How many tomato plants are you growing and what varieties

[libbyloulou]

None. Simply not cost effective. Can get them in town far better and cheaper than any I could grow.
Using the precious greenhouse space for something else.

If you can buy toms better than you can grow them and cheaper, your doing something wrong...

[Scarlet]

None. Simply not cost effective. Can get them in town far better and cheaper than any I could grow.
Using the precious greenhouse space for something else.

I think shop bought toms taste disgusting, they look ripe but they are usually hard, have no smell and little taste. What do you grow instead?

[Donna dee]

I'm growing 3 types moneymaker gardeners delight and Roma, I'm trying something new this year and have purchased a grow bag house,also some plant halos I thought I'd give them a try. In the past I've been over run with toms and made the biggest mistake of putting the old plants in the compost lol I had tom plants sprouting every where, so now I put them in the recycle bin.

[Alison]

If you can buy toms better than you can grow them and cheaper, your doing something wrong...

I think shop bought toms taste disgusting, they look ripe but they are usually hard, have no smell and little taste. What do you grow instead?

Couldn't agree more, fresh toms are far superior and so much better choice of varieties. Been my storage ones which aren't as good as fresh far outweigh most shop bought ones and certainly the ones you can buy in winter. I can bottle loads too so save on buying tins but it's mainly for the taste and knowledge that they've not been sprayed or travelled the world.

[Veggieman]

I think shop bought toms taste disgusting, they look ripe but they are usually hard, have no smell and little taste. What do you grow instead?

I couldn't agree more. Home grown toms are one of the highlights of the summer, nothing in the shops comes anywhere close.

[Kristen]

Whilst I agree that Tomatoes are a highlight of Summer it pains me to see, in annual threads of "What Variety are you Growing" the number of people growing Moneymaker ... and the huge number of packets of Moneymaker on the racks in the garden centre which seem to fly off the shelf.

Great name of course ... bit like Golden Delicious compared to Cox's Orange Pipin ... the French marketing people did the right thing there ...

Moneymaker is, surely?, as close to the flavour of a useless Supermarket Tomato as it is possible to grow yourself?

Now everyone will tell me how much they love the flavour of Moneymaker AND that they have grown side by side with other varieties before coming to that conclusion ...

[Alison]

I don't rate Moneymaker either but the again everybody raves about Sungold or whatever it's called and I find it too sweet and not tomatoey enough so who ami to say .

Not all commonly grown varieties are rubbish though, I think Gardeners Delight is great and I grow a couple every year.

[Kristen]

I think Gardeners Delight is great and I grow a couple every year.

Yup, me-too on that one. It starts fruiting earliest of all that I grow too, which is a bonus.

I do wonder if I should seek-out and grow one of the "refined" versions that I see floating about - are they actually "better"? I just grow Whatever Brand Packet [of Gardeners Delight seed] that I find in the garden centre

[spamvindaloo]

Tomate de Colgar are especially good as they store really well. Only used the last one a few days ago which had been harvested back in October. Bit thicker skinned than the summer ones but full of taste and much better than supermarket ones.

When you say stored since last October, can I ask how, e.g. Dehydrated etc?

[sparrow100]

Whilst I agree that Tomatoes are a highlight of Summer it pains me to see, in annual threads of "What Variety are you Growing" the number of people growing Moneymaker ... and the huge number of packets of Moneymaker on the racks in the garden centre which seem to fly off the shelf.

It gets sent out with all the mags too - given the sheer variety of tomatoes I find it a bit frustrating. I wrote to Kitchen Garden's editor to ask why Moneymaker was picked and his answer was essentially that he grows it and likes it, plus they can get the bulk seed cheap.

[Alison]

When you say stored since last October, can I ask how, e.g. Dehydrated etc?

In bowls and punnets on the window ledge / work surface. I tried wrapping them up in newspaper in the garage the first year and they didn't store well but are fine just on the side although do take up quite a bit of space which is now being used for seedlings

[spamvindaloo]

In bowls and punnets on the window ledge / work surface. I tried wrapping them up in newspaper in the garage the first year and they didn't store well but are fine just on the side although do take up quite a bit of space which is now being used for seedlings

I had no idea that tomatoes would save that long just sat at room temperature. Are there any other varieties that will keep that long? I think I am about to add some extra tomatoes to this year's list of varieties

[Alison]

Apparently in olden times there were loads that did but there aren't many left anymore. Have a look on the Real Seeds site and you'll see the ones I grow. I've also grown some ones called Longkeeping from HSL but I didn't find they stored as well. They do tend to have thicker skins and don't look quite as nice but I can cope with that. Still grow loads of other ones for either eating straight away or processing by bottling, making chutneys etc.

[spamvindaloo]

Thank you. Real seeds are not accepting orders until Saturday now but I'll be ordering some at the weekend (I think that's either my third or fourth order from real seeds so far this year, must stop reading this forum, it's making me buy far too many seeds)

[Guest]

Thank you. Real seeds are not accepting orders until Saturday now but I'll be ordering some at the weekend (I think that's either my third or fourth order from real seeds so far this year, must stop reading this forum, it's making me buy far too many seeds)

Some of the Italian ones in the vsp are winter storage types