Tomato Growing 2024

I had my first home grown salad today "well that isn't exactly correct but it did feel nice in saying it"
Crispy lettuce
Spring onions
Radishes
And - drum roll.... 4 of my very first tomatoes for this year ( 2 each from Baby Boomer & Mascot. All were very sweet and juicy. Serve with a bit of chicken.

I should have taken a photo but after having a hectic day being nurse to my ill son, all I wanted to do was to get a quick meal and put my feet up! I must admit a smile crept over my face as I was thinking " you've do well there love and felt very smug!

 

I agree, part of the fun is trying new things rather than just growing the same ones you could buy in the SM. I do grow some favourites but try new ones regularly. I have lots in the Allotment GH but they are only just beginning to ripen. Outside I concentrate on the blight resistant ones.

 

I do experiment with different varieties but restricted for space now. My favourites are Sungold, Black/Chocolate Cherry and Black Krim tho I agree with @JWK that the latter take a good while to ripen fully. I tried Mascotka last year ( not bad ) and San Marzano ( not one ripe one ). Bloody Butcher were quite reasonable - not too slow to ripen and tasty enough.
I was desperate for some tomatoes last week and resorted to buying some. Sadly, I wasn't surprised to find they were totally flavourless. Must be 3 years since I found a decent tasting tom in the shops.

 

I wonder how much per kg it cost us to produce the likes of tomatoes? I've recently seen a variation in the shops of £1.75/kg to a whopping £13.38/kg for toms!

 

Yes I wonder, but you can't beat homegrown Toms for taste.

 

I don't know whether the introduction of Hydroponics ( late 70's/ealy 80's ? ) made commercial tomato growing cheaper or more expensive. OH's father worked in one of the Lea Valley nurseries into the 60's and the toms were always grown in the ground at that point. Eventually they had to add more and more fertilsers as the ground became played out over time. With the Netherlands producing more and more, the Lea Valley Nurseries gradually lost business and became uneconomical.
As far as I have seen, toms ( and no doubt other fruit/veg as well) never give an indication of whether ground or hydro production methods are used when buying from shops.
As said, commercial growers are only interested in the yield and storage and have also fallen for the ever increasing "sweet tooth" market. They seem to have little or no idea what a tomato should really taste like

 

TBH, the majority of people in supermarkets dont care what they taste like, a tomato is a tomato.
My BIL once gave some home grown sweet peppers to a mate and the mate couldn't understand why they had such a different taste.

Most people arn't that bothered, just as long as it looks right, and has no imperfections.

 

In normal years I grow enough tomatoes of various hues, shapes and sizes to lend themselves to salads, tarts, panzanellas, roasted Med veggies, dried tomatoes for bruschetta and so on plus make enough passata to see us thru a winter of soups, bolognese and other stews. The only ones I end up buying are little "coeur de pigeon" which are grown without pesticides and taste fine cooked with lardons and basil to have with pasta.

I can't see me getting very much if any passata this year which is a shame as it's far tastier than tinned tomatoes or commercial passatas.

 

Re varieties: don't be an idiot like me. I decided to grow only Sungold (which I love) and a beefsteak (a purplish heritage one whose name eludes me), but as I had some leftover seed of 'chocolate pear' I thought I'd sow them to keep 1 and give away spares or plant outside. I normally only use one label for each set of plants....
My greenhouse now has lots of beefsteak, lots of chocolate pear and a solitary Sungold.
Outside are a few more Sungold.
The moral? Stick a label in EVERY pot in case you accidentally moved them around!

 

@CarolineL ...........excellent advice

 

First time I'm growing bush tomatoes this year, I found that I needed more space than I expected, so I removed my Fat Frog plant to the centre of the patio table
The 2 Baby Boomer plants can have the 4ft 5inch cold frame to themselves.

The one cordon I have (Lufchoise multi flora) which is in a 20L pot outside, has an abundance of flowers on it, making me think I will be having a glut of tomatoes for preserving "hope so, as I have already ask my hubby to sort out my preserving gear in readiness?

 

Nagina F1 ripening.