Farming Friends & TopVeg have collaborated to create some FREE How To Grow Vegetables Cards, including this How to Grow Tomatoes card.
HowToGrowTomatoCard
If you would like a pdf of this tomato or any of the How to Grow cards, please complete the contact form asking for the grow card you would like and we will email it to you.
A visit to a supermarket will confirm the great variation in the types of tomato, which include:
* standard tomatoes – the common, red, round tomato
* cherry – smaller, round, sweet & bite-size
* plum – small, plum shape tomato often strongly flavoured
* beef – large tomatoes, more common on the Continent
* novelty – various colours & shapes
Tomato plants have several different habits:
*Cordon or vine type*
* grow on a single stem
* require support
* grow several meters if not stopped
* have a longer growing season
* produce a regular supply of tomatoes
* offer a larger range of colour, shape & size
*Bush Type*
1. tall bush – 30-75cm high
2. creeping bush, less than 25cm high, ideal for hanging baskets
Bush types:
* do not require supporting, trimming or stopping
* have a shorter season
* tend to produce a glut
* need straw or plastic sheets laid round the plants as many fruits
are at ground level
*Indoors or Outside*
* A greenhouse insures a constant supply of tomatoes regardless of the weather. The greenhouse varieties are the cordon or vine type grown on a single stem
* Outdoor tomatoes are grown in mild areas sheltered from cold winds.
Bush varieties & some cordon varieties are suitable for outside production. There are some dual purpose cordon varieties, which will grow in the greenhouse or outside, such as Ailsa Craig, Alicante, Gardeners Delight & Moneymaker.
Tomatoes are Ripe for Picking.
picked-tomatoes
Tomatoes are ripening and some gardeners have started to pick them. The
Alicante tomatoes do well in the greenhouse.
ripe-alicante-tomatoes
The cherry tomatoes are so sweet when eaten straight from the vine.
vine-of-cherry-tomatoes
Try this recipe for balsamic 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
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.
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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