2017 Tomato Growing

My greenhouse is over 10 deg C for most of the day and the heating's turned off by the thermostat.
During the middle of the day I'll even move trays of plants outside for a few hours.

But maybe not next week as it's going to be rather chilly.

 

Started changing the border soil in a 6 x 3m polytunnel today ready for planting tomatoes, approx. 3m3 (before bulking), swopping it for the top 100mm of topsoil from a recently rotovated area that hasn't been used for growing spuds or toms for several years and will be a marrow patch this year. Two of us working with a barrow each (me with 120L barrow, Mrs Scrungee with only 85L and still whinging) taking best part of the morning to replace 1/6th of it.

Might try grafting tomatoes when the other tunnel border soil needs changing

First toms started getting potted up into 100 x 100 pots on Thursday.

Might put a few spares in a tunnel as guineau pigs next week.

 

I like to live dangerously. Or at least make my tomatoes live dangerously. Mine have been in an unheated greenhouse for a month and the ones going outside are now all in a raised bed. There's a wind break round the side of the bed (which is huge...one end improved rubbish local soil, the other is filled with end Fenland topsoil) and I put fleece and plastic over the top of the bed when the temperature is forecast to drop to 2C of below. The first lot that need a long growing season got a bit frost damaged and I was busy with work one day last week so they missed out on protection. But they are still there, minus a few leaves. For me starting them off very early has worked all 3 previous years I've grown tomatoes seriously and enables me to grow varieties like black trifele outdoors in the Midlands.
I've got 12 plants of bigger and slow maturing varieties for the greenhouse, a few remaining spares to give away and backups from a friend who sows hers much later. Tomorrow I'm planting the GH ones out into their final pots as those still in 9cm pots are pot bound. I removed the first trusses of flowers but am letting them flower now, which is why I want the cherry types outdoors for pollination.
I use Lidl peat-free compost as my main medium. It seems to be composted garden waste, so has a few impurities in and looks a bit rubbish, but they love it. The GH ones go into £2 Morrison's square pots with holes drilled in the bottom. These hold about 40l of growing medium and the bigger plants need that much space for their roots. To the varieties prone to blossom end rot I add some calcium oxide and all get a generous dose of slow release fertiliser granules, and when the fruit start to form I'll be giving them Wilko's tomato feed.

 

I keep looking at the stats for tomatoes and thinking about tempting the fates too. My plants are now mostly between 2 and 5 feet high and greenhouse space is crowded. I keep revisiting "how low can you go" advice and think maybe I should push my luck. The soil temperature out in the gardens is good and I'm thinking if I cover them on the 3 predicted bad nights 3c or on one as low as 1c, then maybe I can make more space in the greenhouse for peppers by moving a few out.

We have such a short growing season that I continually try to push the envelope.

 

My GH has been down to 1.3C over the past week and none of my tomatoes suffered any ill effects. When the min was recorded as 0.5C over a month ago and I left them in there overnight when the plants were smaller they suffered damage to the leaves but the shoot and plants recovered. I have 1 thermometer in there so the whole GH isn't quite covered for slight variations e.g. on the floor. So I reckon if the actual tissue gets down to 0C that's when it's damaged.
Hope that helps.

 

Plum Tomato is coming on

Felt sorry for this one reduced to clear in B&Q today Season's only just starting so thought i'd look after him

 

rippen tomatoes in the beginning of May in the UK!

 

Oh that makes me feel better!

Mine are just growing their second set of true leaves, but they will be grown outside, so I've struggled in the past to stop them getting too leggy....

 

Planted 3 types from seed in glass lean to now planted out in polytunnel where humidity is high and temp in 70 - 90> .

 

Sowed my tomato seeds around 22/23 March, all pricked out by 6 Apr, now some 6 weeks after sowing most plants are now in either 90 x 90mm or 110 x 110mm pots and still 3 weeks until planting in polytunnel borders and 4 weeks untill planting in open ground.

10 weeks from sowing to planting seems about right to me, I'm in no rush to get stuff outside before the end of May.

 

I am not far behind Zigs my first toms starting to ripen
regards Sandy