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Tomatoes

Lycopersicon esculentum

INTRODUCTION

If every home gardener had to choose just one crop to grow, surely it would be the Tomato. A kitchen garden staple, no summer veg plot would be complete without at least one plant.

Native to Central and South America, it has to be one of the most widely grown and used foods in the kitchen. Easy to grow, heavy yielding and nutritious, it's easy to see why this popular fruit is an allotment favourite. Available in the all popular red but also attainable in varying shades of yellow, pink, orange, cream, purple and variegated, and come in a myriad of shapes and sizes.

Soil Preparation

Tomatoes are a crop well suited to outdoor growing but even more so for protected production in the greenhouse or polytunnel.

The Tomato is a tender perennial and will not survive frost, or even cold weather.

If growing outside all risk of frost must have passed.

The site should be sunny, well-drained and very sheltered from winds.

Soil should be deeply cultivated, fertile, rich and moisture retentive.

Tomato crops should not be grown on ground that has produced Tomatoes in prior seasons, or Potatoes, that are closely related.

Indoor crops can be grown in greenhouse/polytunnel border soil, pots or grow bags.

Border soil should be prepared as for outdoor crops. A suitable pot size should be at least 10 litres plus.

Sowing & Planting

All types of Tomato, whether intended for indoor or outdoor cropping, will need raising in a propagator undercover. Direct sowing outside is not an option.

Sowing dates will be wholly determined by your growing methods and planned planting schedule.

Early indoor crops that are intended to be produced with heat can be started early in the new year, outdoor crops will not need sowing until late April or even May.

Sow seed in trays or modules filled with multi-purpose compost approx 8 weeks from the proposed planting date.

Place into a propagator. Germination is rapid and should only take 5-6 days.

When large enough to handle, prick out into 9cm pots. 

Grow on at 15-20oc.

The easy alternative to raising your own material is to simply buy in plot ready plants.

Fully harden off before planting, especially for outdoor crops.

Space plants at least 60cm (24 inches) apart and the same between rows. Good air circulation is important, especially later in the season.

Growing & General Cultivation

Tomatoes, fall broadly into two categories:

Determinate - also known as 'Bush' have a defined height of 60-90cm (3-4ft). This type of Tomato does not require side shooting or any sort of pruning.

Indeterminate - also known as 'Cordon or Vine' have no predetermined height limit and will require support with canes or strings. In some commercial cropping systems, they are trained laterally for many metres and can be cropped for well in excess of 12 months before being replaced.

Keep growing crops weed-free. Tomatoes are shallow-rooted plants, avoid hoeing too close to the plants in case of damaging the root system. It is better to hand weed around stems.

Tomato plants are hungry feeders. Ensure regular feeding is made from the onset of flower formation until the last fruits reach maturity.

Make time for removing side shoots from indeterminate varieties. This will increase yield sizes from each plant but ensure you are not mistakingly removing flowering trusses. Determinate varieties do not require side shooting.

Pests & Diseases

Tomatoes seem to have more than their fair share of pest and disease issues, the main ones may include:

Blossom End Rot appears as leathery brown patches on the underside of ripening fruit. It is caused by irregular watering and is especially noticeable with grow bag grown crops. Keep up regular watering and grow in border soil if possible.

Late Blight/Potato Blight affects Tomatoes later in the season, especially outdoor crops and as the weather becomes cooler in late summer. If severe, it can destroy whole crops in a matter of days. Indoor crops are less susceptible. The best method of avoiding the problem is by growing resistant varieties such as 'Mountain Magic'

Greenhouse White Fly can affect greenhouse crops but is not normally a problem with outdoor production. If White Fly appears, consider Biological control. See Product Directory for details.

Harvesting

Harvest Tomatoes as soon as they reach maturity.

For early sowings, which could be from mid-May onwards, for outdoor crops, they would normally start harvesting from late July.

Continue harvesting until the first frosts.

Tomatoes freeze well and of course, make incredibly good Pasta sauce.

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