow and where to grow them.
Pots, bags or borders?
You can grow tomatoes in the soil or in containers. Many people prefer to grow them in soil, either outside or in the greenhouse border. The advantage is that watering is less onerous and crucial – they won’t dry out as rapidly as in pots – and some people think the fruits taste better because of a wider range of nutrients in the soil compared to compost. But there is a risk of disease if you grow them in the same spot every year. In greenhouses it is good practice to dig out the border soil and replace it, to a depth of 30cm, every few years.
If you grow in bags or pots you have fresh compost every year, and much less risk of root disease, which is why commercial growers developed this system. But because a full grown tomato plant needs lots of water, you need to pay careful attention to watering in summer and, of course, you have to provide fertiliser at least once a week.
Indoors or outside?
Tomatoes are killed by frost so you can sow and plant, and get earlier crops in a greenhouse or poly tunnel. The extra heat boosts growth and speeds up ripening too. Even the plastic mini-greenhouses capture heat and ensure a good crop and most are big enough for three plants. Another huge advantage is that blight, the most serious disease of tomatoes, can be largely prevented if the leaves are kept dry under cover.
Blight – Resistant varieties: “Fandango’, ‘Legend’, ‘Fantasio’, ‘Ferline’, ‘Latah’, ‘Losetto’ and ‘Berry’.
Tall or short?
Tomatoes of all sizes and colours are either indeterminate (cordon) or determinate (bush). Indeterminate tomatoes are just that: the growing tip keeps on growing and the sideshoots have to be removed and they can grow to 2m or more high. We usually pinch out the growing tip after four or five flower clusters (trusses). They potentially carry much heavier crops than the determinate kinds, and there is a bigger choice of varieties but they do need support and training.
Determinate kinds have flower clusters at the ends of each shoot and are naturally dwarf and bushy. They are often suitable for baskets or window boxes. They do not need pinching out or any training. They crop earlier than the indeterminate kinds but tend to crop for a short period and there are fewer varieties.
Big or small?
Tomato fruits vary from 15g to 1kilo or more. Most people like cherry or mini-plum tomatoes and these are ideal for your first tomatoes. They tend to ripen early and are easy to pick and eat – often few actually make it into the kitchen! Large, beefsteak tomatoes produce far fewer tomatoes and they are usually among the last to ripen, and are best grown under cover.
Plants or seeds?
Tomatoes are easy grown from seed, even on a windowsill to begin with. They need good light and warmth though. I would start to sow them at the end of this month if you intend to grow them in a greenhouse or poly tunnel. I usually sow in the middle of March. You can leave sowing till the end of March if you are later growing them outside.
Tomato plants are usually available by late March. They will need protection from frost. Buying plants saves some hassle but you will not get the selection you could try if growing from seeds.
Many tomato seeds are F1 hybrids which are quite expensive and you may only get five seeds in a packet. Though this may put you off, consider that you don’t need more that that for a couple of growing bags and what will you do with the extra 100 seeds in a pack of ‘Money Maker’? That said, tomato seeds store very well so if you have an opened pack from last year it is worth sowing them.
What do I grow?
Well you can see from the top photo that I like tomatoes of all shapes and sizes and colours! I tend not to grow ‘Money Maker’ or any ‘ordinary’ round, red tomato. I don’t buy them so why would I grow them? There is one that I grow every year simply because it can’t be beaten – ‘Sungold’. If you haven’t tried it, and you like sweet tomatoes or have children to tempt with fresh veg then give it a try.
I always grow cherry and mini-plums and then a few larger, beefsteaks. ‘Rosella’ is a deep pink cherry that has an intense sweetness and soft flesh and I grow it most years. This year I am trying ‘Sunchocola’ which is a brown tomato related to ‘Sungold’. ‘Berry’ (‘Garden Berry’) is a strange tomato with strawberry-shaped fruits that are rather firm but very tasty and so glossy that they look polished – kids love them..
So get organised now. You will need seeds or plants, some multipurpose compost for sowing and growing on and some growing bags or large pots and some fertiliser. Because I believe that you only get out what you put in I like to use an organic fertiliser for the tomatoes in pots, even if it is only on alternate waterings, and I think seaweed fertilisers are beneficial. For plants in beds I apply a dressing of fish, blood and bone or chicken pellets soon after planting to get them started.