2013 Tomato Growing

Hiya John. I'm pretty sure that Marmande shouldn't be grown under cover, according to the packet. But, who knows?

 

My first tomatoes have germinated. Wonder when I'll get my first tomato?

 

Scrungee do you use any growing lights with them

Spruce

 

Blimey Scrungee...your early this year...or is that early for next year?

Steve...

 

If Scrungee gets fruit this year I'll eat my hat!!!!!!!!!

 

Yes, they're under my big light indoors. When the greenhouse heating goes on they'll be moved into my other box in there and join other plants taking turns for 8 hour boosts of light.

It's a bit of fun to see just how early I can get fresh toms next year. I'll have the grow light box in the greenhouse operating before the heating goes on to use for bringing on very early salad stuff.

Gardening re-starts in December for me now.

 

I sowed a few tomatoes last December and to be honest was very disappointed with the results. Those sown Feb/Mar time did much better crop wise and hardly any difference in harvest time!

That said, I wasn't using artificial light, it'll be interesting to see your results Scrungee.

 

Summer this year was a non-event and the outdoor varieties I grew outdoors were very, very late to ripen and I ended up picking most of them green. However the 'outdoor' plants gardeners delight and floridity that I had in the polytunnel did pretty well and I got a decent ripe crop from them.

 

Sunshine hours, compared to long term average, were 30%, 20%, 15% down in June, July, August this year :( My solar panels have recorded 25% less energy collected for this year, compared to last year.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/anomalygraphs/

 

Hiya John.

I grew them outdoors maybe four years ago, and there were around four large toms per truss. I was really looking forward to them.....blight

One would think though that all toms would prefer some cover, but when I saw varieties listed as 'outdoor', I assumed that there was some reason why they shouldn't be grown under cover, notwithstanding those that are listed for as suitable for indoor and outdoor growing.

Given that there have been a few posts indicating that there shouldn't be a problem growing 'outdoor' varieties indoors, it looks like I need to have a re-think about my tomato strategy

Cheers...Freddy

 

I'm not sure about this indoor/outdoor toms thing.

But I also remember trying to grow Marmande years ago in a greenhouse thinking I was doing them a favour, back then Suttons stated it was an outdoor variety.
I didn't get many fruit either as I remember.
I have grown it outside on lots of occasions and although its never been a heavy cropper it has done OK.
The fruits are usually very misshapen though, especially the first one on each truss.

For greenhouse they used to recommend "Super marmande", I grew them once and they did OK under glass, and the fruit were better shaped.