Tomato CHALLENGE!

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Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Since our Amaryllis challenge was quite interesting I'm not proposing a second challenge that am thinking we all might like which is growing Tomatoes.

Here growing Tomatoes IS a very big deal and anybody who can grow them does. The discussions locally have already started as to what type and kind, varieties, how many etc.

Two summers ago I was able to get at the Grocery store I often go to to have tea in the Deli 3 Heirloom varieties and they essentially took over the little back garden that I had. I looked for them again last year but no Heirloom varieties came in and finally I ended up buying a generic Cherry tomato that turned out NOT to be a Cherry tomato at all and instead a beefstake variety. The 2 slicing tomatoes (Early Girl & Star) produced no tomatoes at all however it was so cold here last summer for so long it didn't even warm up minimally until well into July. Most gardens were very poor and I wasn't even able to throw 1 tomato into the freezer for cooking later on in the years.

Anyway - Tomato Plant Growing has now come front and center this year (PLUS starting early will give GRANDAD lots of time to figure out a variety that will NOT grow for him!! ;) ;) )

After last year not being able to find any Heirloom varieties I've already talked to a Lady who has - well actually she runs a small business called "Nitty Gritty Greenhouse." She is starting to take orders for tomato plants she will start from seed in March (which is when we'll pre-order) and then will pick them up here roughly May to put them into the Garden

I've read through her list of Favourites (about 12 - 13 Heirloom varieties) and I've picked out FIVE varieties I'm going to grow:

#1 - ELFIN - Cherry Tomato, Determinate (bush type - will only grow so big and then dies back), to grow in a POT

#2 - Black Cherry - Indeterminate aka BIG growing plant that if IN a greenhouse will just continue to grow! Apparently this heirloom variety is considered the BEST in the world.

#3 Boxcar WILLIE A fantastic mid-size tomato for slicing and great producer. :tk :tk Can't specifically remember but this is a plant it in the garden variety vs planting it in a pot.

4. Early Annie - Mid-size but as the name implies it requires a short growing season which we have here and can be grown in either a pot or the garden. This tomato is good for slicing, canning, making ketchup (not that I do that)

5. Chianti Rose - Beefstake indeterminate (vining) type that is big, pink, meaty, and wonderful.

I have two half barrel size pots out back that I'll be putting two of the five plants in and the other three will space out along the fence.

I'm growing 5 tomato plants as I'll be giving tomatoes to the immediate neighbours as well as the daughter for her family.

Sooooooooooooo am proposing another CHALLENGE The GREAT TOMATO GROWING CHALLENGE that will start in a few months time as re: growing tomatoes there are lots of decisions that need to be made about them - size, type, variety, directly IN garden or pots, etc etc etc

The Challenge is out there ;)


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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Horus »

We have to wait a bit longer here in the UK, unless you have a greenhouse to keep them in.
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

@H - Same here in that No tomato plants hit the dirt here until May-ish at the very earliest (weather depending) BUT if you're going to grow your own plants from seeds (I thought MD might and I also know AVID GARDENER that he is "GRANDAD" who is probably already pouring over all the Nursery catalogues sussing out the BEST varieties as we speak) you really need to starting thinking, ordering and getting prepared real soon.

Personally I'm not going to grow my own from seeds but I will buy starter plants for the garden around May. I'm going to pre-order in March in that I'm letting the Lady at Nitty Gritty Greenhouse know the varieties I want so that she starts enough from seed as she put out her "Taking Requests" now to people here so she can get the seeds, start them etc. Does seem that here soon as Christmas and New Year passes we all start talking Gardens!

I'm talking open garden growing OR growing in a pot and trying to get the jump on GTG (Green Thumb Grandad!) :up :up
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Ruby Slippers »

That was last year, LLL! We had tomatoes coming out of our ears! :lol:
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

@RS - Way cool if you grow tomatoes!

Two years ago I had more tomatoes than I could give away. Froze a bunch in the freezer, dtr canned some and LOTS were just left to wither on the vine however last summer it was absolutely awful here for growing anything. We hardly got warm until mid-July. Nothing grew at all and really only one 1 of my plants produced a few tomatoes. The peppers produced nothing and whilst I planted about 3 pounds of seed potatoes I harvest back about 2 pounds. The entire growing season was the pits.

Right now to buy a fresh tomato in our grocery store is about $6 to $7/pound CDN. SUPER expensive so everybody who can grows tomatoes and everybody seems to have their own tips, tricks and special varieties they like to grow.
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Ruby Slippers »

Last year, my brother - who is a great gardener - decided that we should grow tomatoes! So he supplied 3 plants and a bush, ready potted up - and guess what? We grew tomatoes! Lots of cherry tomatoes! They tasted so much better than bought ones too! :up
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Mad Dilys »

These are a sample of some I grew in Luxor, photo taken May 2011. The children ate the small ones like sweets.

The local conventionally grown ones, I was getting about 80kg to 90kg a day, off what was previously a small vineyard. Maybe one eighth of an acre? I was selling some and making about 50kg into salsa and freezing it in 2kg jars.

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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Ruby Slippers »

Just love all the different shapes and sizes, MD! It seems that the only way here in the UK to get a tomato that actually tastes of anything is to grow your own!
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Horus »

I often saved seeds from Tomatoes that I had grown and liked and they mostly came true, these small cherry type ones were really sweet and I grew them for many years just by squeezing out some seeds onto a piece of kitchen roll paper and leaving it to dry out on a window cill, the following year I just planted bits of the paper with the dry seeds on. ;)

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At other times I just let them grow up some string and canes and let then run riot.
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The only thing is here in the UK you really do have to hope for a good Summer to ripen then outside of a greenhouse.
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Mad Dilys »

Unfortunately I don't know what the varieties are!

I brought a lot of seed from the UK and my head gardener said there was a chap on the west bank who specialised in seed raising. So I thought we'll give it a try. A few weeks later the plants arrived in good condition at a cost of 10p per plant, but without labels!

Until the fruit formed I had to guess the trailing or upright varieties, big or small fruit. All in all very successful though.

Later in the year there was an agricultural conference in the Hotel St George with trade stands. I asked all round about getting the seed in Egypt but no one could help except to say that in Luxor I would have to grow tomatoes under plastic protection! Of course i pointed out that I was already growing them outside - to their embarrassment.

The small ones are ideal for restaurants - no waste, good storage life in a fridge and an attractive and unusual garnish.

I grow small avocados too for the same reason - they get a premium too because I'm an organic grower.

I'm so lucky as my garden is right on the river bank, not flat but sloping and with tall trees for partial shade and it's own well for irrigation. It's about 100metres square - but there is a lot under the river according to the deeds! Just before we bought it the bank was terraced and stone faced to prevent further erosion. :up
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Mad Dilys »

My grandfather used to stand on a few of the last very ripe tomatoes of the year in a sheltered corner of his garden - smear them slightly and cover with soil or sand. Ailsa Craig if I remember rightly used to put in an appearance the following spring and would be left alone until she had about 6 leaves before transplanting. They did very well. :up
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Grandad »

Go on you lot, rub salt in the wound.I am still nurturing one struggling amaryllis and you are already talking about harvesting this years tomatoes. Even you RS? I thought you were the only non green fingered ally of mine. Tomatoes eh? I shall have to think about that.......will a Christmas harvest be OK ? :lol: :lol:
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Horus »

Come on Grandad, even you cannot fail with a couple of tomato plants in a 'Gro-Bag' :D
Get the 'Ailsa Craig' as MD mentioned or 'Money Maker' varieties, they will do OK :up
Buy a couple of plants once the weather is a lot warmer and you see them for sale, but choose stocky ones with good leaves. ;)
We will give you more tips later :D
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Mad Dilys »

I'm hoping not to be here in the UK for much of the spring and summer, and I rarely eat fresh tomatoes (seeds :td ).

So I shall be growing begonias. I got hooked on the big flowered ones last summer. I had them indoors and they were fabulous. Also I will be growing Mandevilla - I'm struggling to keep one alive at the moment, though I'm told it's an annual.

That's the tall one - the short one with red flowers that has looked very healthy until a few days ago has suddenly withered and dropped all it's leaves ........................ I hate to say it, but it looks like RED SPIDER MITE :a40: :a67:
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Part of starting to think on it now is to decide on the varieties you want to grow (bush type or do you have a spot for the larger vining types). Are you going to grow cherry tomatoes (IMO the easiest and most productive), do you need to grab a tomato cage or stake of wood or soil etc.

Weather is also a huge factor in growing tomatoes here. Last summer was so downright cold nothing much grew however the year before the crops were breaking records and I had a HUGE crop.

I'm thinking on 5 varieties but whether or not I'd ever get a beefsteak variety is HUGELY dependent on the weather.

I do know that once you've grown your own tomatoes and tasted the difference you'll never go back to store bought.

Good you're on board Grandad ;)
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Re: Tomato CHALLENGE!

Post by Ruby Slippers »

Grandad, I didn't actually do anything on the tomato growing front. That was down to DH, with advice from my brother. Mind you, it really wasn't difficult. Just kept them well watered, and fed them with Tomorite a couple of times a week when the fruit started to form. They really did taste delicious. We wouldn't bother with a bush again. The snails had a field day! Then the bush got a blight so we had to dispose of it. The bush tomatoes didn't really taste of anything either, but the plants did well. Give it a try! :up
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