Tomato Growing 2024

Honeycomb,not a heavy cropper but I like the taste.

 

I agree completely about the lack of flavour in SM toms.
Another issue with growing in GH soil though is Toms are prone to root viruses and eelworms (remember it's the same family as spuds) my father used to talk about soil becoming "tomato sick" . So if you grow direct in GH border, every 3rd year or so, you need to dig the soil out to at least one spade depth and change it for some from outside and from an area that has not grown Toms or spuds in the past couple of years.

 

Glad I'm not the only one to find SM toms useless. The only thing I tend to do if I have to buy them is to is to use a little bit of salt and Basil oil and let them sit overnght )
I always grow mine in containers in the GH ( the 40 litre potato sacks are ideal ) and renew the soil/compost every year. That method works well for me.
I don't know how much I'll get this year but that has been due to the poor weather. The Sungolds are the only ones ripening at present but even they are certainly taking their time !!

 

@JWK I have used m. fungi, but only on long term or permanent crops, such as soft fruit, or with some ornamentals at home. I had not heard of the use you mentioned, very interesting. In any case I grow my GH toms on the Quadgrow system, so they get new soil / compost every year.

 

My tomatoes have had a reprieve. Nearly all have finally reached the tops of their twirly supports. All have at least one truss of flowers and a couple of th ebeef varieties have green tomatoes. There does seem to be a dearth of pollinators tho with none of the usual buzzing apart from a group of very defensive wasps who've mde a nest under a polystyrene freezer box.

Now to see if next week's forecast of warmer weather helps with fruiting and ripening.

Good tip about the MF @Allotment Boy I shall try that next year.

 

I don't rely on pollinators on tomato flowers, I just give the truss a tap as I walk by.
It's almost turned into a reflex action and I do it without thinking.

 

Well! Never heard that tip on Beechgrove or GW! I'm off to try it. Thanks @pete

 

It works for peppers as well, I'm even doing it on the Aubergines, sometimes when the air is dry, around midday, you can actually see the pollen falling from the flowers as you tap.
They are self fertile.

 

I have plenty of fruits on my tumbling toms, can’t say they are anywhere near ripe yet though.
They are outside in a plastic planter about 2 feet above my patio.
What is also going well is a yellow courgette in a large pot … failed miserably last year !

 

I tried tumbling toms once @glosmike - dismal failure but that was years ago in a cooler Belgian garden and no greenhouse.

@pete - I've just been down to tap all our toms. One or two have grown teeny tomatoes since yesterday morning and Noire de Tula has produced one fat green tomato at about a foot high and then lost all the leaves above. I've given it a pep talk and checked but it doesn't seem to be due to thirst.

 

A bit odd, a tomato plant losing leaves, not seen that happen.
It doesn't sound good for that one, are they outside, just wondering if its early blight, one of my potato pots has gone down with that.

 

O-V I grew tumbling Tom last year in a patio planter and it was brilliant - I had around 300 fruits !
Hence my decision to get tt again. I also like bush toms as you don’t have to pinch em out or stake em

 

In a polytunnel @pete with both doors open at either end and a mesh across to stop the chooks getting in. However, that isn't foolproof and there's a feral tomcat who occasionally shelters in there - refuses to be fed, let alone adopted - and he panics if he thinks he's trapped.

It could just be that OH was in there "tidying" the toms and damaged a stem. As long as I get enough of a tomato to save some seed it'll be fine.