I built a scrap wood trough, mostly filled with leaf mould and homemade compost, and planted 6 plants grown from seed this year. It seemed to give me much more stable, stronger plants, and less drying out than with pots. Also cut back foliage regularly to divert energy to the fruits (and increase sunlight exposure), and planted garlic in the same trough to help with slugs. I ended up with several kilos produced from late July until… well now! By far my best year. Have taken cuttings and rooted them in water. They are now on the windowsill in small pots and I hope that means a head start next year. Anyone else been able to improve their toms this year? What tips would you give?
by dobbynobson
3 Comments
Haven’t had a great year volume-wise, but I do keep my tomato plants going for as long as possible so that I can use the sideshoots for the following year. Normally they stop fruiting around the end of November but I’ve managed to keep them into December this year. Got half a dozen fruits last week. This is down south, in a greenhouse, on a sloped terraced back garden and so catches any sun there is.
Still got a few green fruits on the vine which may or may not ripen, and a couple of sideshoots in small pots in a large shed next to the window for next year.
No.
Not terrible, but not great, warm weather early in the year caused them to bolt, trusses were spread far apart with small tomatoes, many that didn’t pollinate, had to do a second planting to get a reasonable crop and even that was poor.
I had a really good year for tomatoes as it was my first year having an allotment. Varieties: Roma (plum), Gardener’s Delight (cherry), Ruby Falls (dark cherry) and Marmande (beef). The Marmandes didn’t do so well. 18 plants in a raised bed that were staked, tied and pruned reasonably well. Another 24 plants in a double interspaced rows across 4 metre of open ground. Some of these were steaked to a metre high but in general left to grow more wild. Produced just over 17 kg of good fruits plus a lot of wastage from the wild rows where fruit had rested on the soil or fell off (see pic after the plants had been lifted). Produced several batches of pasata.