I think everyone knows that one of the most important ingredients any garden needs, whether you are growing tomatoes or any other vegetable for that matter, is a good supply of well rotted compost. Purchasing compost from a garden centre or store can become a little expensive and for most people really isn’t necessary.
Recycling garden and kitchen waste is a great way of providing compost in ample supply and making a compost drum to enable you to do this couldn’t be simpler. The video below describes exactly how you can go about making a compost drum for the garden using a plastic trash can as the base.
There are several advantages to growing tomatoes in raised beds, many of which are similar to growing tomatoes in containers. If you think about it a raised bed is a form of container, it is just a container on a slightly grander scale, a little like a growbag or a large pot.
The main advantages of growing tomatoes in raised beds
You can more easily control the mix of the soil and utilise compost specifically suited to growing tomatoes
The plants are generally easier to access for staking, weeding, watering, pruning and pest control
The soil tends to warm up more quickly than non-raised beds
Its easier to apply a mulch to aid contamination prevention, supplement feeding and keep weeds down
You can avoid standing on the soil causing it to compact
raised beds tend to be free draining and do not get over saturated
the soil can easily be dug out and replaced should any contamination occur. This should be done on an annual or bi-annual basis in any case
Feeding the tomato plants is much more targeted and effective, follow the instructions on the feed of choice or as a rule of thumb you can apply a high nitrogen liquid tomato feed around once a fortnight
Pests are less likely to infiltrate a raised bed but when they do they are easier to deal with
Tomato growing season for many will be in full flow right now, so this is exactly when you should be taking measures to prevent your crop from being affected by disease or being attacked by pests.
Ideally you should start caring for your tomatoes early in the season, if you prefer organic methods you should be thinking of getting some companion plants in around your tomatoes that will deter common pests such as greenfly and aphids. Garlic is a good choice for this, or if you prefer flowers then lavender is also a good deterrent. Other choices are herbs such as sage or thyme.
For growing tomatoes from seed you need to be thinking about sowing tomato seeds about 6 to 8 weeks before you expect the last frost of the year to occur or when you would like to be putting your plants into their final growing position.
From a temperature perspective the best temperature range for sowing tomato seeds is between 15ºC and 25ºC (60ºF to 77ºF) you could probably get away with 10ºC (50ºF) overnight but you would need to cut back on the watering a little to take account of the lower temperatures.
Equipment
You can either purchase Seed Starting Trays and equipment or alternatively you can use items like yogurt pots or egg cartons to get your tomato seeds under way. If you already have pots or seed trays available and want to reuse them then make sure that you disinfect them first with a mix of 1 part bleach and 10 parts water to ensure that you remove any contamination.
One of the most important aspects of tomato growing is selecting a location for your plants that will allow them to flourish.
Tomatoes need plenty of sunshine and a good rule of thumb for ensuring they get enough, is to find a spot in your garden that sees a minimum of 6 hours of sunshine a day. Some will argue that tomatoes need as much as 10 hours of sunshine a day and if you have a spot that can deliver that amount of sunshine then it certainly wouldn’t do any harm; assuming of course you don’t allow the plants to dry out.
As with all vegetable growing, the one stage that every gardener awaits with eager anticipation is when the plants start to produce ripe ready to eat produce, this is when you can start to reap the rewards for all of your effort. Waiting for your tomatoes to ripen is no different to any other garden product.
Problem is tomatoes can sometimes be a little tricky and hang on the vine not looking at all like the lovely red tomatoes everyone aspires to.
The Heirloom tomato is an old favorite with Cherokee Purple and Brandywine being amongst the most popular of these. They are well known for their flavour and are great for the home gardener. The reason they are not generally available commercially is because of the need for robustness during transportation and the supermarkets need for a long shelf life. Consequently they are maintained primarily due to the enthusiasm of the home gardeners who cultivate them from seed for their own purposes.
There are a few other options available to the home gardener and the list below represents a few of the popular ones: -
Alicante – good quality tomato generally with good disease resistance
Big Boy – very large fruit with an excellent texture, great for sandwiches
Eurocross A – a bit like Moneymaker but more vigorous and produces more fruit
Growers Pride (F1) – Great for the beginner, fruits early and useful for most things
Mandel (F1) – Good for disease resistance, dark red colour and can be used for a variety of things
Odine (F1) – Great for a small greenhouse with many uses
Tigerella – Yellow striped fruit, lots of flavour and is available early in the season
Vibelco – very disease resistant
Yellow Perfection – Lovely yellow fruit with great flavour and high quality fruit
There are quite a few garden pests that will attack your tomato plants so you need to stay pretty vigilant and keep a careful eye on your plants to make sure that they are not under attack. Many of the pests tend to lay their eggs on the underside of the the tomato plant leaves, so try and get in the habit of just lifting the leaves up and having a look underneath.
If you are interested in growing tomatoes from seed then you can find out the technique for separating the seeds from the fruit and preparing them for cultivation in the following video. The video describes the process in a clear and easy way that most anyone will be able to follow.
Heirloom tomato varieties are very popular for their full flavour and taste. Although the video does not use heirloom tomatoes the technique is pretty much the same for all tomato types. If you want to find out how to cultivate the seeds and turn them into plants you can find out how to grow tomatoes from seed by clicking on the link.
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and equipment or alternatively you can use items like yogurt pots or egg cartons to get your tomato seeds under way. If you already have pots or seed trays available and want to reuse them then make sure that you disinfect them first with a mix of 1 part bleach and 10 parts water to ensure that you remove any contamination.
