Talkback: Growing tomatoes outdoors - Page 2 - Talkback

29/08/2010 at 12:35

I have had a great crop of tomatoes this year from Moneymaker and Alicante plants but they were planted a little later and they are not ripening. Not sure whether to move them from their outside position into the greenhouse or what to do.

Gardeners' World Web User

29/08/2010 at 16:03

i have mine in a greenhouse, i live in lancashire, and we have less sunshine hours than the south, everyday i have a handfull of ripe toms, and have already made 2 lots of chutney, as for ripening them, if you hang them on there stems in a window in the sun, they will be fine

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29/08/2010 at 18:08

It has been a superb year for the tomatoes. I have two ten inch hanging baskets each planted with three Tumbling Tom plants. We have had a bumper harvest of over a kilo a week. So many that despite our love of small intensly flavoured tomatoes we are having to distribute them among family and friends.

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29/08/2010 at 22:04

i was interested to see on this weeks gardeners world that they did not think much of the upside down tomatoe grower. well i have never had much success growing tomatoes but decide to give the upside down a go this year. i have to say it has been brilliant, and i have had a bumper crop, and i will only ever use the upside down grower in the future

Gardeners' World Web User

30/08/2010 at 07:20

Reference comments on green tomatoes having to be turned into chutney - I just place mine on a flat dish (eg flan dish)on the kitchen worksurface and they ripen eventually - and gradually - so there isn't any waste

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30/08/2010 at 17:44

I grew Maskotka tomatoes from seed. When the plants were large enough I planted them upside down in the bottom of carrier bags filled with Grow Bag compost. These bags have been hanging outdoors and have cropped heavily and produced small sweet and highly flavoured tomatoes. A real success from an experiment which will be extended next year.

Gardeners' World Web User

30/08/2010 at 20:14

I also grow tomato's outdoors but in large pots and have wonderful crops each year loads of jars of chutney and relish, handed this job over to my daughter this year as I have been a bit unwell, but will hopefully be back in the swing of things for next year.the little side shoots that I grew on are also fruiting but have moved these to the greenhouse.

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30/08/2010 at 20:29

My tomato seeds didn't germinate in spring so I bought some plants.Later they all came up in with other plants that were in the old tomato compost. I have ended up with loads of plants and tomatos.

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31/08/2010 at 12:32

I have grown tomatoes inside and outside this year and tried Ailsa craig variety. I am getting a bumper crop on both, although the outside tomatoes are not as ripe yet. Both are growing in grow bags or large pots.

Gardeners' World Web User

31/08/2010 at 20:08

'Sweet Million' is designed for grow-bag culture, it is not supported but allowed to scramble in a sunny corner of the patio. It is small and very tasty, alas I have only grown it in the ground in a sunny corner of the allotment. Some grow-bags seem to filled with a lot old wool waste, as you say a pot would do. I think the grow-bag user was envisaged as a non-gardener who just bought the bag and then threw it away at the end of the season, rather than have a store of compost and pots? Really it was just a way of selling peat!

Gardeners' World Web User

01/09/2010 at 16:50

There again..... http://www.flickr.com/photos/25977589@N07/4948305449/ 'Peat Free' Clicked today when visiting a gardener, she had also fed them with Tomorite.

Gardeners' World Web User

02/09/2010 at 19:41

Where do I start. I have been gardening for over 65 years with the last 53 of these at my present home in Somerset. I grow Toms both inside a greenhouse and outside in the garden. My outdoor plants are grown straight in the soil and I have found they grow best alongside a wooden fence which runs North to South. The fence gets very hot from the afternoon sun and I believe it acts like a night storage heater and I have found these Toms will ripen almost as quick as those in the greenhouse. Ripening of the first Toms can be helped by putting a shop bought Tom. underneath the plant. These give off a 'gas' which encourages ripening. This close proximity to the fence makes it easy for me to cover the plants with polythene during the nights from mid September onwards and thus prolong their growing season up to and beyond the first frosts. Tom. blight has not been a major problem since I discoverd FERLINE F1 Hybrid. This certainly has a 'remarkable' resistance to blight although not completely free from this problem. The reason for splitting of Toms. is due to irregular watering. This is currently a problem here because we have had over 2 inches of rain in approx. 10 days and the Toms are growing so fast that the skins split.(however they still taste super) Finally, I would encourage everyone to grow Gardeners Delight in the open garden and eat one- or more- straight from the plant. Wonderful!

Gardeners' World Web User

03/09/2010 at 10:18

I have also had success with the upside down planting of my tomatoes. I only bought one this year as it was a trial run but so far there has been no diseases or pests including the dreaded blight. Last year my potatoes and tomoatoes were covered in blight but the tomatoes this year were hung from the front of the house (south facing) and over the drive (so lots of reflected and absorbed heat). The only problem I have had was when there were fierce winds and then the plant took a battering but it managed to spring back quickly. I am going to grow more next year the same way and will try it with the squashes also, as they take up way too much growing room when in the ground. I am giving up on the potatoes as I find that for me they are way too much hassle and not much reward. Instead I will plant parsnips and other very long rooted veg in the potato bags.

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03/09/2010 at 15:04

I have only grown the Minibel tomatoes (free seeds in Mch mag, - 3 in a growbag with cut out pots in for extra depth & severall in large pots. the 3 in the growbag did best - plants are tiny but toms sweet & tasty - hard to pick the ripe ones though as they are so close together.

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07/09/2010 at 23:00

I have been growing Alicante variety in pots on my balcony. I have lots of large tomatoes, but they are still green and showing no signs of going red! I don't know whether to pick the larger ones or leave them a while longer. Any suggestions?

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08/09/2010 at 19:18

This ismy first year of 'grow your own' and am really enjoying it. Have had lots of runner beans and courgettes but dwarf beans never came to anything! Have lots of green tomatoes but no red ones and the green ones are starting to drop off and rot. What is the best way to ripen them, some say wrap in newspaper in cardboard box, put in bag with apple or banana? Can i just put them in the airing cupboard where it's warm? I'd really hate to lose them after all my hard work!!!

Gardeners' World Web User

10/09/2010 at 11:15

I have grown Minibel toms this year with the free seeds in GW. Had loads of tomatoes but they are now becoming watery and tasteless. The are planted in pots using growbag compost and are in a small plastic covered greenhouse. I had been feeding them every week but stopped when the flowers stopped coming. Had some blight but have hopefully removed all of it. What am I doing wrong?

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10/09/2010 at 20:17

Further to my blog above (forgot to put my name in) I used some of these toms in a veg stir fry tonight - wish I hadn't, they rather spoilt it and I still have the after taste!

Gardeners' World Web User

06/10/2010 at 11:27

Re Pots vs ground - I grew some plants in 12 inch deep pots filled with tomorite tomato growing compost and some directly in the ground. The plants in the ground have grown to twice the height and 3 times the amount of fruit. Initially I cut used plastic water bottles in half and planted them into the ground and pots in between plants and this directed water to the lower roots which helps to establish the plants. Re splitting tomatoes - the problem with growing outdoors has been the irregular weather we have had. Long dry spells followed by heavy rain have lead to a huge surge of water going to the fruits and they just simply explode. I've found that this can be overcome by removing the fruit when they are orange just before they turn red and then bringing them on indoors.

Gardeners' World Web User

10/10/2010 at 18:19

I have grown the tomatoes minbel which were free in the earlier Gardeners World magazine,I grew them in pots in the greenhouse they were successful,tasty and trouble free.I would like to grow them next year and have saved some seeds but as I no longer have the packet can't remember whether they are F1 hybrids or where can I buy the seeds?