The Toms are in

Gardening Gardening: Chat / Discussions
41

I guess I won’t be a young whipper snapper stalking the forum anymore :frowning:

42

Anyway, back to tomatoes.

I have just ordered some marmande - I need outdoor varieties due to lack of space under glass

43

You’re still a young pup then :lol:

Happy birthday for next week! Are we allowed to give you 50 birthday bumps? :mrgreen:

44

I hope you like Marmande, PPH, I love the flavor, and it grows well here for me.

45

As long as there is a crash mat underneath - fragile bones and all that :wink:

46

Thanks, I love tomatoes in any shape or form. I look forward to trying Marmande. 100 seeds for £0.95 - not bad.

I will report back :slight_smile:

47

I’ve grown Ailsa Craig for 4 years now and its always cropped very well and the fruits are a very good flavour, and make excellent sauces for freezing the excess.

I grow Chelsea Mini cherry toms and they are also brilliant croppers with superb flavour.

I adore toms … dribble dribble :-D:-D

48

Anyone tried those tumbling basket types ?

49

Please Old Git - if you know what some of these varieties taste like, don’t tell me. I want a surprise in a few months time.

Appen as I`m saying nowt then :slight_smile:

50

Anyone tried those tumbling basket types ?

Well I would have wouldn`t I ?

I`m always honest with my customers-there are better tasting tomatoes but for those limited to patios or just baskets they are a lot better than shop bought rubbish

51

This is making me feel hungry, nothing like a home grown tom and cheese sarnie, mmm I can taste it.
I wish now I’d taken some photos of last years toms, they did eventually pick up but only after a month or so which made them late. Maybe I kept them inside for to long , mind you I don’t like to put them out too early because of the weather, I can’t remember if I let the soil dry out or over water. Do you have to pinch toms out to make them bush out a bit? I never have so could be thats the problem.

52

Roma, marmande, golden sunset, red cherry and a couple from the Tomato Festival in The Loire last summer - Noire de Criméa and Péche Blanche
Waiting for them to show their noses now - though with sleet and/or snow forecast for later in the week they’re better sitting in the compost in the nice warm propogator.

53

Now this I do know :slight_smile: . . yes, you pinch out the side shoots at the base of the leaf where it joins the main stem, . . the side shoots rob the plant of energy and if left alone will form new branches, . . . is that correct OG. :wink:

54

I left mine on the first time I grew toms, wow you should’ve seen it, it was like a huge bush and I had to delve into the leaves and stems to find the toms, there were hundreds.:smiley:

55

I’ve never pinched mine, and usually have a decent crop.

56

OK, . . here’s what I got last year, . . it was only a trial to see how I got on, . . they were grown on a table under polyethylene sheeting which was only 4 foot high.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/den234/misc/tomatoes01.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/den234/misc/toms01a.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/den234/misc/toms01b.jpg

This year I’ll have twice the height in terms of the greenhouse so I hope to get twice the crop. :slight_smile:

57

I always pinch out side shoots on greenhouse plants, mainly because of limited space. Letting them go ‘bushy’ means there is less space between plants so its easier for dampness and disease to get in and spread … in my experience that is.

The greenhouse the toms are in is really a little too small and I grow 9 plants (3 to each grow bag).

58

Mine are grown outdoors in tomato cages. I have 5 plants, enough for one person.

59

Wow, that’s a pretty prolific crop Nero, smashing looking fruits, yum, yum.

60

It wasn’t the best year to grow them Fay, the summer was dreadful and in the latter days I had to bring them indoors to ripen off because of early frosts.