Outdoor tomatoes

[GinaD]

I bought two outdoor tomato plants last year and they were fab. But I can't remember when I planted them! (I put them straight out into the raised planter). When should I plant them?


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[WendyC]

Not before your last frost. You are further north than me so I'd guess the beginning of June. They could go out before but you'd have to watch the overnight temperatures, ideally 10 as a minimum and be ready to move them undercover if frost is forecast.

[Bren In Pots]

Gina if you select your nearest town from the drop down here :-

First and last frost dates for towns and cities in the UK and USA

you get a rough idea of your last frost date, its not 100% accurate so you also have to check up to date weather.

[GinaD]

Tomato plants
What are the best tomato plants to buy (my dad used to get them for me and I can't remember the names!)? Disease
resistant type. I've looked online but would rather advice from the group if anyone can. Thankyou 🍅


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[Bren In Pots]

Gina I grow 6 different varieties of toms all for different reasons its just a matter of finding the right one for you, mine are.

Shirley.
gardeners delight
black cherry
lemon tree
san marzano
first in the field

[solanaceae]

Ferline f1 seem to be the best choice from what I've found. Will be my first year growing them this year so I don't have any experiences to share yet, but out of the disease resistants they are supposed to produce the heaviest crop.

[Penellype]

With tomatoes as with any veg there is usually a trade-off between disease resistance, hardiness, yield and taste. Often it is not possible to select one variety that ticks all the boxes. With tomatoes you also have the choice of different sized fruits and different colours.

For what it is worth, I grew the following last year:
Shirley - not great outdoors but good indoors, standard sized red tomatoes
Sungold - better outdoors, better resistance to blight than Shirley, big plants, loads of sweet cherry sized orange fruit.
Totem - outdoor bush variety, very early fruiter, seemed susceptible to greenback (could have been caused by the unusually hot weather) and the first to succumb to blight, standard sized red fruit rather lacking in flavour
Bajaja - outdoor bush variety, didn't live as long as Shirley or Sungold, hundreds of small (some pea sized) red fruit

[Chippy Minton]

Not had much success, I guess one day of sun a year isn't enough Tried First in the Field last year at the allotment but couldn't really give them the attention. Trying Red Alert this year in the garden. Hoping that a bush type may do better in our harsh northern climate....

Ferline did really well in the GH, good disease resistance and was tasty, not tried it outside though.

[Bren In Pots]

Chippy the main reason I'm growing First in the Field is that the seeds were free from Dolmio a couple of years ago and being bush ones I can shove them either in a flower bucket or in a spare corner of a bed.

[Chippy Minton]

Good luck Bren. I think mine didn't enjoy the exposed hillside that the allotted space is on, courgettes don't seem to thrive up there either. I'm learning as we go what likes to be where as I have a little space in the garden as well.

[Alison]

I used to grow Red Alert a lot when I grew them outside but don't grow bush varieties anymore as grow all mine under cover and find cordons suit me better.

[andy_j]

I've grown Balconi red and Balconi Yellow outdoors for the past 3 years and always get a bumper crop of largeish cherry toms throughout the summer. I do grow them in 3 litre pots though but the plants never get any bigger than a foot or so

[Canny Grower]

I grow Red Alert outdoors with very good results and I'm not far from Newcastle. They have a good flavour and are prolific too.

[WendyC]

The one I always grow is Gardener's Delight, inside or out.

[MrsCordial]

Bren that's a brilliant little tool. It suggests early May is the last likely/possible time for frost in Herefordshire, and I wouldn't consider putting the toms out before then anyway.

I had a fairly good show of toms last year, but I got them all as young plants from sales. This year I've grown several varieties from RealSeeds seed, from memory

Costoluto Genovese
Gardeners' Delight
Mucho Miel
Latah v Early

erm and another couple that escape me now. Some are cordon, some bush. The young plants are looking great, but I started them off too early and now have a houseful of young tomato plants all dressed up and nowhere to go.