Growing tomatoes outdoors

[KevinM67]

A great success for me last year, from a free packet of seeds from some magazine was Principe Borghese.

A plum tomato, supposedly a bush tomato - but don't be fooled, it grows like crazy and needs support (a lot !!!).

It did take a while for the fruits to get going - but then it never stopped, right up until I had to pull it out because I wanted to plant garlic in its place in late October.

[nickdub]

That's a coincidence - I decided to try Principe Borghese this year - the plants are about 9" high at the moment and looking healthy but a little sorry for themselves as the temps in my poly-tunnel have not really been warm enough for them. I reckon they'll perk back up when the promised warmer weather arrives.

[KevinM67]

Honestly Nick - I treated them terribly last year.
They were on my windowsills for far too long - but it was getting to the point where we were struggling to see out the window.
Once I finally planted them outside, there was more vigorous growth - but not much tomatoes, this was late May/early June.
Then WOOOMPH !!!!! - Tomatoes galore from August right through to October.

We used them mainly for soups and sauces - they're perfect, really solid with minimal seeds.

Best of luck with them.

[nickdub]

Thanks for the good wishes - as you may have gathered I'm a bit of an all or nothing gardener ie bouts of enthusiasms puncture long periods of neglect. I'm in my on phase at the moment, so hopefully that mood will continue at least until the toms get a a good start off. L-)

[Babru]

I know a lot of you grow your tomatoes outdoors, but so far the only tomato I have had any success with is Mountain Magic, I have tried several varieties over the years without success, there is never a long enough period of heat for them to develop properly and night temps. can fall quite a bit, is there a tomato you could recommend for growing outdoors, I think it would need to be a cold tolerant quick developer

Hi Rary, I'm having a think about what tomatoes to go for next year and wondered how you'd got on with your outdoor tomato quest. Obviously last year was pretty unusual (weeks of warm sunshine, pretty unusual in Scotland!)

This year it wasn't a wonderful summer here, but it was fairly warm once it got going. I grew Tumbler and Lizzano in pots outside in a sunny sheltered spot, and got a reasonable crop. Tumbler tasted best, Lizzano was ok - but grateful to get anything outside. Next year I should be able to get a couple of plants in the ground in the same area.

Anyone northerly have any good experience with cold-tolerant varieties?

[Penellype]

Oh Happy Day has survived 2 ground frosts so far in Yorkshire. Very prolific, large tomatoes, blight resistant, flavour is only fair but better when cooked. The only issue is that being large they do take a while to ripen. I pick mine when they show signs of turning red and ripen them in the house.

[MelanieSW]

Friends in Scotland have given up on outdoor toms, and just grow in polytunnel or green house. Ripening was less of an issue if growing early varieties, but they got hit reliably by blight every year. The humidity where they are (west coast) is just too high.

[Babru]

I did manage to get a crop from my two outdoor toms Melanie, and no blight, maybe because I'm on the east coast which is a bit drier.

Some other varieties would be good to hear about though. Both Tumbler and Lizzano are bush toms, but I could try one or two indeterminate in the ground next year if I can find some shorter season ones that don't need lots of heat.

[muck lover]

I won’t be trying any more outdoor tomatoes. I just get too upset when they get blight. I take it personally. What I really need is another polytunnel...

[Babru]

Mmm blight does sound nasty. I'm growing in my garden, not at an allotment so maybe less susceptible? None of my immediate neighbours grow anything edible, though there are chickens a few gardens away (we can hear when they've laid!), so they might have veg too.

[annie8]

I tried a few outdoors this year - sungold, gardeners delight, red cherry, green grape and white zebra. Later crop due to the summer weather and wasn’t great overall. Generally the sungold did best although a fair few split I think because of the changeable temps from hot to heavy rain. I’m going to stick to greenhouse tomatoes next year.

[MelanieSW]

Next year I am planning to finally try the Siberian dwarf tomato seeds I was given a while back.
Something like that might be suitable? They do apparently do better in cooler climates, and set fruit at fairly low temperatures.

[toomanytommytoes]

Stupice, Matina, Bloody Butcher and Kimberly are early indeterminate varieties that I've often seen recommended for cooler climates.

[lolie]

Black cherry.

I had self-seeded black cherry plants flowering and producing fruit in the middle of winter this year when we were getting one frost after another. If you can use fleece to protect them from the worst of the cold, and protect them from the wind, they should be fine. Like Sungold, they grow fast and they taste amazing.

The true dwarfs might also be worth considering. Varieties like Tiny Tim will grow in a small pot so you can easily move them to the best position each day.

[ameno]

My cherry tomatoes in pots on the patio were disappointing again this year. They cropped well enough, but the flavour was bland and slugs ate a lot of them.
I bought a single plant of Mountain Magic (a blight-resistant salad variety) at a country fair in May, and planted it out at my allotment. It gave a good crop and they were tasty, and resisted blight well (the old leaves had a few brown spots by the end, but none on the fruit or the new growth). They seem to keep well, too. I've saved some seeds from one of the fruit, and will grow half a dozen or so plants next year, and not bother with the patio ones.