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Growing tomatoes

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkorDVWgdQwNtbeGpQ1jKXZkr468GT0iP  I usually plant my tomato seeds around the end of February, so now is the time to order some seeds! I hope that you find my 6 short videos about planting and looking after tomatoe informative and helpfull.

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  • I need to look through my seeds and decide if I should order a few different varieties for this year. I grew 11 varieties last year and with the fantastic number of varieties available nowadays, it's nice to grow a few different ones each year. I do have a few favourites that I seem to grow every year though: Tamina, Alicante, black cherry, gardeners delight, Shirley and red shine. What are your favourites?

  • BoaterBoater Posts: 241

    I was just thinking it must be about that time and came looking for suggestions of good varieties. image 

    I only started tomatoes last year and grew sweet millions which were nice but I was so late the crop was a bit disappointing in the end, the cold came before they could ripen. If you only had space for 1 or 2 varieties, which would you pick - size and type is not important, it's all about good flavour!

  • TesniTesni Posts: 163

    Thanks for those Simon. I'm watching them now. I'm going to plant tomato seeds for the first time this year, so they're really helpful.

  • Well done Simon very well presented informative videos, I have grown tomatoes directly into the ground in my greenhouse over the past couple of years varieties craigella and harbinger which seem to me to be very similar in taste, could you recommend a good stronger flavoured tomato for me to try this year?

  • I'm also considering growing my tomatoes in the soil in my greenhouse but planting them in bottomless pots do you think that this would work?

  • Hi Barry island, thanks for your nice comments about my videos, I am glad that you enjoyed them. Two tomatoes that have a really good flavor are tomatoberry (a small heart shaped tomato) and another one of my favourites for flavour, although not everyone likes the texture, is Black cherry. A great old favourite for general salad use that also has a good flavour is Shirley.

    Planting in bottomless pots in the greenhouse soil will work well (easier to water). The only thing I would advise is that you change out the soil every year or two, to avoid a build up of disease.

    Good luck!

  • Thanks Tesni & Boater for your kind comments about my videos. See recommendations for tomatoes above. Good luck!

  • Thanks Simon I'll try Shirley this year, I intend to buy some grow bags and use the compost in the bottomless pots so that the shallow root system get the goodness and the water searching deep roots can get into the soil. One thing that I noticed with your video was that you didn't plant your tomatoes as deep as I usually do, I tend to plant mine into their final position with the bottom leaves under the soil but I can't argue with your results. Thanks again.

  • BoaterBoater Posts: 241

    Thanks for the ideas Simon, it's really great that ordinary gardeners like me (probably less than ordinary in fact) are able to mix with specialists like you in these forums!

  • Hi Barry Island, No problems with planting them deeper - I quite often do that too. (up to the first leaves) as you say. I also often add additional compost at the top of the pot, once a hollow has been made by watering after a few weeks, which I guess has a similar effect. All promoting root growth. I will be interested to hear how you get on later in the season. Cheers!

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