tomato (outdoor)

  • 13 Replies
  • 12247 Views
*

shaun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: g.sutton/cheshire
  • 6948
tomato (outdoor)
« on: February 12, 2006, 09:07 »
i'm looking for a bit of advice realy about outdoor toms i know our weather can be against us but what the hell
1 what tomato have you had success with
2 do you provide some protection eg a mesh or plastic  screen
3 what are the basic soil requirements
i'm growing from seed a unwins moneymaker ,has anybody used this one
ps rain stopped play today :(
feed the soil not the plants
organicish
you learn gardening by making mistakes

*

John

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Clogwyn Melyn, Gwynedd
  • 17113
    • Low Cost Living
tomato (outdoor)
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2006, 10:25 »
Hi Shaun

I've grown moneymaker once and it was pretty tasteless. If I was you I'd not waste my effort on them. Sorry.

Garden pearl are a small tumble cherry, which we grow a couple of plants in hanging baskets. Very successful.  Sungold, wonderful taste and prolific yellow tomato. Really the sweetest I've ever tasted and quick so it will grow outside pretty well.
My real outdoor success was plum roma. Started indoors then kept  under glass until they filled the three inch pot. Laid down some weed fabric over comfrey and planted into that under cloches until they pushed them. I've some larger glass barn cloches to use this year, which will help more.
Towards the season end, I used horticultural fleece to extend the season.
Many of the green tomatoes left as the frosts arrived managed to ripen indoors.

The main thing is to get them in as sheltered and sunny a spot as you can.  I believe you can get some varieties from smaller suppliers that were developed in Russia or somewhere cool.  I've not tried them but sounds like they should be OK here.
Check out our books - ideal presents

John and Val Harrison's Books
 

*

shaun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: g.sutton/cheshire
  • 6948
tomato (outdoor)
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2006, 19:11 »
thanks john ive took your advice and gone for sungold and another one called sweet olive fingers crossed,this is the 1st time ive gron them from seed as i have always bought the plants

*

John

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Clogwyn Melyn, Gwynedd
  • 17113
    • Low Cost Living
tomato (outdoor)
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2006, 23:03 »
You'll love sungold - they are my favourite but too sweet for cooking. Tomatoes are pretty easy usually, there's an article on  them I did HERE

*

shaun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: g.sutton/cheshire
  • 6948
tomato (outdoor)
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2006, 21:42 »
so john you dont need any protection from birds etc

*

Martin

  • Experienced Member
  • ***
  • Location: Shaftesbury, Dorset
  • 152
tomato (outdoor)
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2006, 22:05 »
I have some tomato seeds "Costoluto Fiorentino" which I understand will require some staking. The instructions recommend sheltering the foliage from rain to avoid blight. Anyone tried this? If so, did you manage to construct something that didn't blow away?
Martin

*

John

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Clogwyn Melyn, Gwynedd
  • 17113
    • Low Cost Living
tomato (outdoor)
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2006, 23:29 »
Shaun - birds don't seem to be a problem with tomatoes, just slugs.

Martin, staking is required with all tomatoes except for bush varieties. Blight is a fungal disease that is spread by spores when the weather is warm and humid. It's the same thing for potatoes, which are the same family. Rain could be beneficial as it washes spores off. My tomatoes did better outdoors than in one year, although blight got them in the end.

Sounds like an Italian variety - where did you get the seeds from?

*

Martin

  • Experienced Member
  • ***
  • Location: Shaftesbury, Dorset
  • 152
tomato (outdoor)
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2006, 19:55 »
Quote from: "john"

Sounds like an Italian variety - where did you get the seeds from?


Hi John, I got them from the Real Seeds Catalog (http://www.realseeds.co.uk/).

I bought their Kitchen Garden collection, and also their Spring Salad collection, so plenty to be getting on with! (http://www.realseeds.co.uk/minicollections.html)

*

noshed

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: East London
  • 4731
tomatoes (outdoor)
« Reply #8 on: March 01, 2006, 11:27 »
Hi John, more questions
I'm going to try Sungold and plum Roma on your recommendation. I've got a cheap plastic greenhouse for the balcony - I was going to start them in there at the middle/end of March or whenever these Arctic winds go. Then I was going to put them out in a sunny part of the allotment under a fleece/cloche - maybe with a bit of time in my, as yet virtual, cold frame. Does this seem OK to you? Bear in mind I'm in the soft south.
Also now I've got a shed, should I put my chitting spuds in there? I'm worried they might be a bit warm under the kitchen table. We've only got a small flat with no spare unheated rooms.
Thanks
Self-sufficient in rasberries and bindweed. Slug pellets can be handy.

*

John

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Clogwyn Melyn, Gwynedd
  • 17113
    • Low Cost Living
tomato (outdoor)
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2006, 12:12 »
To take the easy one first..
If you have a window in the shed, put them there but keep an eye on the weather - if it is going to drop below freezing, give them a fleece blanket.
You need light  to chit them, hence the window..

Sounds like a plan with the tomatoes - once again, remember they are very frost sensitive.  Better late than dead. Sungold are very quick to fruit so you should be fine outdoors with them. The plum Roma did well for me but the sunnier and more sheltered the better. Me, being a twit, had them between the runner beans and sweetcorn last year! Still got a decent crop though.

I've got a feeling we're going to have a scorcher of a summer - so should be a great year for tomatoes. You may wish to buy a brolly now :)

*

noshed

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: East London
  • 4731
tomatoes
« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2006, 12:56 »
Thanks a lot for that. I'll give it a go. I'm impressed with your long-range weather forecast...

*

John

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Clogwyn Melyn, Gwynedd
  • 17113
    • Low Cost Living
tomato (outdoor)
« Reply #11 on: March 01, 2006, 13:07 »
Well I covered both bases, like any good fortune teller! If it is sunny, I was right and you need the brolly for shade and if not you still need the brolly.

Of course, if it snows in August my reputation is shot!

*

lentil987

  • Experienced Member
  • ***
  • Location: Milton Keynes
  • 155
    • http://www.dancingbear.co.uk
tomato growing
« Reply #12 on: March 09, 2006, 21:44 »
I have grown many types of tomato for several years now all purchased from seeds of Italy. I have found that they have survived very well in our climate outside. I start them off inside around the end of February in peat pots then plant them out around the middle to end of May. They tend to bet a little leggy but you can plant them deep and it helps with root formation.
I currently am growing Redorta (these are big cooking tomatos very good for sauces, soups etc. Red Pear (so named as the have a bit of a pear shape) Rio Grande, Black Prince, Follia, Roma and Marglobe.

I love growing tomatos as they are just so different tasting from the bland one you buy in the shops. We have enought tomatos to eat in salads etc from the middle of August to the middle of October and then we also make alot of tomato soup and passata that keeps in the freezer all winter.

I shall post recipes nearer the time so you can try!
Every child is born a naturalist. His eyes are, by nature,
open to the glories of the stars, the beauty of the flowers,
and the mystery of life.  
-  R. Search

*

GrannieAnnie

  • Grandmother of the Forums
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Kent
  • 21104
tomato (outdoor)
« Reply #13 on: March 12, 2006, 11:41 »
Morning everyone.  I agree with Lentil, I love growing my own tomatoes, supermarket ones (even the ones on the vine they sell) have no taste whatsoever.  Before I got my greenhouse I grew some outside and only had a small patch cultivated.  They grew well the first year, not so well the 2nd year and the 3rd year (luckily I had a greenhouse as well by then) they got the blight on the outdoor ones so were useless.  I didn't think about rotation at the time as I only had the one spot then.  Last year, my 4th year, I grew them all in the greenhouse with my chillis and peppers.  They did really well.  I had Yellow Pear, Tigerella, Moneymaker, Gardeners Delight, and a green and an orange variety but I can't remember their names.  I gave my step daughter in law one of each variety as she wanted to try out a little veg patch in her tiny garden, and during the growing process I asked her how they were doing?  Oh okay she said, but I had to throw some plants away, they were all manky.  Well, I couldn't understand what she'd done, as all mine were fine!  Then after hers had all finished, we went down one day for lunch and I took her some Tigerella and yellow pear and she said, oh those are the ones I threw away because I thought they were going rotten!!!!  She only ever buys things from Tesco, so had never seen a tomato that wasn't all red!!!! lol

This year I am fortunate enough to have bought a 30 foot polytunnel for £60, so I have stretched the budget and bought a packet of Big Boy, one of Floridity and another Yellow Pear.  I have a friend who I met through a cross stitch club on the internet who recently moved to Spain, and she sent me a packet of Tomato Tres Cantos, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they do.  I'm going to plant loads more than i need and when they are big enough, put them outside the house and see if I can sell them to rake back a bit of my expenditure.  Also I have loads of runner beans that are going out on my little barrow too!  

I also try to encourage my youngest daughter, but she's no good in the garden as she hates crawly things!!!! (she's only 32 bless her!!! lol) So when I can, I take a few tomatoes and runner beans down to her and plant them in her tiny garden and all she has to do is water them and then eat them!!!  Last year They came here instead of me going to her in June, so they took their plants with them.  Poor plants stayed in their 3in pots until they died.  She never got round to planting them out!!  So this year i'm going down at the end of May and taking my youngest granddaughter a couple of brussels sprout plants as well as she loves all veggies!  I have to go on the coach, so I can't take too much with me, they get damaged in the travelling.

I'll let you know how they get on.



xx
Best outdoor tomato

Started by mrsparkle on Grow Your Own

15 Replies
4784 Views
Last post January 22, 2011, 19:38
by mrsparkle
xx
Outdoor Tomato help

Started by jaws8 on Grow Your Own

8 Replies
3248 Views
Last post March 10, 2009, 12:03
by Stripey_cat
xx
outdoor tomato question

Started by binner on Grow Your Own

17 Replies
3688 Views
Last post May 22, 2010, 09:56
by Adrian
xx
Outdoor Tomato Varieties

Started by simond9383 on Grow Your Own

21 Replies
7617 Views
Last post September 02, 2007, 20:52
by potatopotato
 

Page created in 0.353 seconds with 40 queries.

Powered by SMFPacks Social Login Mod
Powered by SMFPacks SEO Pro Mod |