'Willpower & sheer idiocy combine in harmony'
Growing tomatoes under glass
Tomato problems
Gardener's Delight ready for the one-truss treatment.
New growing methods
AS well as my usual grow bag/ring culture pots in the conservatory, I tried out some different methods of cultivation last year.
The problems
Lack of space: my conservatory is 30ft x 5ft - I have to shuffle through sideways when it's full.
The windowsill plants block the light to the staging, leading to a poorer crop and leggier plants.
The cold: I don't grow tomatoes outside, as it's not warm enough.
The solutions
Aspirin: not for me - spraying a dilute solution of aspirin on to tomato plants (half a soluble tablet per litre of water) causes their sugar content to increase by 150 per cent and boosts Vitamin C by 50 per cent with a single spray.
Aspirin is a close chemical copy of the plant stress hormone, salicylic acid, which turns on the genes that regulate their defence systems, so more sugars are redirected to the developing fruit. This is another of James Wong's ideas from his book Grow for Flavour.
The flavour of the tomatoes was exceptionally good this year - I'm happy with the result.
Growing on in ring culture pots: pure necessity here. The conservatory was packed with half-hardy plants in early May, so there was no chance of getting grow bags in.
I didn't want to pot them on twice, especially as the first truss was forming, so I took my ring culture pots and started planting them up on a tile, then sliding them off it on to a gravel tray when finished.
It meant the tomatoes could grow on without disturbance, in good light and warmth, eventually moved into the greenhouse or permanent positions in the conservatory.
A bumper crop - Orange Paruche is the star
SO which tomatoes performed best in 2015?
I grew five varieties - all cherries - here they are, in descending order.
1. Orange Paruche F1: top for quantity, taste and length of season. Better taste by far than Sungold (yes, really). Perfect balance of sweetness and acidity in a small cherry.
2. Rosella: a dark chocolate colour with green shoulders, this has a superb taste and is a big cropper, with huge trusses. Still producing fruit in the greenhouse in mid October.
3. Pink Charmer: good taste, bigger fruit than the others and a heavy crop, but a tendency to split. Still a good buy.
4. Black Opal: great colour - unfortunately makes the fruit harder to see and pick! Problem with fruits splitting. Flavour not as zingy as the others, but good for an interesting salad.
5. Gardener's Delight: the old standby comes last for taste, although much better than shop-bought tomatoes, and reliable. Produced much bigger fruit, as expected, in the one-truss trial, but I'd have had a bigger crop growing more Orange Paruche or Rosella in this way.
The early aphid problem and fungus gnats in the grobags was sorted by increasing the yellow sticky traps, so much better than last year.
The Dalefoot Compost mix was excellent in the greenhouse bed, holding water brilliantly and I didn't go overboard on the feeding. A must for next year - worth its weight in gold!
Above, a good day's picking for a multicoloured salad; Orange Paruche grown as a one-truss plant.
One-truss growing
I SAW James Wong at The Edible Garden Show talking about this - an answer to my space prayers.
You stop the plants two or three leaves after the first truss has formed. The theory is you get bigger, sweeter tomatoes and the drop in yield is offset because you can cram more plants in.
In the space I would have had three light-blocking large grow bags are 17 Gardener's Delight plants in 18-19cm (7-7.5" pots), which would have been wasted. The pot size is a guess, as you're supposed to grow them in a bed.
So, how did it go? I got a reasonable crop out of 17 plants that would have been wasted, but it would have been better to use Orange Paruche or Rosella, which set bigger trusses.
These tomatoes didn't block the light, leading to a bigger crop from the plants on the staging, and were finished by July, leaving an airy, uncramped conservatory for the first time ever. Recommended.
From top, Pink Charmer, Orange Paruche and Rosella in the greenhouse; Black Opal; Pink Charmer; young plants potted into their ring culture pots.
Grow at a glance:
indoor tomatoes
WITH gifted seeds and trial plants, my best-laid plans have mushroomed out of control again.
As well as the pink, orange, red, yellow/green stripes, there's more to add - chocolate, plus yellow and red currant grafted tomatoes.
I'm growing them all in the conservatory or greenhouse and they are all indeterminate, or cordon varieties, which need support. The conservatory's narrow and tall, so I need tomatoes that match its dimensions.
You can sow indoor tomatoes from January-March, outdoors from March-April. Sow 0.5cm (¼”) deep, thinly in a seed tray and cover with Vermiculite or Perlite. Water well and place in a propagator or warm place with a temperature of 15-20°C (60-68°F).
Seedlings usually appear in 5-14 days. Once they're through, give as much light as possible (I'm using a grow light this year) and grow on in cooler conditions.
When the first true leaves appear, prick out into individual pots (my favourite yoghurt/rice cartons). Plant into large pots, grow bags or greenhouse beds from April to May.
Provide support, pinching out side shoots regularly. Pinch out the main growing tip after 5-6 trusses have set.
Here's this year's varieties:
SUNCHOCOLA F1: New, sweet, with a disinctive reddy/brown colour.
RED/YELLOW CURRANT: These are grafted plants, a trial from Big Allotment Challenge Winner Rob Smith's range from Dobies. He said: "It’s a different species from your common garden tomato and it's hardly changed since it was found growing wild on a Peruvian beach in 1707.
"The plants are very disease resistant, and can tolerate cooler temperatures. Each tiny tomato is crisp, and has a really intense, sweet/tart flavour."
ORANGE PARUCHE F1: The high sugar content gives the fruit a superb flavour.
PINK CHARMER F1: Very vigorous, distinctive pink fruits, good flavour.
GREEN ZEBRA: 'Modern heirloom' type with dark green and yellow stripes. Newer variations blush reddish instead of yellow when ripe. It is more tart than regular tomatoes, and it is an early cultivar. Produces bigger fruit than a cherry at 3oz (75g).
CRIMSON CRUSH F1: The world's first fully blight-resistant tomato, with large, round tomatoes (up to 8oz/200g). It's bred for outdoors, but can be grown indoors too.
SUNCHERRY SMILE F1: Masses of wonderfully sweet red cherry fruits.
A note: The F1 varieties cost a lot to produce, so are expensive and you'll only get 10-15 seeds per packet. However, Green Zebra is not an F1 variety, so is much cheaper and has an average of 75 seeds per packet.
SOWING TIME: January-March (only sow very early if you use grow lights).
HARVESTING TIME: June-October.
ASPECT AND SOIL: Full sun, rich, well-drained.
HARDINESS: Tender.
DIFFICULTY: Moderate.
RECOMMENDED VARIETIES: Orange Paruche F1, Pink Charmer F1, Rosella, Suncherry F1, Black Opal, Pink Baby Plum F1, Sungold F1 (all cherries), Brandywine (heirloom beefsteak).
2016 tomatoes update
March 31: 60 plants in the propagator and another 16 outside - oversown AGAIN.
Red Currant tomatoes - I'm growing some grafted plants. Picture; Dobies