Growing Tomatoes has to be one of the best things to do in the garden there is no comparison between the bland tasteless Tomato that you have just paid a fortune for in the Supermarket that has travelled half way across the world to get here ( although they are getting better at offering interesting well flavoured home grown ones BUT at a price ) and the one you have just picked and eaten straight from the vine so how easy is it to grow tomatoes ?? A lot easier than you think !
What do I grow them in and Where?
If you have a greenhouse super your off to a great start get rid of all that junk you store in there It is for growing Tomatoes in not a second garage !
If you haven't got a greenhouse no matter you can still get a fantastic crop of Tomatoes outside the best place obviously is against a South facing wall But anywhere that gets a good amount of sun and not too much wind will be fine.
Now what to grow them in or rather what not to grow them in personally I wouldn't bother with growbags for Tomatoes if you must use growbags then firstly don't buy cheap ones go for either the Arthur Bowers or Westland ones which were both highly rated in Which Trials and what i would do for extra depth is buy these re-usable grow bags you can get now for a couple of quid and tip the compost out of grow bags into those to give you a good depth.
Re-Usable Grow Bag
If you have a greenhouse border you can plant in then work in lots of well rotted manure or compost (same goes if your planting in soil or a raised bed outside) when it comes to planting I would sprinkle either a small handful of general high potash fertiliser or fishmeal, seaweed meal, or Miracle Grow Organic Veg fertiliser in the hole plant the Tomato plants as deep as possible I usually strip off the two seedling leaves and plant at least as deep as the first set of true leaves if the Tomatoes are tall strip off the lower leaves and go even deeper. Tomato plants will sprout roots from the stem so the deeper you can get them the better root system they will have and the better plant and therefore yield you will have. Then firm the soil round the stem and water well preferably with Maxicrop plant growth stimulant.
If you don't have a greenhouse bed or bed outside then you will need to grow in a large pot I use old Flower buckets with holes drilled in the bottom you can quite often get from Morrisons Supermarket when they sell them off or any planter around 10-15 litres.
This is the sort of pot size I grow in
But by far my preferred way of growing Tomatoes is in the
They are expensive But they will repay you every penny and then some what they claim on their website is true I know because I tested them out. From what I can tell the UK agent for them is no more But it looks like
The Organic Gardening Catalogue does them as well as a hydroponics firm and you can get them from America via e-bay and Amazon.
A few years back we were asked to supply plants for the guy that ran Earthbox UK and as part of that we were asked to plant up loads of them for a show we planted 14 of them with various veg and you would not believe the size and speed they all grew and the crops they all produced. And I have grown my Tomatoes in them ever since
Here is my Earthboxes laden with Tomatoes last year despite the wet summer. And the only time i have ever had blight on Tomatoes
in Earthboxes was not until October of this year the first time in 4 years!! I think it is because the plants grow so robust.
I promise you have not tasted Tomatoes until you pick one and eat it straight from the plant warmed by the Sun mmmmmmmm delicious.
Varieties easy to grow
Sungold,
Gardeners Delight,
Alicante,
Ailsa Craig,
Moneymaker,
Rosada,
Supersweet 100.
Or if you wish to be slightly more adventurous try these for outstanding flavour
Bottondoro,
Super Sioux,
Aunt Rubys German Green,
Paul Robeson,
Piccolo,
Sungrape,
Sunsugar,
Golden Cherry,
Annanas Noir,
Black Krim,
Mariannas Piece,
