How many is too many...

[SimpleSimon]

Tomato plants?

I grow lots of chilli plants but they aren't very needy once they get goin. Tomatoes are quite hard work. How many plants would you grow if space wasn't the main concern. I mean I don't have unlimited space but I have a pretty big tunnel 36x14, a small greenhouse and loads of space outside.

I do like tomatoes alot but I'm thinking 60 plants is way beyond overboard. I should have never joined that seed swap haha.

[Snoop Puss]

How many people are you hoping to feed?

How many plants have you grown in the past and did you have a surplus of produce or not enough?

In my case, I grow far too many - anywhere between 22 and 48 - for the two of us and anyone else I can fob tomatoes off onto at the same time as they have a glut...

[Chestnut]

Whereabouts are you/ how warm outside?
Here, greenhouse tomatoes are considerably more productive than indoor ones.
We had 10 gh plants for two of us last year, made a few batches of soup for freezer but ate the rest fresh.

[quanglewangle]

Once friends don't answer the door when they see you coming, lugging a big bag of produce, consider you may have grown too much.

Especially true for *any* chutney made in autumn from under-ripe produce.

[veggiechicken]

Too many is one more than you have a use for.

I always have more tomatoes than I/family/neighbours can eat so I leave them outside the gate for passersby to take.

[Starch]

I never have too many, grow 6 in GH1, 4in GH2, 4 in polytunnel grown in hanging upside down containers, 6 in long wooden bed outside + 3 tumbling variety in large pots on top of a wall adjacent to house. Still have 2 takeaway pots of passata in the freezer.

[Jungle Jane]

Start off with 60 if you can’t narrow it down now,when it comes to planting them,plant out as many as you can,hopefully you’ll have space for all of them but friends & family might take a spare plant from you. My family loves getting tomatoes from my plants,they taste so much better homegrown & lots of shapes & colours in the varieties makes them look great. I have plates full of tomatoes during the summer on the kitchen worktop,it’s nice having an endless supply,to make tomato & pepper pasta sauce & freeze in tubs for winter/spring as well as eating as a snack whenever you want. Kids come round & eat them while they play & you don’t mind there’s so many. The only thing is taking out the side shoots & making sure they aren’t touching each other,they like air around them. All mine are planted outside I don’t have a greenhouse.

[greenishfing]

For the two of us I grew 16 plants last year. Plenty to eat fresh and then the green ones ripened on the windowsill slowly up to Christmas. I oven roasted and then froze lots. We're eating those now. I gave lots away (but not so many that friends and family were hiding) and put some in chutney and chilli jam. I think I grew just about the right amount.

[Mark_Riga]

I've settled on 22 plants for the 2 of us mainly. 110kg in 2018 and 78kg last year. I have 50 1kg kilner jars I fill each year for overwinter/spring. I only needed to fill about 40 jars last year as still had some from 2018. Still got 37 jars left.

[lottie dolly]

Never have to many,just as long as you have growing space,last year ours did not do much good,was scrumping for some for US to eat,never had that before,the only ones i have plenty of are the canning ones in the freezer, right of to start another thread.

[Scarlet]

I used to grow some toms outside. I don't bother anymore. I also find growing a cordon with two stems is more productive that 2 single toms grown too close together.
So I usually have a couple of early toms in buckets ( well, maybe 6)these are bush toms that dont need any pruning. After their first big flush I generally leave them outside to finish off and bin them early. I can't water anything much outside the GH.
Inside GH1 which is 20ft long. I often have about 25+ plants - I often plant a double row. Though every year it is different.
Gh2 - 12ft long. Around 12-18 plants.
Porch - 6 plants. I always have more than 60.

I sow maybe 120 seeds. Pot every one up. Choose my best plants then give the remainder to 2 friends who never bother to start their own in exchange for something they think I may want to grow. Last year I had several pots of Asters that were amazing.

I love my GH in the summer and can potter in them for hours!
I freeze my excess roasted ready for casseroles, soup, Chilli etc. I don't want to have to buy a tin.

[Snadger]

After reading all the replies I feel so inadequate. I had eight plants last year (down one side of a 6X8 greenhouse)
I had enough for fresh tomatoes, but that's all.

I have got my old plot (Scrapheap Challenge) until April and have left a 10 x 6 polytunnel on it. I am seriously considering bringing it to my new plot now after listening to you lot.

[Scarlet]

It's one veg that freezes beautifully....there's no way I could leave a poly behind!

[veggiechicken]

I don't like frozen toms - its the skins and I CBA'd to skin them before freezing.
Actually, I don't like any frozen veg. If I can't eat it fresh, I wait until the next year when I can.

[Scarlet]

Push through a sieve? I love roasted tomato soup.