Tomatoes, outdoors, Scotland?

[eirish]

Is it worth bothering to try growing tomatoes without a greenhouse in Scotland? I don't really have anywhere to put a blowaway, and with the wind we get I wouldn't trust it an inch anyway.

The best plan I can think of is to grow them in pots on the concrete steps going up to my garden - it's on a south-facing slope, the steps get more sun than the garden, and the concrete should help retain some heat. But I'd like some opinions from the lovely experienced folks here as to whether it would be worthwhile...

[chris]

Some outdoor types come from the likes of Siberia, Russia, etc so I'd give it a go with those types - they'll be slower than ones under cover obviously. Depends on your local climate, really - and if we get a nice hot summer

[David_richards]

Find yourself a sunny south facing sheltered position and you should be able to grow them, depends on what the weather is like in summer

[jacob]

I do some outside here. Certainly not as good as a greenhouse, but I usually get a bit of a crop. I've two spots in the garden and the more sheltered of the two spots does better. I also get problems with some sort of blight starting at the end of July / start of August. It doesn't kill the plants, but ...

That said, they do get brought on in the greenhouse first -- they're all still there at the mo...

[eirish]

Bunch of ruddy enablers, you lot. Two plants it is, and Absolutely.No.More, and only because it feels Wrong to have a veg patch without tomatoes.

Any suggested varieties? Jacob?

'Twill have to be plants from the garden centre at this point, methinks. At least the one down the road looked to have a decent selection.