Saturday 7 May 2011

Monty Don: Tomatoes.

I have tried lots of different sowing methods but seeds scattered thinly on to a seedtray filled with plain coir works as well as anything. Tomatoes need some heat (around 15C) to germinate, so bring them indoors or - and I strongly recommend this - invest in a heated propagating mat. Tomatoes germinate quickly and as soon as you can see two 'true' leaves with zigzag edges, carefully pot them on into large plugs with a richer compost. Standard non-peat potting compost is fine. Keep the growing seedlings warm and well watered.


There are two variations, bush and cordon, often referred to as determinate and indeterminate. Bush tomatoes grow to a bushy size, the fruit ripens more or less at once and is harvested. Cordon tomatoes will keep growing for as long as the conditions are right, and produce fruit over a long period, although our climate tends to restrict this from July to October.
Cordon tomatoes are trained up a cane or twine and are pruned by pinching out all the lateral shoots that grow at 45 degrees between the stem and leaves. These shoots are extremely vigorous and take energy into plant rather than fruit growth.
Bush tomatoes need no pruning at all but take up much more space. Always plant tomatoes deeply so that the stem is buried right up to the first pair of leaves. New roots will grow from the submerged part of the stem to anchor it more securely and provide more food and water for the mature plant.
I plant cordons in beds in the greenhouse, with each plant about 18in apart and with 3ft between rows. Stake the cordons firmly so that even when the plants are 8ft tall and top-heavy with 10lb of fruit, they remain steady. Although they are so close together, there will be plenty of room between and around the rows for picking, pinching out and for air to circulate.
Then plant the tomatoes in the pots so the roots grow down into the bag below. Tomatoes need plenty of water. I water every three or four days in soil and every day in pots. As the fruits start to ripen, this watering regime can be cut back, or the skins may split. Too much water also makes for big, tasteless fruits - and you may as well go to a supermarket for those. If you have good soil, which is well enriched with compost, the plants will not need feeding. But container-grown plants do well with a feed once a week. I use liquid seaweed or home-made comfrey fertiliser. Comfrey is good for tomatoes and I also cut the leaves and lay them out as a mulch around the plants.
As the fruits set, remove the lower leaves up to the first truss of fruit. When these have ripened, the next set of leaves can be taken off, and so on, until, by the end of September, the plants are totally leafless.
Monty Don: A vine romance | Life and style | The Observer

I think his tomatoes are all grown in greenhouses. Varieties include:

Black Russian
Andine Cornue
Brandywine
Costoluto Fiorentino
Roma
Shirley ( Ideal for frying)
Black Plum
Britain’s Breakfast
Tigerella ( good, lots of flavour – I agree ! )
Marmande ( disillusioned with taste)
Burpee Delicious ( his favourite)
Important:
tomatoes, prefer to be watered early in the morning as they do not like spending a night with cool damp roots.

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