Bush type (trailing) tomatoes generally grow 30 – 40cm tall and about
60cm wide.
gartenperle
April 1, 2009
How far do trailing tomatoes tumble?
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January 13, 2009
Mushy, poor quality tomatoes
Why are Richard’s tomatoes mushy and of poor quality?
Richard sent in this question:
I am in my fifth year growing tomatoes in an (unheated) greenhouse. I sow seed in a propagator at the beginning of April and they usually crop mid-August or about now this year, due to lack of sun in August. I have tried many varieties, from Gardeners Delight, Alicante through to Plum and Beefsteak type. Unfortunately the results are always the same, the plants crop copiously, but the fruits (although ripe)are mushy and never crisp. Any ideas what is wrong? I use rainwater & special tomato feed. Many thanks, Richard.
TopVeg replied
This is a difficult one! As you are getting copious amounts of fruit, I wonder if you are overdoing it?
Tomatoes do not reward excessive care!
Your problems could be due to:
temperature – high temperatures accelerate softening process
fertiliser – too much nitrogen causes puffy fruit
too little potassium leads to ripening problems, soft or mushy fruit texture, low acidity and puffiness
over-watering causes sloppy tomatoes with little taste
If anyone has any idea why Richard’s tomatoes are mushy and of poor quality, please let us know.
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January 16, 2008
How Many Seed Potatoes to Buy?
How Many Seed Potatoes to Buy?
new-potatoes-lifted
When calculating how many Seed Potatoes to buy, gardeners have to know what space is available in the vegetable garden for growing the potatoes.
Potatoes are grown from ’seed’ potatoes, which are small, immature potatoes or tubers.
Seed potatoes are sold ‘loose’ in old fashioned hardware shops and garden centers, but it is more common to find them in small, sealed packets.
To work out how many potatoes to buy, decide where the potatoes will be planted and measure the length of the rows available.
Early Potatoes are planted:
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30cm (12in) apart from each other
- in rows 60 cm (2ft) apart
So if the row is 6ft long, you will need 6 potatoes (remember that if there are only 5 seed potatoes in the packet you can divide the largest potato into 2).
space-potatoes
Main-crop potatoes are planted:
-
35cm (15in) apart
- in rows 75cm (2ft 6in) apart
If possible, rows should run from North to South so each plant gets it’s full share of sun.
maincrop-potato-row
Growing potatoes takes up a lot of space in the kitchen garden, and if space is at a premium, early potatoes take precedence over main crop, because:
-
earlies are more valuable than main-crop
-
homegrown early potatoes have more flavour than others
- early potatoes are expensive to buy.
The first steps for growing potatoes are:
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Plan how many potatoes to grow, and whether to grow earlies and/or maincrop
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Choose the potato varieties you want to grow
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Prepare the soil in the vegetable garden
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Buy the seed potatoes & look for certified seed
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Chit the potatoes
- Plant the potatoes
It is easy to calculate how many seed potatoes to buy when you consider what space is available in the vegetable garden for growing the potatoes. Remember that unblemished, clean, certified seed potatoes are worth the investment!
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May 29, 2007
Planting Gardener’s Delight Tomatoes
Gardener’s Delight Tomatoes, delivered on Friday, have been planted out. Gardener’s Delight is a Cordon type suitable for the greenhouse or outdoors. It bears lots of bite-size fruit, ideal for salads and sandwiches and full of vitamins.
There was room for two more growbags in the greenhouse. But the gardening budget prompted a compromise on the growpots , and we adapted some plastic ventilation brackets to fit in the growbag to:
* lift the plant out of the bag and provide extra growing space for roots
* provide a reservoir for water
* allow feeding close to the roots
- greenhouse-tomatoes
The remaining plants have been put outside against a southfacing wall. The bricks absorb the heat and act like a night storage unit, keeping the temperature slightly up.
- outdoor-tomatoes
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Planting Gardener’s Delight Tomatoes
Gardener’s Delight Tomatoes, delivered on Friday, have been planted out. Gardener’s Delight is a Cordon type suitable for the greenhouse or outdoors. It bears lots of bite-size fruit, ideal for salads and sandwiches and full of vitamins.
There was room for two more growbags in the greenhouse. But the gardening budget prompted a compromise on the growpots ,and we adapted some plastic ventilation brackets to fit in the growbag to:
* lift the plant out of the bag and provide extra growing space for roots
* provide a reservoir for water
* allow feeding close to the roots
greenhouse-tomatoes
The remaining plants have been put outside against a southfacing wall. The bricks absorb the heat and act like a night storage unit, keeping the temperature slightly up.
outdoor-tomatoes
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May 26, 2007
Gardeners Delight Tomatoes for the Greenhouse & Outside.
Gardener’s Delight Tomatoes were delivered yesterday by our kind neighbour. He brought so many that they will not all fit in the greenhouse, but the remainder will go outside and should do well against a wall.
Gardener’s Delight is a Cordon type suitable for the greenhouse or outdoors. It bears lots of bite-size fruit, ideal for salads and sandwiches and full of vitamins. Just what we need for picnics!
tomato-gardeners-delight
The plants do look rather leggy beside the Alicante. But they do have a different habit, so we will keep our fingers crossed.
The Alicante planted in growpots a couple of weeks ago have settled down and are growing well.
alicante-tomato
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