Tomato Growing Thread 2022

My only interest in NUMBER of varieties grown each year was to work out how large gardens were! I'm also only growing Blight-free varieties (Crimson Crush - guaranteed! And the Welsh variety Ddraig Goch (welsh dragon - what else!) Thus I can grow 20 odd plants and all eventually Outdoors. Frankly I can't remember exactly how many! Some were/are planted in heavily fertilised (garden compost and grit) but most in odd sized containers carefully watered and a high potash feed. Raw Tom's make me vomitt (sorry) though cooked in stews etc are fine! Something genetic as grandaughters the same!
I enjoy growing them as plants however, so they're always on the menu. However growing a great crop AND then suddenly losing them to Blight is really bad. Growing them indoors was THE way until Whitefly heard about me and my plants! Where ever they came from they knew their business! Eventually I bought some biological control. They worked for a while then the variation in temperature slowed my control down! Eventually I had to use insecticide, which ruined the control as well! Beaten by an insect!!!
So Eventually growing outdoors worked and is still the only way I can grow a successful crop. I still have bloody Whitefly on glasshouse Salvias and Dahlias and other flowers from seed! Thinking about becoming chemical free but I'd need to be free for 12 months at least before getting control back in glasshouse. I'm spraying water on them every day/I see them!

 

You reminded me story about those "green fingers": First time I heard this idiom from my neighbour. I was telling something over the fence when she called me "green fingers". Without thinking I started to inspect my hands and she had a very good laugh.
My Garden is facing 100% south - we dont have even a milimetre of shade in summer anywhere.

Thats true - @shiney weather stations will know last day of frost only post fact - and thats not helpful at all.

In my unheated part of greenhouse its always + 6-7° difference from outside temperature, but I have a feeling that my heated part leaks a bit... So I guess frost wont hit toms in a greenhouse.

 

@Glynne Williams --> If you're a fan of biological control did you ever tried of using fitosporin-m? Its a live spores and cells which you buy in powder or paste form. It's a bacterillus subtillis species, strain 26D which fights against almost any fungal problems: late Blight, alternaria, fusarium, powdery mildew, fruit rot, root rot and tons of other stuff. No waiting time, treats seeds, crops, plants, flowers, vegs and etc.

 

Never knew about aspirin! Can you tell in what water quantities you diluting it?

 

As for fitosporin-m I'm not sure it's approved for use in the UK or the EU.
It's similar with some US biological pesticides, just not approved for use over here.

 

@JWK Thank you once again!
@NigelJ good thought - I tried to find any info on this matter long time ago. The only one thing i could find is that bacterillus subtillis is not harmful for anyone: homo sapiens, animals, bees, insects - anyone except, obviously, funguses. The thing is that UK is very scarce on biological fungicides.. there is almost none of them OR shelve life is couple of months. This situation encourages use chemicals..

By the way, made a list of toms I chose to saw this year:
1. Sgt Peppers - red with black shoulders.
2. Chocolate marmalade - brownish black.
3. Noire de creme - big and black
4. Yellow stone - yellow with blush.
5. Dawson's Russian Oxheart - big yellow\orange.
6. Blush - orange with stripes, elongated , cherry type.
7. Isolner Bicolour - very beautiful and big - rising sun colour.
8. Pomehana Apple - very old variety, red/orange
9. Mennonite orange - very big and very solid orange colour. No other shading
10. Rebel Starfighter vt-16 - because obviously you need at least one green tomato.
11. Buzau - big and red
12. Wonder of Earth (Chudo Zemli) - very big and pink

and also, as a tradition I always grow every single year:
13. Cosmonaut Volkov - red
14. Gigantic sugar - gigantic red, possible to grow 1kg "berry".

 

All 12 of them are new to me - so can't tell anything. 14 tomatoes fits into greenhouse with plenty of spacing (one row, 60cm apart). Also I could fit 4 gherkins or 1-2 melon/watermelon. If only tomatoes - then 18. Last year I think I planted 32 and it was painful - never again.
Also I think this year no double stem tomatoes for me. I wish for beautiful display and fulfil all species specs.

Now I can tell you about Cosmonaut Volkov and Sugar Giant. My husband's grandfather are crazy man - devoted more than 70 years to grow tomatoes. He tried loads and loads of varieties and for last 20 years there are only couple of tomatoes strains that he grows - those two are his main ones.

Cosmonaut Volkov has a historical name - it was selected by space engineer, Mikhailovich Maslov! He thought it one of the best of his garden and named it after his comrade Vladislav Volkov, a Russian astronaut who perished while returning from the first visit to the Earth's first space station.
Best thing about this tomato is that it seems there are no "bad weather" for him. He can grow indoors, outdoors, in rain, in a boiling sun, in a ground, in a pot - whatever floats your boat. Obviously - fruits will differ in size and quantity but taste will always remain the same!
It has powerful resistance to everything including newbies. Produces big fruit in a very traditional shape and red colour.



Sugar Giant ( Sachornij Gigant ) - Best tomato my husband's grandfather ever grew with personal record reaching 1kg per fruit. This year I did my personal best with over 600g per fruit and oh well.. I consider myself a total newbie. Also I should mention that he and Cosmonaut was neglected badly in 2021 - the shady part of the greenhouse (obviously because new varieties are way more interesting.)
Fruits are pink and has the best taste ever - sweet, aromatic, melting beefstake. I am trying really hard to find anything that is better or at least equal to this variety.
Funny fact is that this variety never has been registered anywhere, but is highly sought after. Same as Volkov - will grow anywhere and anyhow, but are not so tolerant to diseases. If you will keep him too long on a vine - it will become powdery/floury.

 

Amazing varieties! Thanks for showing them. As a limited Tom grower it's great to see! As I've said before about raw Tom's being foul for me, the two I've chosen satisfy our cooking needs. Obviously my gardener/ wife loves to eat Tom's raw. Doubtless she'd love the others you, and others on here, grow but room has to be used up by other plants. What it does show however is that Tom's are so enjoyed and breedable! Having a greenhouse on an allotment must help the need to grow masses of varieties.
Good luck to you!