WE BELIEVE that it’s hard to beat the taste of a freshly picked tomato, particularly one you’ve grown yourself, and based on the amount of tomato seeds and plants we sell in the garden centre, lots of people agree!

This month, we’re highlighting some popular tomato varieties and looking at different ways of growing them. If you’ve never tried growing tomatoes, this could be the year to have a go!

Getting started

Some gardeners begin with seed but ensuring the correct temperatures for germinating tomato seeds can be tricky. We find that most people prefer to buy their tomatoes as young plants, and these are available in pots at this time of year. Buying tomatoes as young plants also gives gardeners the opportunity to mix and match different varieties.

There’s a vast range of varieties to choose from, which at first may seem quite disconcerting. So start by considering the type of tomato you prefer and the space you have available to grow them.

Generally speaking, tomatoes are either grown on a single, upright stem (sometimes called indeterminate, vine or cordon) or as a bush.

If it’s your first time growing tomatoes, it might be easier to begin with one of the bush varieties, but read on and decide for yourself!

Bush tomatoes

Two of our most popular bush-type varieties are ‘Tumbler’ and ‘Tumbling Tom Red’ but seedsmen are always improving varieties so take time to read the labels on the plants in the garden centre before making your choice.

Bush tomatoes tend to have a slightly weeping habit, making them well-suited to being grown in pots, window boxes or hanging baskets. They tend to be relatively compact plants with numerous sideshoots producing clusters of tomatoes.

Tomato sideshoot

Tomato sideshoot

Upright tomatoes

Amongst the upright varieties ‘Alicante’, ‘Moneymaker’ and ‘Shirley’ are well tried-and-tested, producing a good crop of full size, red tomatoes.

For cherry tomatoes, ‘Gardener’s Delight’ is by far the most popular choice amongst our customers.

Upright tomatoes can be grown in pots, grow-bags or directly into the ground. As the plant grows, the stem needs to be kept straight so that it can bear the weight of the tomatoes and will require support either by canes or string.

To maintain the strength of the main stem, sideshoots need to be nipped out. Sideshoots are the little shoots that appear in the angle between the leaf and the main stem and, as any tomato grower will tell you, it’s a job that requires to be done very regularly!

Other varieties

There’s also a wide selection of yellow, beef-steak, plum and other distinctive varieties to choose from, so take your time to read the labels and choose the varieties that will best suit you, your garden and your family.

Plants in pots

Plants in pots

Cultivation

All tomatoes like a warm, sunny location to grow. Outdoor-grown tomatoes (especially in Scotland!) will have to be well-sheltered, although there still needs to be some movement of air to avoid disease.

Watering needs to be consistent and regular, and tomatoes growing in pots or growbags will benefit from having a tray underneath to provide a reservoir that they can draw from between waterings. Avoid irregular watering, as it results in uneven growth and may cause the tomatoes to split.

Once you see the first bunch of yellow flowers appear, that’s your first tomatoes on they way! The flowers will die off and the little tomatoes will begin to form – that’s when gardeners will happily report that “the first truss has set”!

Once the first truss is set, you’ll need to provide additional feeding and this is best done in liquid form whilst watering using a specialist feed such as the well-respected ‘Tomorite’, for example.

As the season progresses, you may decide to remove some of the older leaves to let more light in and help the fruit ripen. For tomatoes that haven’t ripened at the end of the season, use them in the green for chutney or bring them indoors and leave them on the windowsill to ripen.

And then...

If you’ve enjoyed growing your own tomatoes and plan to do it again next year, make sure that you remove the old plants completely so that you’re not leaving any rotting vegetation and disease that could affect next year’s tomatoes.

As always, the plant team are always very happy to help with tips and advice – so much easier now that we’re allowed to be open again, of course!

You’ll also find lots of information on our website at www.merryhatton.co.uk