Tomato Growing Thread 2023

Going to sow my toms this weekend,I can't pigging wait
Alicante,Beefmasters and tumbling toms.

 

I sowed my 'Gardeners Delight' seeds this morning. Some were from @JWK & others were from an online store I bought last year. I sowed them in some Rootrainers which I put in an electric propagator. I washed them all with hot soapy water & used a brand new bag of compost which I opened precisely for them. I'm hoping to avoid the wilt disease which affected my tomatoes on the balcony so badly last year.

 

My (greenhouse, on propogators) Toms are about 3 weeks old now, hoping the weather gets better or they might go leggy.

Steak Sandwich
Matina
G.D. 2005 off harvest seeds last year from @JWK
St. Pierre
Thessaloniki
Tamina
Druzba (not come up yet)
Firweorks

I was glad when the Gardeners Delight came up, followed JWKs instructions and it worked out.

 

Good to see your seedlings doing so well!

 

I also sowed some 'Gardeners Delight' seeds from @JWK & some 'Gardeners Delight' seeds from last year I got online. All have now germinated after just 3 days in the heated propagator. In fact I had too many seeds germinate from last year's seeds that I had to pull some out.
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Although I only kept the heat on one extra day the seedlings soon shot up. I kept in on 1 day more because few of the seeds from @JWK had germinated. They came up overnight & I turned the heat off next morning but left the cover on with the roof vent open. The next day I removed the cover completely. They are looking good but rather lanky.

 

Be interesting to do a taste comparison between a 2k5 and modern Gardeners Delight. I'm planning on entering them into a show and see how they do, if they're like last year they'll get a red rosette!

 

Aldi will be selling their version of GD from the 2nd if anyone wants to do a comparison. I have too many plants as it is! Also Shirley and an unnamed yellow tom.

Mine are in the garage at night with heat mats set at 11c to give them the 'cold' treatment. I put the seedlings into the sun room every morning then back into the garage about 7 for a few extra hours of artificial light and the coolness of the garage.

 

Just thinking back to last year, I was able to put all my chillis and toms outside during march as it was so warm. Up to 18c during the day then, they've not been out at all this year

 

I was thinking of putting my seedlings outside today but the strong wind made me change my mind! I've had to remove a few more seedlings as more germinated than I expected. I tried to put no more than 2 seeds in any compartment of the Rootrainer tray but in one or two I found up to 4 had geminated! All down to one seedling per compartment now! Still got too many though!

 

Has anyone grown Big Mama? How big are the plants? Tomato - Big Mama F1 - Premier Seeds Direct

Online information gives mixed results on the eventual height and spread, my seedlings certainly look to be on a larger side so I need to plan the planting.

Thanks!

 

Ouch Apparently I do this every year.

I have a dedicated grow box about 1m x 0.5m that sits under the blowaway greenhouse until high summer, and I have planned two Sweet Olives and some Padron peppers in there. Perhaps one Big Mama will fit in, the rest will just have to go behind the garage into a sheltered spot.

In general overplanting the box works quite well as long as I keep the soil well watered and fertilised.

Now I wonder where my Artichokes will go...

Thanks @JWK

 

Finally have a few tomato seedlings. One Cherokee purple and one cherry sweetie growing well. Now have 10 black opal coming up. Not the amount I usually have but at least I have some this year.

 

My three ( Draig Goch, Crimson Crush, and Cherry ???) were sown last Saturday in the propagator, as well as some Hungarian Wax chilies. Should be about correct time??