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Tomato Growing information
Click here for info on the varieties we
stock
 Planting
under glass is best for tomatoes (but they will grow on a balcony
or patio - see below).
If you have a greenhouse or conservatory to grow plants then it's
time to plant up tomatoes for an early crop. The modern way to ensure
a huge crop is with a "pillow of enriched compost in which
the roots can happily thrive" - what a fancy description of
a
Grow bag!
If you want to adopt this method of growing, then the Levington
Tomorite Grow Bag or Giant Planter with Seaweed is ideal.
For organically grown salads the new Miracle-Gro Organic Choice
Peat Free Giant Planter is for you. It is fully enriched with organic
plant foods to encourage strong growth and heavy cropping.
(If you would rather use traditional ring culture see
below)
Growing tasty tomatoes on patios, terraces and balconies is great
fun for all ages. As the tomato plant is a tropical foreigner to
these shores it's worth remembering that they don't like cold nights
and are quickly killed by frosts, so it's risky to plant them outside
without protection before the end of May. But you can get well prepared.
Visit us from mid March onwards to buy young plants. Nowadays, tomatoes
come in all shapes, sizes and colours.
For traditional sized fruit 'Ailsa Craig' or 'Moneymaker' are still
good varieties and 'Shirley' is the best of the newer F1 varieties
as far as we are concerned.
'Roma' is recommended for a plum type. Beefsteak is our choice of
larger tomato.
If you prefer the smaller bite-size cherry tomatoes then the yellow
'Sunbaby' is hard to beat for taste, while the red 'Gardener's Delight'
will produce more tomatoes per plant.
For Bush tomatoes we recommend 'Totem' or 'Tiny Tim' - 'Micro Tom'
is even smaller and is ideal for a window ledge. 'Tumbling Tom'
is a trailing variety which will do very well in hanging basket
or tall pot - we stock red and yellow varieties.
Whatever variety you choose buy three plants for every growing
bag you intend to use. These young plants can either be potted
on into slightly bigger pots filled with a rich potting compost
such as Levington Container & Hanging Basket Compost or Miracle-Gro
All Purpose Growing Compost or put directly into Grow Bags. Keep
the Grow Bag or compost moist while the young plants grow big
and strong over the next few weeks.
Many of our customers like to plant their tomatoes in the greenhouse
early to try and get a head start.
If growing early in a greenhouse be conscious of frost. By the
end of March frost dosen't usually penetrate a greenhouse but
anything is possible so do be careful if you aren't heating your
greenhouse. At least cover your plants with fleece at night, and
during the day if cold.
Tomatoes can cope with a fair bit of cold but not an actual frost.
If growing outside, towards the end of May buy your Grow Bags
and place in a sunny position where the tomato plants are going
to grow for the rest of the Summer. For maximum crops and easier
watering invest in a Levington Tomorite Giant Planter with Seaweed.
They contain more compost than a traditional Gro-bag so the root
system of the plants gets much bigger while the frequency of watering
is reduced.
When the tomato plants have reached about 2-3 trusses pinch out
any side shoots that appear - this prevents the plant reverting
to a bush form. See diagram on the right.
A side shoot is one that appears in the angle between the main
stem and a leafy branch.
Start to feed well with a good quality tomato food such as Tomorite
once the first small tomatoes appear..
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A
single Tomato flower.
A "Truss" is just a bunch of
Tomato flowers on a single
"branch" - see bottom of page |
Once pollinated
each flower
in a truss will form into a
young Tomato as the petals
wither and fall off. |
Each Tomato
will swell and
grow, hence the need for
regular watering and fertilizer |
A Tomato
fertilizer (one high
in Potassium) is needed to
produce the red colour as the Tomato matures. |
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The BBC site's advice on Tomato
Growing
Tomorite
Tomato Food |
Levington Gro-Bag.
The original Gro-Bag |
The Giant Planter
contains more
material than a std
Grow Bag so can
hold more water and
contains more feeding |
Ring Culture
Before Grow Bags came on the scene Tomato plants
were planted either, directly into the soil, or ring
culture was used. Planting directly into the soil was precarious
as the young plants often picked up disease
or were more prone to attack by pests. The soil therefore needed
sterilizing or replacing each year.
Ring culture involves either digging out a 6" shallow trench
in the greenhouse border
or building a 6" high wooden frame on top of the border (or
on top of slabs).
Either way, line with polythene and fill in with gravel to form
a "gravel bed"*.
A 9" "bottomless" pot is filled with soil, planted
with a young tomato plant and the pot
then placed on top of the gravel bed.
Tomato plants grow 2 "sets of roots", short ones for taking
in fertilizer and longer ones
that go looking for water.
The shorter ones remain in the pot so we apply liquid fetilizer
to the pot to feed the plant.
The longer ones grow into the gravel and therefore we water the
tomato plant via the gravel bed.
*N.B.
The bigger the gravel bed the more water it holds - the less chance
of the tomatoes drying out. |
I hope you you have found these information sheets
helpful as a basic guide.
Click here for info on the varieties
of Tomato we stock
Tomato "Truss"
Back to the top
West Carlston Garden Centre & Tea
Room, Campsie Road, Torrance, Glasgow, G64 4EZ
Tel: 01360 620248 -:- e-mail: info@westcarlston.com
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