For anyone interested in vegetable gardening, home growing tomatoes is a must. These versatile fruits are fairly labour intensive but highly rewarding. There are hundreds of tasty tomato varieties to choose from, all far superior to anything bought from a supermarket. Whether you enjoy eating them on salads or making them into sauces, there is a tomato variety for everyone.
In the UK, tomato plants can be grown outdoors, in greenhouses, in the house or in hanging baskets. Growing tomatoes can be done anywhere in the UK; you will just need to give them slightly different care and attention depending on the climate.
Tomato Varieties - Which Should You Choose?
When growing tomatoes, it is important to choose a variety suited to the climate and location you wish to plant them in. This is particularly important when growing outdoor varieties. Tomatoes are not native to the UK but are from a warmer climate, so you will find that outdoor varieties do better in the south generally. That said, you can still successfully grow outdoor varieties in the north (I'll discuss this later).
So before buying your tomato seeds decide where they will be finally planted. There are varieties specifically suited to growing tomatoes indoors, in hanging baskets (tumblers), in greenhouses, and outside. I like to choose 3 varieties, one small, one medium and one large. The varieties you will choose to grow will also depend on personal taste and their end use.
For small, I grow Gardeners Delight, which produces small cherry tomatoes that are great for salads. These need to be grown in the greenhouse where I live. However, if you live in a warm part of the country, they can be planted outdoors.
My medium sized tomatoes are Shirleys; these grow well in unheated greenhouses and are great for making sauces and soups.
The third variety I grow is Marmande, large beefsteak tomatoes which are great sliced on sandwiches and burgers.
Sowing Tomato Seeds
Gardeners often make the mistake of sowing too many seeds at once. Tomato seeds are quite good at germinating so only plant a few more than you need. Remember that it only takes one seed to produce a whole plant and you shouldn't need more than 15 tomato plants to feed your family for the whole season (depending on how many tomatoes you eat). Also, don't sow too many seeds in any one pot; this will give tomato seedlings room to branch out. To get good crop rotation aim to plant a few seeds every couple of weeks.
If you live in warmer parts of the UK, growing tomatoes will be a lot simpler as your growing period is shorter. However if you live further north as I do, you'll have to give your tomatoes a head start.
To give them this head start, plant a few in pots on a light windowsill as early as late December. Last year I planted my first tomato seeds on Boxing Day and harvested them in late June. You need to grow these seeds slowly at first so don't start them off in the propagator as the shoots will end up spindly and weak - the same applies when growing all indoor varieties. Once the tomato seedlings have reached around an inch tall you can move them into a propagator to give them some bottom heat and encourage growth. These seedlings should be ready to plant into the greenhouse or ground sometime in May.
If you live in a warm part of the UK, tomato seeds can be planted straight into the ground or greenhouse when the seed packet says. Ideally you will need to wait until a month after the last frost; if this is past mid-April then your garden is probably too cold.
When planting straight into the ground, make sure the soil has been mixed with well-rotted manure and warmed for at least 2 weeks before doing so. Remember to consider the spot you are planting in: it needs to be as sunny and as sheltered as possible. If unsheltered, tomatoes are easily damaged by the wind and at risk of being eaten by garden wildlife.
If you don't want to grow tomatoes from seed, most garden centres sell small tomato plants which are already a few inches high in March/April time.
Repotting and Planting Out Tomatoes
Throughout the season you may need to repot your tomato plants several times. You'll know when they need repotting when the roots begin to grow out from the bottom of the pot. They should already be in their final position when they get to their final size (around 16-20 weeks from sowing, depending on variety) so plant out into the garden or grow bags in your greenhouse as soon as the first truss appears. As with the seeds, if you're planting out into the ground make sure you've prepared it with well rotted manure and cloches - this will ensure they ripen earlier.
Removing Tomato Plant Side Shoots
Tomatoes are notorious for needing a lot of care and attention. You'll need to check on your tomato plants every few days. The ideal tomato plant has one strong main shoot. Whilst the plant is small you'll need to keep turning it around to stop it from leaning towards the sun, once it's big enough you can tie it to a cane for support to keep it growing straight.
When tomato plants reach around 6 inches tall they start to produce side shoots. You'll need to watch out for these and nip them off as they appear as they will steal all the goodness from the main shoot. You'll need to be careful to only remove the side shoots and not new trusses so let the side shoot develop slightly before removal.
Your tomato plants should be around 10 inches tall (depending on the variety) when they start producing flowers on their trusses. When they have 4 sets of trusses growing from the main shoot, nip off the top of the main shoot as you did with the side shoots - this will ensure all the nutrients go towards creating the fruit rather than further growth.
You can of course buy bush varieties of tomato (sometimes called determinate) which are designed to grow several shoots, such as Tumbling Tom, which go in hanging baskets. However, for the majority of tomato varieties, you'll need to remove side shoots to ensure a good crop.
Feeding and Watering Tomatoes
Tomatoes need to be kept moist but not wet. When you start your tomato plants off it is better to water them from the bottom using a saucer. This way they can take as much water as they want. At first you'll need to water them around every 2 days and then as they develop, more frequently, up to twice a day during warm weather. When you are watering tomatoes, make sure you do it at regular intervals because irregular watering can cause them to split. Feed your tomato plants with tomato fertiliser, which you can buy from any garden centre. Feed them once a week until they produce flowers and then 2 or 3 times a week after that.
Preventing Tomato Pests and Disease
If growing tomatoes indoors or in a greenhouse, problems with pests and disease should be limited. One of the most common problems people come across when growing tomatoes is tomato blight. Tomato blight is caused by a type of fungus, Phytophthora infestans, carried by the wind and rain. It causes the browning of leaves and fruit, which will spread rapidly in the right conditions and eventually rot the fruit.
Tomato blight arises when we have 3-4 day periods of warm, damp weather. This warm period is called the 'mills period' and is when you will need to combat the disease. You'll need to spray your tomato plants with copper fungicide before they become infected and then every subsequent fortnight. If you discover your tomato plants have blight you must destroy them immediately. If not, the bacteria will spread or lay dormant until next year. As a further precaution to fungus, remove the bottom disease-prone leaves and spray your tomato plants weekly with compost tea.
The most common pests which cause problems when growing tomatoes are aphids and white fly. The planting of special French or African marigolds (Tomato Special Marigold Growing Secret) will repel white fly and attract aphid eating hoverflies.
Harvesting Your Tomatoes
To avoid tomatoes splitting, aim to pick when tomatoes are at their reddest or just before. If the tomatoes are not fully ripe they can be left in a drawer with a banana for a few days; same goes if it gets to the end of the season and your fruit is still green. Avoid storing harvested tomatoes in the fridge as this will reduce their flavour. Instead, store them at room temperature, which will be more like their native climate.
So if you're looking for a new gardening project this year, try home growing tomatoes. Your tomato plants will need a fair amount of looking after but if you love that juicy fresh taste that you normally only get on holiday, growing your own is highly recommended.
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