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

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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.

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For years my father spent every minute of his spare time in the garden, originally it was out of a pure need to feed the family. Times were a little hard financially when we were all kids and my father had been brought up in an environment of self sufficiency which not only meant growing vegetables in the garden but also included rearing and slaughtering a family pig to provide the meat for a year.

Hard to believe in these days of fast food and supermarkets, which supply every kind of produce that you can imagine from all around the world, that I am only talking about one generation removed where literally if you could not grow your own vegetables there was a good chance you were going to go hungry. Clearly over the years things improved and gardening out of necessity turned into gardening out of a love for it. There is a lot of satisfaction to be gained from growing your own fruit and vegetables, being able to put the freshest possible produce on the table and to have the satisfaction of having grown it yourself.

My father as he was, could not help himself from turning the extra he produced into a tidy little profit by selling it on to the local villagers who would be very happy to pay for the extra vegetables and tomatoes that were invariably available, he had in absolute abundance what we and many others referred to as ‘green fingers’.

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