Growing tomatoes outside

[mulchingoverwinter]

Hello,

I am looking at growing tomatoes on my plot this year and as it�s my first year growing them I have no idea what to grow them in!

What is the best in the ground or in a plant pot? I�ve also seen those �tomato growbags� and was wondering wont they constrict the roots too much?

Sorry it�s such a simple question but I have no idea , and I would love to get it right first time so I can make some sundried tomatoes this year!

Thanks for any help

Mulch

[rustylady]

In my opinion in the ground would be easier from the point of view of watering. They will obviously prefer somewhere sheltered and sunny if that is possible.

[AllInContainers]

I've no experience with growing toms in the ground, but if you go for a pot, make it a large one or you'll be watering several times a day

[Kristen]

I would put them in the ground. Much easier to manage their water (once every couple or three days will probably be fine), and less chance of fruit splitting. When I used to grow Tomatoes in 12" pot (admittedly in a greenhouse) they needed watering 2 or 3 times a day, and split fruits (which are caused by uneven watering) were rather too common.

[mulchingoverwinter]

Thanks for the replys, will clear a nice space and put them in the ground, or maybe one of my raised beds in the hopes to protect them abit from slugs!

Mulch

[Kristen]

will clear a nice space and put them in the ground

Appologies for stating the blinking obvious, but just in case not obvious to you:

Tomatoes can't go outside until all danger of frosts has passed, also they tend to sulk (and take a while to get going again) if night temperatures dip low - night temperatures of 10C+ would be ideal. If you can keep them in large-ish pots until then (e.g. in conservatory) that will enable you to start the plants off earlier, and get an earlier crop, if not then best not to be in too much of a hurry, or take a gamble and plant half with a view to replacing them, if we get a late frost, when you plant the other half

[Kristen]

Sorry, just seen your location, could well be that you have mild spring weather a lot earlier than we do here

[BertieFox]

I would agree with all the comments saying growing in the ground, and we find they do well even in poor soil. What is more crucial than anything with outside tomatoes is to protect them from blight if it is a problem in your area Most outdoor tomatoes are just beginning to ripen up nicely when the blight strikes, the leaves all go black and mouldy and the fruit soon discolour and go black or brown too, even if harvested while looking OK. It is not a great task to provide your plants with a bit of cover, like a plastic tent, to stop the rain spreading the blight spores on to the leaves, and this can make all the difference. The alternative is to spray regularly with Bordeaux mixture or another copper based fungicide, but that means fruit which is contaminated with copper and the soil also. As copper is a persistent and toxic metal this is less than desirable. I would take the first option of erecting a 'ridge tent' cover in bamboo canes and polythene over the top of the plants and giving them protection. I shall definitely be doing this with ours this year as they so often succumb as soon as the early potatoes show signs of blight.

[Kristen]

Can I just also add to be careful when watering - not to splash water onto the lower leaves & stem.

I don't grow tomatoes outdoors, but friends who do tell me they taste better than greenhouse grown ones (even same variety, both grown side-by-side, so to speak, in the same garden)

[BertieFox]

"I don't grow tomatoes outdoors, but friends who do tell me they taste better than greenhouse grown ones (even same variety, both grown side-by-side, so to speak, in the same garden)"

Undoubtedly true in my experience. It's either because they are not so 'coddled' as greenhouse tomatoes with frequent watering and feeding, and tend to concentrate the sugars in the fruit, or maybe because they root far deeper and wider and draw in that 'je ne sais quoi' into the fruit! I've read if you grow your greenhouse toms 'very hard' and keep them on the point of dryness without withering you can get a similar result.

[mulchingoverwinter]

Wow, thanks again for the reply's. Hoping to start them off around March and keep them in the conservatory till the weather gets nice, as I'd really like to get something this year.

[Kristen]

It's either because they are not so 'coddled' as greenhouse tomatoes with frequent watering and feeding, and tend to concentrate the sugars in the fruit, or maybe because they root far deeper and wider and draw in that 'je ne sais quoi' into the fruit!

My greenhouse Toms are planted in the border, rather than containers, and only watered every 2 or 3 days, so I suspect much like outside in that regard.

The plants grow faster, and less stressed, in the greenhouse, so the "grow 'em hard" sounds about right. Skin thickness too perhaps? (although outside would be thicker I think?)

[Penellype]

"I don't grow tomatoes outdoors, but friends who do tell me they taste better than greenhouse grown ones (even same variety, both grown side-by-side, so to speak, in the same garden)"

Undoubtedly true in my experience. It's either because they are not so 'coddled' as greenhouse tomatoes with frequent watering and feeding, and tend to concentrate the sugars in the fruit, or maybe because they root far deeper and wider and draw in that 'je ne sais quoi' into the fruit! I've read if you grow your greenhouse toms 'very hard' and keep them on the point of dryness without withering you can get a similar result.

Don't let them get too dry though otherwise you will end up with blossom end rot (hard brown lumps at the flower site on the tomato) and also the fruit will split when you do water them.

[BertieFox]

Quite right about blossom end rot being triggered by dryness, followed by copious watering, as keeping them consistently dry doesn't seem to produce this deficiency. But it also seems very dependent on variety. Last summer I grew a new Italian type and almost every one of the lower fruit had terrible blossom end rot, while none of the other tomatoes got it at all, whether beefsteak types or small fruited types. Yet they were all planted outdoors and had exactly the same watering and treatment.