Let's Grow Veg Needs Your Tips

[jeannine]

We're doing a Herbs and Salads special for the next issue of Let's Grow Veg, which is filled with seeds you can plant in June and July and harvest from 6 weeks onwards.

One thing most readers will have a glut of at that time is tomatoes, so we're keen to include as many tips as we can on harvesting, cooking and preserving tomatoes, as well as ways to keep the crops coming.

Also, we'll doubtless have some brand-new readers who've never grown tomatoes before, so if you have any tips on growing them - whether it's in growbags or in hanging baskets, hydroponically, on a windowsill etc, we want to hear.

Finally, we'd like to know what your favourite varieties are. Do you stick to old favourites like Gardener's Delight or do you try new or heritage varieties each year? Are grafted varieites worth the money?

Please let us know your thoughts and if we print your tip in the magazine, we'll send you a £10 Thompson & Morgan voucher to spend on goodies in their catalogue.

thanks in advance for your help!

[HeyWayne]

I've been rubbish with tomatoes this year - I think I was too eager earlier on, and have suffered setbacks as a result. I think it was a case of sowing them too early so they became leggy, then they suffered from the cold when I put them in the greenhouse. I think they prefer humidity rather than moisture - I have several pots that failed to germinate yet the soil/compost seems quite damp.

Last year was my first year and I suffered (as did most) with blight.

Looking forward to growing some tomatoes at some point soon!

[Herbgardener]

Tomatoes hate inconsistent watering, to promote good healthy growth and fruiting for tomatoes in grow bags I'd recommend the use of a gro pot which has a water reservoir in it. For a cheaper home built option try putting your young plants into 6 inch pots with the base cut out and then putting the pot into the grow bag, this gives plenty of extra soil for the root system. Use plastic pop bottles with small holes in the lid to act as a drip waterer - this will work in pots too. Alternatively for pots sink a plantpot filled with pebbles in it and water the plant via the pebble filled pot - the water goes straight to the roots of the plant.

[Barbara]

*bump*

Many thanks, HW and Herbgardener - does anyone else have any tomatotastic tips, perchance?

[marigold007]

Try fried green tomatoes as a new twist on traditional fry-ups.

[Hans Mum]

make tom sauce:-
3lb toms ripe or very ripe chopped & put in pan with herbs of choice put lid on & simmer on low heat for 30/40mins dont let burn, pass through sieve to remove pips & skin, return to heat add 2oz unsalted butter, 1tsp sugar & season to taste, simmer on low again for 30ish mins until thickened, keeps for about a week in fridge or freezes really well.

[Flummery]

Vary your tomato colours and you can vary your chutneys too. Yellow toms, golden raisins, white vinegar and white onions give a very different chutney from that made with red toms, red onions, brown malt vinegar and brown raisins. Give it a go!

I love a dish my vegetarian Grandad used to do, with skinned and chopped tomatoes, onions, hard boiled eggs, rice and parsley.
Chop and fry the onions in a little oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the juice of the toms and some vegetable stock to a half cup of rice per person. When the rice is almost cooked (keep checking and adding stock if necessary) stir in the chopped tomatoes and cook for a further few minutes. Finally add the chopped hard boiled eggs (one per person). The secret ingredient is the bunch of parsley you chop and throw in at the last minute. If you aren't on a diet, a good knob of butter added at this stage makes it glossy and flavourful. He called it Kedgeree, though I dare say it's not authentic.

[HeyWayne]

Try fried green tomatoes as a new twist on traditional fry-ups.

Just need to find yourself a whistlestop cafe...

[T-lady]

Fat-free roasted tomato soup.

Take a roasting tray and fill it with tomatoes (cut in half), a couple of whole peppers, a couple of shallots in their skins (or 2 small onions), 4 cloves of garlic in their skins and a chilli or two to taste. Roast in a 200 degree oven for about an hour, turning them half way through. The skins should just be starting to blacken. Allow to cool slightly, remove skins from tomatoes, peppers, garlic and shallots and then blitz with a food processor or hand blender . Pour into a pan with 1 pint of chicken or vegetable stock, simmer for 5 minutes and serve.

This soup tastes rich and delicious but there's barely a calorie present ... until you add a swirl of cream!

[marigold007]

Just need to find yourself a whistlestop cafe...

You ever tried them? It's a great way to use green tomatoes.

[areia]

stale beer, to feed your tomatoes works a treat, problem is if you happen to have a barby very rare there will be any left over, but i did buy a few cheap bottles opened them left them so they went flat then diluted half and half with water fed once a week,

[lottie dolly]

green tomatoes,with the help of another few ingredints can be turned into chutney.
also make green tomato jam,tastes like a mamalade,googled for the recipe.

[Rowan]

I've never been clear about the green tomatoes - is it unripe ones, or a variety that's green when ripe?
I grow outdoor tomatoes in 30cm pots, with saucers underneath, because I'm bad at remembering to water. I lost just a few leaves to blight last year. Put your pots in the sunniest spot you can find, but preferably where you'll notice if they start to droop. Try to check whether the variety is meant for greenhouse or outdoor growing (many seed catalogues neglect to tell you). Also check if they're cordon or bush - and if they're cordon (most are), pinch out the side-stems once a week. If you're like me, harden your heart, it really isn't wasteful (or cruel to the tomato!). I grow one or two plants each of lots of varieties, and this year I'm going to try pushing a cane through one of the drainage holes in the pot before I add compost, beacuse the canes keep falling over.

[marigold007]

They are merely ripe tomatoes that haven't yet turned red. Here's a link that agrees with me:
Green Tomatoes - Healthy Recipes and Menus - CookingLight.com

[seasprout]

Toms Tips.

I'm currently growing a hanging basket variety of tomatoes along with lettuce plants in the same Basket.

The slugs are unable to get to them and the plants are thriving unmolested.

I had my first crop of lettuce leaves with tea.