[garddwr]

Hi,

I can't decide to either sow my tomatoes all on the same date - March 1st or try to stagger them so I would sow some now some in March and another lot in April so I would hope to have some Tomatoes in May/June some in July and another lot at the end of the season, but I have a feeling they would all catch up and I'm going to have a glut all at the same time either way, from reading DD.'s blog last year he sowed his toms at around now and I think he harvested them around  the 1st of July.

I remember last year I sowed mine on March 18th and harvested my first tomato on July 1st.

Can anyone help me out here ? What have you found with the sowing date and harvesting time ? Do they catch up ?

Thanks

Garddwr

[DD.]

They tend to catch up.

I get a longish harvest by also growing outside. Still have those on the plot when the greenhouse ones have finished.

Ate my last tomato 2 days before Christmas last year.

[JayG]

I've still got portions of courgette provencal (yes, the dreaded c-word!) in my freezer from last year which makes a good basis for pasta dishes; no problem with tomato gluts here! 

[zazen999]

I've still got 4 tomatoes in the kitchen from last year's greenhouse crops; amazing!

Fresh, not frozen either...before you ask.

Must be that lovely October we had....

[mumofstig]

They do tend to all start fruiting at the same time, but the cordon ones don't stop producing.
It's not as if they fruit in July and that's it
They mostly seem to stop at about the same time, end of Septemberish, though because of the weather
I am not overwhelmed by the taste of Ailsa Craig tomatoes, but I grow 1 plant each year, because if you don't stop them they carry on fruiting. I have still been picking these ripe from the greenhouse in November for the last few years, long after the others are over:)

[DD.]

I think he meant started harvesting in July!

[DD.]

I think he meant started harvesting in July. To be honest, I can't remember!

[Jay The Digger]

I've still got 4 tomatoes in the kitchen from last year's greenhouse crops; amazing!

Fresh, not frozen either...before you ask.

Must be that lovely October we had....

I still have about 1kg of cherry tomates left over.  They have been sitting in an uncovered tupperware box in the garage for months.  They were the last fruit on the plants picked in October.  Most were still green.  They are all nicely ripe now, and have been since mid November.

I am really surprised they have lasted this long.  If I had bought them from the supermarket they would have gone mouldy months ago!!!!

[Nikkithefoot]

I sowed some toms every 2 weeks from Dec 29th until March last year (only 4 or 5 seeds at a time) as an experiment, and essentially they all fruited at more or less the same time. I was picking Ildi toms from the greenhouse just after Christmas, the plants were very brown (dead) but the fruits stayed very firm.

This year I am waiting until March to sow them

[garddwr]

Thanks for all of your replies.

Sorry for the confusion I meant starting to harvest in July.

I suppose that sowing them on the 1st of March will be fine then and it will be much easier than trying to do 3 or 4 different sowings as they will probably catch up.

I could always try to sow a few seeds late April/early May just to see what happens. I will try to sow some Ailsa Craig ones as well just 1 or 2 as I haven't tried them before.

So the consensus is sow them the same time becasue they usualy catch up.

Thanks