[Zippy]

I thought these would be ok in hanging baskets but they are stuck in flower and the fruit is struggling in 16" hanging baskets. I potted on to 20" pots and only now are they starting to romp away.

I would grow these again but I don't think they are a hanging basket plant.

[shokkyy]

I've got 3 Gartenperle in hanging baskets. Initially, I planted one in a big 40cm basket I had and the other two in 30cm baskets. The one in the big basket romped away but the other two, whilst having fruit and flowers, started to look sickly, as though they were starving to death. I repotted them in 40cm baskets and they very quickly picked up and they now look as big and healthy as the other one. Gartenperle are small plants, but even so they clearly needed that bigger basket size to give them enough compost.

[Zippy]

Now here's a thought - could I plant an established tomato plant (my tumbling tom) into the bed i have just cleared of FE potatoes?

I know they are both Solanae and prone to blight, but surely that would be the same as one year's potato/tomato growth in the bed; not following with tomatoes the follwong year?

[kermit]

I tried some in 30cm hanging baskets, and some in really tall pots.  Like you guys, the hanging basket ones suck but I've been harvesting the pot grown ones since mid June (not bad for Perthshire)!  Slightly disappointed with the taste mind you - thick skinned and rather tasteless.  Might be out climate - big swings in temperature and weather this year.

I'm tempted to give up on toms - so much hassle for very little joy.  Would be a different story if I had a greenhouse and lived in the south Im sure...

[mumofstig]

Would be a different story if I had a greenhouse and lived in the south Im sure...

Not necessarily so .........I picked my first Black Cherry tom today.........I was really looking forward to it as they tasted good last year! ..................and................it was
pretty tasteless I'm hoping now that some of the other varieties will taste better

[arugula]

I have chosen Gartenperle this year. I have it in 8 hanging baskets, two of which are in the polytunnel. All plants are doing degrees of well. Those outdoors and exposed to the most sunlight are fruiting like mad and ripening, the two which get less sunlight have less flowers and fruit. The two plants in the polytunnel are probably 50% bigger than the outdoor plants and are flowering profusely and are still setting fruit, which isn't ripening yet. I put this extra growth down to the warmth in the tunnel and the lack of ripening (so far) down to the lower light in the tunnel (as opposed to outdoors).

[viettaclark]

I've got 10 12" hanging baskets with Tumbling Toms (yellow and red) and they're cropping fine!
Used a mix of soil, manure, compost and fbb and they get a weak comfrey feed once a week.
I think they're doing ok because I lined the baskets with thick plastic and DIDN'T put in drainage holes.
I still need to water every day in this heat though.....

[Paul Plots]

I've got 10 12" hanging baskets with Tumbling Toms (yellow and red) and they're cropping fine!
Used a mix of soil, manure, compost and fbb and they get a weak comfrey feed once a week.
I think they're doing ok because I lined the baskets with thick plastic and DIDN'T put in drainage holes.
I still need to water every day in this heat though.....

I agree with skipping the drainage holes - if you need them in a wet season you can always add them later - but, once the compost has dried out completely it is really hard to get it moist again even with a thorough watering.

Careful monitoring and very regular watering works well without the drainage holes IMHO