[rogertb]

First year with a greenhouse and was looking forward to a bumper crop of toms but my results are pretty poor, OK I do have a couple of plants that I found out recently were an 'outdoor' variety but my Marmande are small and not growing, the cucumber has been good and the peppers OK but the aubergines rot as soon as they appear so next year I'm going to read up on tom growing and plant some outside as well (another chap has a few plum toms outside and they're rampant and sweet, loads of fruit (he is nice and lets me have some now and then, it's his big grin that gets to me) ... so I mentioned my dilemma in the pub and an experienced gardener said "nothing really grows well in a greenhouse, I only use mine to bring seedlings on" ... OK a bit of a broad statement but I tend to concur, a bit ... any of you chaps any thoughts please ?

Roger

[cadalot]

I've used mine for 100s and 1000s tomatoes and have had a bumper crop - and I have peppers growing in there and they are doing really well, but as your friend suggests mainly I've used them (one on the allotment and one at home) for starting off seedlings and young plants, and I will be trying overwintering some produce in them this year.
   

[mumofstig]

I don't agree with him (the bloke in the pub!) I wouldn't dare to disagree with cadalot 
Well, for a start you may not get any tomatoes outside - unless you're prepared to spray; my outside ones went down with blight again this year, the 3rd year running 

How well your inside tomatoes grow depends on how you grow them -
In pots? in the ground?
How did you feed and prune them? Lots of variables involved there, which we can try and sort out if you tell us what you did 

As for Aubergines -  they are such fussy things, that a few of us have given up trying after countless attempts .
If your cucumbers are doing well, I applaud you, because they always find so many ways to die 

[cadalot]

Mums so am I just lucky growing the marketmore cucumbers outside? 

[mumofstig]

personally, I find the outdoor cukes are tougher, both in the sense that they don't commit suicide so often, and that the skins are often thicker as well.
If you're happy with yours - then that's great 

[Headgardener22]

I grow tomatoes in the greenhouse because otherwise they get blight. I tried growing them outdoors for 4 years but never got a crop.

This year I've let some self-seeded tomatoes grow outside and they haven't succumbed (yet).

I think you do get more fruit on outdoor tomatoes, this year I've got a lot of aborted flowers because of the heat, but at least I get some.

[beesrus]

I would suggest your experienced gardener friend had drunk one too many and fallen into the ubiquitous all knowing pub cynic's hole.
Not only can you grow great Summer tomatoes, squash, sweet and chilli peppers, cucumbers in a greenhouse, you can also extend the season either end and grow all sorts of other crops to an amazing level. A border helps rather than a concrete base. Toms do need big pots if you don't have a greenhouse border, about the size of a builders bucket. Cabbage won't thank you though. Aubergines are notoriously difficult for the beginner, but can be conquered. I also grow great early carrots in there, and huge early PSB over-Winters for a great Spring crop just because I can  , both in the border.
 
You just need to do it right. Plenty of info online everywhere. It doesn't take long for the penny to drop as to how to do things. the most important things are nutrition in your pots if using them, the size of those pots, watering regimes and ventilation to keep the temps and humidity acceptable. Keep an eye on any marauding aphids and caterpillars, and Bob's your uncle.
Great for potting on, seedlings etc., yes, but you should easily grow great stuff to fruition as well.

[jaydig]

I've had the best year every in my greenhouse. I grow the toms in the border soil, but I change it every year and top up with homemade compost which includes the chicken manure very kindly produced by my three girls. It's been a bumper crop of Sungold, Fantasia, Golden Sunrise, peppers (for the first time), and because I can't bear to throw plants away once they have germinated, I planted two spare cucumber Cucino plants grown from seed, between the tomatoes, at the back. I now need a machete to get into the greenhouse, and am picking at least five or six small cucumbers every day. The two original cuc plants that I bought from a garden centre, and nurtured carefully, gave up the ghost almost before setting any fruit.

[JayG]

It takes quite a long time to learn how to get the best out of a greenhouse - the fact that it provides a sheltered and somewhat artificial environment is a good thing if you know what you're doing and a bad thing if you don't!

Took 3 failed years to work out that at least in my GH too much sun kills cukes, and as I've reported elsewhere this year I managed to find a way of almost killing my tomatoes by using a completely dumb method of boosting the nutrients in the MP compost they were planted in.

However skilled you become some crops are always bound to do better some years than others, just like they do outside. 

[Nobbie]

I was just wondering if maybe the greenhouse was a bit shaded? You say the cucumbers did well, and they're normally fussy, but toms are usually pretty straightforward if they get plenty of light.

[brianc]

This year I have grown Red Robin cherry toms in 9 inch pots in the green house I have 6 plants I can not
keep up with them. I live in Essex.
                                         

[spuriousmonkey]

I only have a small greenhouse so the temperatures are a bit excessive with good weather. Not really good for tomatoes. I grow tomatoes in my greenhouse, under a transparent roof, and just outside.

Tomatoes outside taste best. So far I had a crop every year, but I only grow early varieties. Production can exceed the other locations or be less. Depends on the weather.

The tomatoes in the greenhouse suffer a bit from the temperature extremes. The ones under the transparent roof do best visually. Taste wise they are not so good as the ones grown outside.

Peppers love the greenhouse.

The main advantage of the greenhouse was that my tomato seedlings grew much better in the early season than normal. As did my other seedlings.

Next year I will just put two cherry tomatoes in the greenhouse and the rest in the other locations. i will save all the space for peppers. My aubergines started well, but never got past one fruit each and ended up disease ridden.

[Growster...]

I think your chum knows much, much less than you do, Roger.

Greenhouse growing is very concise, but you really need to get the growing season organised after the seedling stages.

We have twenty toms, six cuces and six chillis in an 6' x 10' greenhouse, and all are - or have been - prolific. We grow in big pots - like the builder's buckets mentioned earlier, and also good (not 'budget') growbags, and it has been the best year ever - for us - that is!

If you have the time, it's a bit of a slog keeping up with good greenhouse work, but even a few minutes a day makes all the difference!

However...

You're definitely not wrong in considering growing outdoor toms, and we're doing this again on The Patch after a huge crop a couple of years ago, and this year they have so much manure to munch on, they're responding very well to frequent doses of comfrey, nettle and 6x tea. They're behind - timewise - the greenhouse ones, but the flavour and texture is amazing, and they're only Alicante, which is a pretty standard tom these days, when there are so many others!

Of course, we may get blighted at some stage, but that's another post if you want to know about Bordeaux mixture or aspirin..;0)

[Potty Plotty Lotty]

Tomatoes outside taste best. So far I had a crop every year, but I only grow early varieties. Production can exceed the other locations or be less. Depends on the weather.

Which early varieties do you grow spurious monkey? I'm after some more varieties of early tomato in addition to the Stupice and Galina types I regularly grow.

[andy dewar]

Im sorry but your mate is talking rubbish iv got a 8x6 gh and down the sunniest side i have 2 of the marshalls growbags filled with good compost , in the first biv got 3 types of toms from littluns to big beefsteaks and in the 2nd iv got 2 cucs at the back and 2 peppers in the front and iv had so many cucs and toms iv been giving them away i water them every day and thats it the other sides are where i do all the other stuff so its nice and full all the time stick with it and your results will come