We’ve got a few different tomatoes on the menu this year, so we thought we’d take you through a little bit of a tasting tour so that you can choose the ones you’d like to grow in your garden.
Cordon tomatoes that grow tall and need support:
Sweetie Tomatoes: Produces exceptionally sweet flavoured, cherry sized tomatoes in abundance. You’ll get a good crop.
Yellow Pear Tomatoes: As the name suggests, these are yellow in colour and pear-shaped. They’re quite small (about the size of a cherry tomato) and have the novelty factor. Sweet and tasty too.
Tigerella Tomatoes: These medium-sized tomatoes have fun, yellow stripes on the skin making them a quirky addition to a salad.
Golden Sunrise Tomatoes: Gives lovely, medium-sized fruits which are beautifully golden yellow in colour. Sweet and juicy.
Gardener’s Delight Tomatoes: Aptly named. Everyone loves these cherry tomatoes for their exceptional flavour.
Black Russian Tomatoes: These are the biggest in our collection. They are unusually dark, almost mahogany in colour as they mature. Surprisingly sweet for a larger tomato.
Bushy varieties that will grow well in pots or hanging baskets:
Tiny Tim Tomatoes: produce clusters of beautifully flavoured, sweet, salad tomatoes that are 2cm in diameter and a lovely shade of red.
Good for growing outside/in slightly shadier conditions:
- Tiny Tim Tomatoes
- Black Russian Tomatoes
SOME TOP TIPS FOR GROWING TOMATOES
- Tomatoes need lots of warmth and sunshine, so if you can’t grow them in a greenhouse, find a sunny, sheltered spot in the garden.
- If growing in pots, make sure the pot is big enough. We’d recommend an 8-10l pot for cordon varieties.
- If growing in grow bags, rather than following the grow bag instructions and trying to grow 3 tomato plants we highly recommend cutting the grow bag in half right across the middle (make sure the compost is evenly split between the two halves before you cut) then turning each end up on it’s side and growing a tomato plant in both.
- Tomatoes do not like drought. Keep them well watered consistently. A good drink each day if growing in a greenhouse, and if growing outside, if it doesn’t rain they’ll need to be watered.
- If you notice the skin of your tomatoes is splitting, that’s a sure sign they’ve not had consistent watering.
- A liquid feed fortnightly once flowers start to form will help produce more fruits.
- Pinch out side shoots – between the main stem and the branches, you’ll see little shoots appearing every now and then. Pinch them off as they appear to keep the plant neat and to keep all the energy focussed on growing fruit.
