What are your Sowing Plans for Tomatoes this season ?

[mikey]

I started my first Tom seeds mid February in cool Conservatory last season.
They grew very well, stocky and strong plants.

Potted them up into 3 inch pots at about 6/8 inches tall, continued to grow well.

Then came the warm/cold, wet/dry and windy period, so I kept them indoors (probably for too long ?) and when finally planted out had to bury them quite deep to cover the tall 'skinny' stems.

The outdoor plants were basically a failure, probably 3 lb of fruit from the whole lot (+/- 12 plants survived the weather)

The eight plants in the cold Greenhouse did quite well but crop was nothing like previous two years.

Soooooooo ...........  what to do this year ..... play safe and wait to end March to sow any Tom seed - but run the risk of fruit not having long enough to ripen ?

Interested to hear what you Folks are planning

Mikey

[mikey]

[manicscousers]

hiya, mikey, we've aready got tigerella growing, in 3" pots, plus golden something, forgotten the name and too stiff to go look  ;D
I've just started san marzano and, in the next couple of weeks will start the rest, these are all going to be under cover..the outdoor ones I leave 'til beginning of march  :)

[tim]

Funny?  I seldom sow mine for the cold 'house before March - & we get all we need.

[RobinOfTheHood]

As soon as I've room in the propagator I'll be getting a few in, not sure which yet but it will certainly include sungold (yum) and should be in the next week.

Then I'll wait 3-4 weeks to put the rest in. The first lot I'm hoping to use for some early (for me, anyhow) toms, cut them back at 1 truss and put them in the top of the greenhouse.

First year for this method for me.

[mikey]

Funny?  I seldom sow mine for the cold 'house before March - & we get all we need.

Tim,

what varieties do you grow for the cold house

cheers
Mikey

[morton]

Hello Mikey from nearby Gainsborough. Personally I grow everything from seed except tomatoes. I find that unless you watch them all the time they can soon get leggy. I prefer to buy established tomato plants and I always go to Thompsons at Darfoulds just past Worksop. They always have hundreds of excellent tomato plants with stems as thick as your middle finger. The always have plenty ready early and a wide selection of varieties. That way you can try ten different types if you so wish and for about a tenner what more could you want.
The owners are also extremely helpful with any queries that you may have.

[valmarg]

Shall be starting to sow beefsteak varieties (Brandywine, Supersteak, Ferline, Costoluto Fierentino, Mountain Pride), together with Bloody Butcher and Stupice any day now.

The smaller cherry varieties will leave for a month or so.

valmarg

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'll be planting mine next month. Why plant Stupice so early? It's pretty early, and a good one for outdoor growing as a result.

[valmarg]

Why plant Stupice so early? It's pretty early, and a good one for outdoor growing as a result.

This year will only be the second year we have grown Stupice.  Bloody Butcher are very similar, insofar as they are 'earlies'.  The reason we start them so early is to get early earlies.

It's probably a certain amount of impatience, but we grow them under glass, and they are the first tomatoes we pick.

valmarg

[Chris Graham]

I had sown mine on my Birthday last year (25th Feb) but i think I'll wait a bit longer.

Not growing tigrella this year...yuck!  ;)

But did buy Jelly Bean from Plants of Distinction, should be interesting and yup same here lots of Sungolds.

Lots of other ones too!

[cambourne7]

Well, because i dont quite know my schedule i am going to delay planting all but the Siberian Early.

I have one bed and plan an experimantal bed with a single plant of the following list :)

Garden Pearl
Weeping Charley   
Rio Grande   
Oregon Spring   
Marglobe   
Super Roma   
Costoluto Fiorentino   
Nano MiniBell   
Super Marmade   
MoneyMaker   
Siberian Early

If i can get the Greenhouse up before i head off i will get this planted up with beefsteek, and plum variatys. But i still have to dig the area that the greenhouse is going to and build up a level area before i can move the greenhouse into place. I am hoping if i push i might get it up next weekend but i think its about 15 wheelbarrow loads to create a level area.

Cam

[Jeannine]

I am planning a whole garden project  of easy to grow stuff in pots this year so I will be concentrating on determinate types, not sure what yet, but there will be a range of earlies, midsason and lates, with some plum types and a variety of colours, then a few long keeping storage types.

I do then have the lotties for my other stuff.

I have been waiting for half term to be able to choose

XX Jeannine

[Biscombe]

So far I have sown

BLACK PLUM
JAPANESE BLACK TRIFLE
DR CAROLYN
CHEROKEE GREEN (I loooooooove this one!)
MONKEY ASS
FUZZY PEACH
MATINA
SUNGOLD
WILD ROSE RED
TRES CANTOS
YELLOW PEAR
THAI PINK EGG
TIGERELLA
YELLOW STUFFER
BLACK SEA MAN
PRINCIPE BORGHESE
LILLIAN'S YELLOW
ORANGE BANANA
GHOST CHERRY
CARBON
PURPLE RUSSIAN
KEEP SAKE

[Suzanne]

I think I'll stick to what I did last year and the year before. Seed started off in March indoors, pot on to 3" pots in April and put in the cold frame. I then build my tomato house (stakes and polythene) on spring bank holiday at the end of May and plant out in June. If theres too many plants for the tom house the leftovers have to rough it outside - poor things!

Last year was a bit of a devil in that we got frost a week after I planted out (6th June!) and the plants were a little scorched. So if frost forecast I will have to double fleece this year and not depend on the polythene tom house.

I am really looking forward to this year as I have had a few good trades I am going to try and Eristics bulgarian, blight resistant variety tom trial!

[Suzanne]

Gosh Biscombe!  :o

You can set up your own tomato shop. Do you bottle them or eat them all fresh?

[carolinej]

Biscombe

MONKEY ASS

:o ;D

Why the name? Do they look like one :-X

cj :)

[Biscombe]

http://cgi.ebay.com/VERY-RARE-HEIRLOOM-AUTHENTIC-MONKEY-ASS-TOMATO-SEEDS_W0QQitemZ330209378732QQihZ014QQcategoryZ42224QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I like to grow lots of different shapes and colours! the summer tomato medley salads are knock out!I also freeze the plum toms whole...............

[star]

Bottoms up ;D ;D ;D

[carolinej]

Ooooh errr :-X :-X

cj :)

[Hyacinth]

I'm with Tim on the sowing time.....not before the beginning of March. As Bob Flowerdew once said "they have a habit of catching up"....sometimes it's difficult to hold back from sowing earlier when I start to see pics here..
They have no heat, other than ambient surrounding temps, & start to crop at about the time I'd expect them to! Some are in the g/house & others outdoors in tubs around it, veggie plots in the garden being reserved for other stuff.

PS I'll be growing one Mr. Stripey plant for the beauty of the fruit, but agree that the taste doesn't match the stunning exterior.