THE TOMATO GROWING THREAD 2018

I've bought most of my seeds from realseeds.co.uk. A lot of stuff is under £3. I also hope to collect and save some seed for next year.

 

I thought that variety sounded familiar, so checked after getting back from a few days away and yes it's one I'm growing this year, didn't know I was going to, but when I went to sow some container varieties I found the ones I'd set aside were getting a bit old so rummaged through my tomato seed collection and sowed every single packet of compact/trailing tomatoes I had left, including Cherry Falls, bought as OOD for 10p at a boot sale a couple of years ago.

6 Seeds germinated so far EDIT: Just checked online and my Suttons packet would only have contained 8 out of date seeds, previously costing £2.99, so was definitely worth a punt at 10p. Sometimes at boot sales when I can't find anything else I have a rummage through reduced seeds, desperate to avoid returning home empty handed (should have bought 2 packets!).

 

Has anybody grown Rapunzel? If so, what were your thoughts?

 

I've got some Red Cherry tomatoes on the go.
I bought the seeds from Wilko.

After I prick out I keep them in my heated propagator, in my greenhouse, along with my chilli, cucumber and okra seedlings.

 

I seem to be using Seekay more and more, received another 4 packets from them yesterday @ 99p/pkt delivered that would have cost £2 to £3 each in a garden centre.

It's worth a thorough check of their stock as I sometimes find a larger packet of the same seeds at the same price.

 

So just wondering how many people grow their tomatoes outdoors ie no greenhouse or polytunnel? If so when are you planning to plant out? And what kind of results do you get?

Im in Edinburgh. It doesn't seem like there will be any further frost. I'm thinking about waiting until the end of the month before hardening them off for a week and then planting out if the long term weather forecast looks ok. I've been growing heritage seeds, russian types etc. Hoping some will produce well in this climate. Everything is in the windowsill topped up with led. Space is starting to become an issue as plants are getting bigger.

 

Towards the end of last summer, just before we moved, I saved some seeds from a tomato off the Manx Marvel plant @Zigs gave me at Shineyland last year.

Although I've been growing tomatoes for some 30 years now, I'd never tried saving the seeds before so this was something of an experiment.

With the house move imminent, I didn't have time for all that faffing about fermenting the pulp and so on, which is often recommended, so I just squished the pulp through a fine sieve, rinsed away as much of it as possible and laid the resulting seeds on a piece of paper towel to dry.
Next day I simply folded up the paper towel and stuck it in an envelope.

So, last week I dug out the envelope, scraped off some of the seeds, sowed them and waited.

Result. More than happy with this.

 

Potted up the ‘Sungold’ x 5 and ‘Tumbling Tom’ x 4 today and placed in the propagator in the greenhouse, growing well. I’ll be potting up the ‘Cherry Falls’ in a week or so, they’re still in the light/heat box, also looking good.

 

I would be very wary of planting out yet as if Tomatoes get cold, not necessarily frosted. they can sulk and stop growing.
This spring has been very odd so I'd hang on for a while if I was you. If your plants are getting leggy you can easily repot and bury the seedlings much deeper into pots. They root well from stems buried.
I don't know if you have grown Tomatoes before but to be honest you will be doing really well to get much of a crop from planting outside in Edinburgh unless you have a very sheltered garden and perhaps a south facing wall to plant against.
Why do I say this? because I lived in Edinburgh for many years and now live in Fife so know exactly what our weather is like.
I have tried on quite a few occasions to grow Tomatoes outside with very very poor results. I have a large greenhouse these days for obvious reasons as I love Tomatoes. Hope you have more luck than I ever did.