[Christine]

Have the seeds, have the tubs, have the position - well talked to another plot holder who did well with his last year.

But he suggested using the special growbags from the garden centre. Now I've see those in use elsewhere - they don't seem to last the season, dry out to quickly and don't seem to provide enough nutrients even with tomorite.
 
Now I've read the suggestions on the site here which suggests adding compost and comfrey leaves to the soil and ensuring it's not acidic.

So can you all comment different ways please so that I can gather a majority opinion please. Or at least some tips. 

[Ice]

I use ordinary compost in a bucket and feed from the top and water from the bottom.  Had great success last year in a sheltered spot.

[mumofstig]

Before i got the greenhouse i always grew them in the ground
Blood fish and bone before planting and then water and occasionally liquid tom feed
into sunken bottle next to each one, straight to the roots

[Jay Dubya]

Hi, why not grow them in the soil, as long as you add a bit of organic matter they should be fine. Feed as normal ( Tomorite ) comphrey leaves are good because they are rich in potash ( i put mine in a tub with a pipe at the bottom and draw off the liquid add to watering can ). I don't like grow bags myself i prefer pots even if you buy the growbags and put the compost in the pots.

Keep on a troshing J W

[madcat]

Until last years blight attack    I have grown them outside successfully in deep pots  (flower buckets from morrisons with drainage holes!) filled with garden compost in the bottom half and multi purpose in the top; watering every day from the top and feeding with B&Q tom feed when I remember (sort of  every other day ish).  Also in the ground - planting pockets with a bit of extra garden compost covered with soil mixed with growmore/fish, blood etc (depending on how organic I am) and watering/feeding as above.  Gardeners Delight and italian plums mostly, but given my slapdash ways, most things are fine.

But this year I will be spraying with Bordeaux mixture at the first sniff of a smiths period ...

[Ropster]

I grew mine in the ground last year, just watered occasionaly and fed with wormery juice, worked a treat until the blight killed them

[MoreWhisky]

Thats what im planning to do Ropster, Are u doing same this yr? if so what u doing against the blight?

[Ropster]

yes i will be doing the same this year, except I have a lot more plants and varietys due to the 50p seed sale at the local garden centre

there isnt a lot you can do against the blight except spray with bordeaux mix, which i wont be doing as i dont want to eat it

so i will be employing the crossed fingers method of blight prevention

[JulesJ]

I'll be using a combination of in the ground, in growbags with an extra bottomless pot on the top for depth, in hanging baskets, and in a plastic-lined crate on the table, depending on the variety - Ildi, Roma, Suncherry, Balconi Yellow. Crossed fingers here too; the crate ones were the only ones that did well last year.

[woodburner]

I was reading Bob Flowerdew's opinion of groing tomatoes in grow bags just last night! (In a word, "rubbish".)

Basically, there's not enough volume for the suggested number of plants. You can improve things by using ring culture (bottomless) pots on top, but IMHO that's a waste of the compost that's in the bags as the lower roots are for water uptake and so the medium in the bag does not need to have any nutrients.
I haven't tried ring culture yet but it's high on my list for this year.

From personal experience I'd say that 10" pots are a bit too small for growing in the usual way though.

[Mr B]

Hi All,
   Lost all mine to blight last year as well, I was wondering if puting some fleace round them near the danger period would keep the blight spores off?
regards,
Chris

[sclarke624]

I grow all mine in Sankey 7.5 or 10 ltre pots (whatever is handy).  In them I use multi purpose compost, I feed every week with tomorite when first truss is starting to show little tiny fruits.  I have grown cherry and money maker size in these and had great success.

I have grown in a grow bag but dry out to quick for me, even with watering every other day.  I have also done the split the bag in half leaving a bit of plastic for stability, put them on their ends, like saddle bags, and grown them.  The saddle bags was far better than flat.  Don't do the saddle bag now cos of buying seperate grow bags dearer and I have enough pots and pots are tidier.

I also stake them.

[compostqueen]

I have to grow outside and have had years of success but now blight is becoming a nuisance and I lost all but the bog standard varieties which were damaged but recovered. They do say trying to keep rain splash off them helps.   I use very large pots, eg big mayo tubs from the sarni shop with a haphazard network of supporting canes

[mumofstig]

At my old house next door was an italian family and they grew all there 'proper' italian tomatoes in the soil, but the whole garden was under a plastic roof, no sides just roof.
He had a wonderful crop every year, he added manure every autumn and that was it apart from hand watering every day.
Sometimes i wonder if we fuss to much

[Yorkie]

Hi All,
   Lost all mine to blight last year as well, I was wondering if puting some fleace round them near the danger period would keep the blight spores off?
regards,
Chris

I very much doubt it, Chris.  The spores are carried on the wind and are microscopic so will pass through fleece