Hi all

Going to try growing outdoor tomatoes this year. No greenhouse !!! I heard it can be done in british climates.

I have good wind breaks from the north and south (high fence + wall a few feet away from raised bed)

Have another fence too, which is a bit further away, blocking wind from the west. Will be constructing a south facing wind break also... Which will probably be 4-5ft high.

The varieties I got, are Gardeners Delight, Alicante and Vine tomatoes(seeds from shop-bought tomatoes).

I know these aren't bush varietes, but do you think I can pull it off?

Any tips? Anyone done it?

Hiya Smokey... Go for it man, I've grown gardeners delight and sweet million outside the last two years.

They do get battered by the weather though mate.. Well mine do, because the wind rips through my yard...
I've got a plastic greenhouse this year, but to be honest I 've left it open pretty much since I put it up.

Watch out for blight though.. got that last year, I presume because of how wet it was... Brown toms before I knew it!
It can be treated if spotted early enough (liquid copper I think)... I know what to look for now though...

I'd definitely nip out the side shoots and grow them cordon style if thats recommended though (I know GD is one of these.. not sure on the others though)

I'm in Gods country by the way.. hope this helps mate...

greetings smokey

i've been growing bush or patio tomatoes in pots for a few summes now.

i've got the pots in a sheltered location as the wind can be fierce in my garden. also i've got them up against a south facing brick wall and that seems to help hold in the heat...... my beans like it along this wall too.

i've had different results nearly every year that i've tried growing them. last year was a total washout. but maybe we will actually have some sun this summer?

You need the right variety (usually) for them to do well outside in the UK.
I've done okay with Red Alert and Ferline in the past......I'm trying Legend, Stupice & Roma outside this year.

Have fun

I hope you can Smokey...I'm doing mine outside and I've got growers delight and alicante too...guess I'll see in a few weeks but they seem fine now.I tied them fairly tight to the canes to hopefully minimise movement..we shall see

ive got tumbling toms in our hanging baskets, never have issues growing toms outside in the uk.

i love homegrown everything

Volc

Have growers delight and cherry tomatoes in a greenhouse this year. Complete noob, when can I expect some tomatoes

Plants at leat 2 foot tall n cherrys 1 and a half....

Wow, thanks for the replys and help !

Cheer stonehenge, will get some copper just in case, will be removing sideshoots and topping when the flowers appear

I put them in yesterday!

Littlewing, yeah me too with last year, mine drowned Good luck this year mate

Cheers FAI, yeah I heard you should be using non-cordon varietys, gotta be worth a go though, good luck with yours too

Withnail (we got the same varietes ), Volcan, Biobuzz - Good luck with your toms too pals, hopefully summer will be a good un. Wish I got some vines growing now.

last week i planted gardeners delight, supersweet 100, plum ortiga, and shirley

always grow my toms outside and usually get a decent crop, although this year instead of buying grow bags i 've planted them in one of my raised beds

good luck with your grow Joolz, I got mine in a raised bed too.

Good luck Joolz,

It should be a summer for Toms, unlike the last 2 years......

I'm amazed no one has advised you to feed them.......I'm sure you know your way to the grow and bloom feeding scedules, you do need to give them a cheap Tomato food as soon as the first flower trusses have set, good idea to nip out the tops when they have 4 trusses.

Get some Basil seed and stick it in a big pot next to them, can't beat fresh Toms and Basil, taste of the summer.

JOM

Good call on the feed when flowers show jom Gave mine tomorite last week (flowers are showing).
Have been picking out the sides shoots on all 3 vars.

They are looking great. About 3-4 feet now. I think I should nip out the tops like you said soon.

Do you ever trim the undergrowth mate? ie stuff that touches the floor.
Cheers

I'll update you on my efforts:

Best this year - Shirley (conservatory).
Looking good outside - Roma (plum type) and marmande (beef tom)
Legend were rubbish......all binned.
Black Russian and Stupice - in conservatory waiting to be transferred to greenhouse (if I ever glaze the damn thing!) - these look interesting.
Sweet Million - in conservatory - looking good.

Shirleys are by far the most advanced, but all have fruit/flowers on and are being fed twice a week.

Don't let those pots/growbags dry out

If the leaves are green and healthy leave them, if they look a bit yellow and crap pull them off, less chance of disease.

JOM

Cheers mate

Just going out now to nip out the tops

Afternoon All,

I'm growing Gardeners Delight also. I never realised how popular it is!

Planted in April/May time.

Mine are in a tiny concrete planter about 3' L 10" D & 10" H and the plants are currently about 6' tall and probably now require topping.(?)

Having been feeding once a week with homemade fertz (dandelion tea and piss mainly)

Got lots of fruits on lots of trusses.

This is my first go at tomato's, if I top them now, when can I (at a rough guess) expect harvest?

Best of luck to you all

I hope you are all abundant with fruits of your labours!

Mec

Darn it, they've all died again

Looks like blight, which has attacked all the plants, turned most of the foilage brown/yellow, dried up plants fit the compost heap.

Still, got much further this year than last year... I've got about 10 or so green cherry tomatoes
Gutted though.

Should of used that copper stuff on them like stonehenge mentioned, we've had so much rain though, seemed to happen overnight too.

Unlucky dude....

You should find out if it is blight though... Because you shouldn't compost them if it was.

Think they'll need burning..

I think mine would have been goners by now if it wasn't for the little Greenhouse shelter. It has been wet as.

If my Gardeners delight make it through I'll send you some man.

toms really dont like too much water when first setting

Many many many time s here in t'north my toms have been fukked for this reason , they get a kind of 'blight' at the top of the fruits , then die .
This year and last year seem to have been okay despite the shite weather , but they are slightly covered , thus protected from tthe rain .

Toms can become an obsession , my Dad is truely in deep .
I guess in a way its like our hobby here , you see the progress and reap the rewards , but he has allsorts of styles , some tied , topped etc , others stretched round greenhouse etc.

Next ttime sir get a bush variety if you want that sort of growth , or really stay ontop with the sideshoots , and topping if you have a vine type .
I guess its like our fave , some grow in one way , others in another .
Peace and best of luck for next year sir.

geeeep

Sorry to hear that dlt

Think I've been really lucky with mine then... they all seem ok still , in fact they are just beginning to turn red now.

You probably get a shed load more rain than I do though on this side of the country

I've got some Ailsa Craigs, Alicantes, and Faworyts growing in the greenhouse but despite them developing well they don't look anywhere near ripening. I've pinched them out, topped them, defoliated them and removed lots of flowers so they put all their energy into ripening but to no avail - anyone got any tips?

i been feeding mine with biobiz bloom and molasses, 2 pics 1 plant

this is my first attempt, i wont use grow bags again

Thanks man, yeah the rain done it... same problem as last year... from lovely green growth to instant wilt/death
Nevermind though, probably won't grow toms outdoor again, will have to go the greenhouse route with this glorious weather



Hi man, yeah should of had a shelter put up, have been busy doing other things so they were a bit neglected Didn't seem to mind the rain first of all though

Cheers, might give it another go next year




Hi withnail, cheers Glad to hear your toms are doing good mate :yep yep your right there, suppose you need a bit of luck with the bush toms



You removed the flowers? I think the flowers actually release pollen mate so that the plant can produce fruit?? I'd leave the flowers well alone.

Not sure if this is correct, but when I saw the first flowers, I went out a few times and shaked the plant, sure I read somewhere that this will speed up setting fruit.

Also, I gave mine a few misting's of maxicrop, on the bottle it says this will help the fruit to set, and im pretty sure it worked.

Nice toms grandad, well done!
All done outdoors? no greeny?

My 2nd year doing veg in the back yard although last year was chillis only.

Tom wise - I've been growing a tumbling variety in pots - I think they are called Maskota - I'm right down south and have been cropping 10-15 of the tastiest little toms every day for the last couple of weeks, and look like there's another couple of hundred on the way. Had a blight scare back in June and chucked one diseased plant, but I don't think it was blight as the other plants are fine. They are not flowering any more though - can I expect any more flowering as I crop more ripe toms?

Main problem with these is that they are meant for hanging basket and do tumble. I've had to raise the pots about 4 foot of the ground to stop the heaviest branches and fruit from dragging on the floor and being slug bait.

Also got a couple of sweet peppers (a Bell Boy and a Sweet Long), a chilli (Apache) and a couple of aubergine plants (Baby Rosanna). Peppers and the Chilli are doing well in pots too - got some big but still very green fruits, but the aubergines have never seemed that happy. Still I've got a few fruits on these now. Should I leave the peppers and chilli to ripen on the plant or pick em green to encourage the other fruits to grow big?

All in pots in the back yard. Westlands MP + JI, B+Q organic tom food with every water, fortnightly essence sprays, a little seaweed extract on occasion, and a little epsoms too (I think the aubergines have really benefited from Epsoms - fruit set only started after they had had a dose although they had been flowering for ages - normally the flower just breaks off the plant).

hey grandad,
i learnt a cool trick with grobags this year.
When you get one ,stand it on one end and duck tape right round the middle .(the 'waist')
Then cut through the middle of the duck tape . This gives you 2 ' pots' of half height , but much deeper than grobags are designed to be .
One (or 2 at a push) toms in each half .
Brilliant , much more room for roots ,
more roots , more froots!!