The free tomato seeds on the mag cover

Hi Guys

Remember a couple of months ago there was a free packet of Mascotka tomato seeds on the front of the GW (twinned with some Sweet Pea seeds if memory serves)

Well, silly question, perhaps, but does anyone know if they are trailing, cordon or bush toms?

Mine have all germinated and I have loads of them, but they're sort of too upright for trailers and too floppy for cordons! I looked it up online and they seem to come as two sorts - so which sort were our freebies? 

For the moment I have them in pots but can't decide whether to stake them, pinch them out or let them hang!

Hi Sandra,

I thought exactly the same thing, so I looked back at the mag and it says they're trailing 'ideal for pots'. I planted mine into a window box in the hope that they'll elegantly trail over the sides, but they're looking decidedly upright!  I also planted three into the veg patch just in case - unfortunately, two of those have disappeared.

Thanks Lorea - clearly I should have kept the magazine! Mine are in pots, but thanks to your advice I won't plant some of them outside after all. Wonder when they'll start to trail - they're more upright than my cordons!

Damn, I didn't realise they were the trailing variety, and I have no idea now which ones they are in my propagator.

Let the great tomato lottery commence!

Just imagine if they put the wrong seeds in the packets 

The wrong seeds in the packet wouldn't be a first but not freebies. I bought some 100s & 0000s seeds. They were not cheap. Lovely basket toms with lots of fruit. They grew into 4' plum tomatoes plants that tasted yucky.

hah - I remember buying a bunch of 'dwarf' gladioli corms for the front garden - spectacular, but enormous!

I grew Maskotka last year, outdoors,  and they were very good. They are a bush, trailing type, producing cherry-type tomatoes with a good flavour.

Thanks - I've now put the pots up nice and high!

I planted my Maskotkas in big pots and have had to stake them as the stems are big and heavy, if they were allowed to trail I think they would break!  Now I have a problem - as they are beginning to ripen the fruits have tiny dark green spots all over them.  I picked one to try and find the skin much tougher than the piccolo variety from the supermarket which I adore .  They are also much larger than I expected a cherry tomato to be.  Does anyone know what has caused the spots?  I don't know if they will spread to blotches as the tomatoes are only just ripening. Oh, and are they ok to eat?

Those don't sound anything like my Maskotka toms (which were not from the magazine, I think they were T&M or something). Mine are vigorous bush plants and now (at last!) they are producing cherry tomatoes, which are a normal tomato colour and very small. Mine don't have any blotches and the skin isn't particularly tough. It may be yours have some virsu or something, but if they're quite large, it doesn't even soudn as if they're Maskotka at all. Maybe someone else who got a free packet will confirm.

Ignore my message above! I was confused. The tomatoes I am growing thsi year are Losetto, which are nothing like Maskotka. Maskotka are, as far as I remember, medium-sized rather than a true cherry tomaoto. but they still had the normal tomato colouring and skin texture, no spotting or toughness.

After much research I think the spotting on my Maskotkas was caused by a fungus infection referred to as 'ghost spot', apparently due to water being splashed on the fruits - not by me but because they are outside in the rain!  They are OK to eat by the way. The newer fruits seem to be OK now but the plants are huge and weigh a ton!  I'm glad I didn't put them in hanging baskets, they are in pots with stakes but due to the heavy rain and wind many of the stems have broken so are a mass of stakes and bandages! 

Next year I would like to grow a bush variety as close to Piccolo as possible.  I love this variety but it is a tall plant and I don't have the room (grew it last year with saved seeds from supermarket purchase).  Can anyone recommend a near equivalent?