Outdoor Tomatoes

[hcraft]

Can you succesfully grow tomatoes outdoors as far South as Bath, near Bristol. Sorry, its probably a frequently asked question, but I couldnt find many threads on it.

If so, what varieties do you recommend - very clay heavy soil.

[Jenegade]

I hope that you can grow tomatoes down there! I'm a lot further north and intending to grow tomatoes outside, so if you can't I'd be very worried!

I'm sure it will be fine!

[Jardiniere]

Course you can - any variety you like.......

[westwiltspatio]

I'm just down the road from you and last year grew Sungold and a tomato from the garden centre called mini Italian plum (which turned out not to be a plum tomato, and not that tasty either). The Sungold did well despite the horrible wet summer.

I grow in pots on my patio though, so can't suggest what's suitable for your soil. This year I'm planning to grow Aurora, Sungold again, Black Russian, and Gartenperle. I'll see how they do!

[RedThorn]

I'm roughly on the line slightly north of you (over on the east side... and I grew tomatoes outside. Try ones for hanging baskets and Roma grew very well for me outdoors. I got toms from others, but started those seeds off to late in the growing season to judge properly.

[womble]

I recommend Ferline, it's a little late to be sowing seeds, but you should just about be ok.
Ferline is good for blight resistance (needed IMO for outdoor toms)and tastes pretty good as well.

[King Carrot]

I'm sowing my last batch of toms in a week or so, they'll just fruit later on prob around the end of July, or early August. Among the varieties I'm starting then are Gardeners Delight, Ferline and Russian Black, so loads of time. You could always buy a couple of plants for an earlier crop.

[hamsterqueen]

I am further South (kent) but have grown tomatoes for years in the garden. I gave up on growbags about 4 years ago and just plant them straight into the ground. Cherry tomatoes work best. I grow gardeners delight and sungold mainly.

Our soil here is gault clay deep down and I find that the plants are far less likely to wilt on a sunny day. In a good week at the height of the season I pick about 500g plus per day from 12 -15 plants. I am still picking them well into Autumn

[Victoria26]

I am sowing sub arctic plenty for outside and also Harbinger.

[hamsterqueen]

Black Russian were a disaster last year!

1 large wooly tomato and another with blossom end rot.

[rogesse]

Millefleur (yellow) - sweet yellow cherry toms from Real Seed - did it for me last year. They grew just as well outside as in, the outdoor ones had larger sweeter fruit but less of them and of all the outdoor toms were the last to get the dreaded blight.

I've also sown Ferline because of it's supposed blight resistance and Legend because it claims the same - will have to wait and see.......

[Two_Sheds]

I am much, much further East than you, so blight gets me last of all. I still lost all my outdoor tomatoes to it in August.
Again.
I'm not bothering this year ... just growing some on the patio in an unheated greenhouse.

[cupcake]

Here in East Yorks, my sungold weren't very productive, but yellow tumbling tom in large pots were difficult to keep up with!

[womble]

I am, I have to admit, giving up on outdoor tomatoes this year as well, they just take up space and I know I am going to get blight at some point.
Damn blight! The first year I grew tomatoes I had cherry bushes outside and had so many fruits I was giving them to anyone I could, thought tomato growing was easy!
I would still grow all my tomatoes like that if I could, no messing about, but bushes give too many hiding places for blight and makes it impossible to strip the leaves off to slow it down, so now I grow only cordon ones in the greenhouse, shame.

When they invent a blight resistant bush tomato, I'm straight back in and using that (as long as it tastes ok )

[selfraising]

Rightly or wrongly I'm going to persist with outdoor varieties this year plus 2 in my mini gh. I am growing marmand (for gh), tumbling tom yellow and red-hanging baskets, sweet million for containers, ildi, roma,amish paste and olivade to go in grow bags. Fingers crossed!!