Seeds - Simpson’s, Plants of Distinction, Tamar, Plant World Seeds gardens.
- Unfortunately with some of the best tomatoes you cannot buy organic seed so only from the second year of my own growing can they be considered truly organic.
- end of February or the start of March is about right for sowing.
The seed trays are put in a propagator and the plants are pricked out into 9cm terracotta pots when the third leaf appears.
Feeding starts intermittently then, (see web site for Liquid feeds) until the end of May when they are planted out into 30 cm (12 inches) terracotta pots in the main polytunnel.
From here on in they get my standard feed every day.
- The reason I only fill the pots half full with compost is I want to ‘stress’ the plant. Plants that are stressed often produce their best fruit in a last ditch effort of life. This stressing is not easy and requires a little practice as it can be a fine balance between success and failure and it is very easy to end up with small yellow tomato plants. The feed has to be constant and of a good quality so that the plant actually flourishes rather than dies. Stressing is a bit of a knack but CAN produce great fruit.
- I remove the bottom leaves only to get them out of the way so as not to splash water on them when watering. Tomato blight needs wet leaves to enter the plant and so by not wetting any of the leaves you have a very good chance of not getting blight later on. You needn’t do this if you are really careful with watering.
- After final repotting and once the compost has settled down I cover it with some fine OLD wood chips.
That’s about it for the preparation. Now it is just keeping up the watering and feeding.
Apart from my home made potting compost I only use the three feeds mentioned on the web site under Liquid Feeds.
Once I start watering I add ONE of these liquid feeds every day.
- To start with I use the nettle juice daily. This carries on until the end of June.
- July will be mostly comfrey but towards the end I will progress to Wood Ash.
In all the plants are fed like this every day for 3 months.
Watering
- On a hot day in June or July a 2 gallon watering can is sufficient for 8 plants watered around mid day.
- If the weather is exceptional I will go round again in the late afternoon (as the water will be hot again by then) with plain hot water at perhaps a 2 gallon watering can will do 12 to 16 plants.
- On overcast days if it’s raining I may just give them a splash at midday.
If my terracotta pots start turning green (even the tiniest amount) then I’m over watering, if the top of the compost is dry then I’m under watering.
do not put any of the plants on the compost heap, I throw the plants away..
Author - Richard Sandford- Lower Lovetts Farm.
- Unfortunately with some of the best tomatoes you cannot buy organic seed so only from the second year of my own growing can they be considered truly organic.
- end of February or the start of March is about right for sowing.
The seed trays are put in a propagator and the plants are pricked out into 9cm terracotta pots when the third leaf appears.
Feeding starts intermittently then, (see web site for Liquid feeds) until the end of May when they are planted out into 30 cm (12 inches) terracotta pots in the main polytunnel.
From here on in they get my standard feed every day.
- The reason I only fill the pots half full with compost is I want to ‘stress’ the plant. Plants that are stressed often produce their best fruit in a last ditch effort of life. This stressing is not easy and requires a little practice as it can be a fine balance between success and failure and it is very easy to end up with small yellow tomato plants. The feed has to be constant and of a good quality so that the plant actually flourishes rather than dies. Stressing is a bit of a knack but CAN produce great fruit.
- I remove the bottom leaves only to get them out of the way so as not to splash water on them when watering. Tomato blight needs wet leaves to enter the plant and so by not wetting any of the leaves you have a very good chance of not getting blight later on. You needn’t do this if you are really careful with watering.
- After final repotting and once the compost has settled down I cover it with some fine OLD wood chips.
That’s about it for the preparation. Now it is just keeping up the watering and feeding.
Apart from my home made potting compost I only use the three feeds mentioned on the web site under Liquid Feeds.
Once I start watering I add ONE of these liquid feeds every day.
- To start with I use the nettle juice daily. This carries on until the end of June.
- July will be mostly comfrey but towards the end I will progress to Wood Ash.
In all the plants are fed like this every day for 3 months.
Watering
- On a hot day in June or July a 2 gallon watering can is sufficient for 8 plants watered around mid day.
- If the weather is exceptional I will go round again in the late afternoon (as the water will be hot again by then) with plain hot water at perhaps a 2 gallon watering can will do 12 to 16 plants.
- On overcast days if it’s raining I may just give them a splash at midday.
If my terracotta pots start turning green (even the tiniest amount) then I’m over watering, if the top of the compost is dry then I’m under watering.
do not put any of the plants on the compost heap, I throw the plants away..
Author - Richard Sandford- Lower Lovetts Farm.
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" Kumato seeds are not available commercially, and the company that produces Kumato, Syngenta, has said they will never make the seeds available to the public.
As you can imagine, this announcement generated a large amount of interest in the Kumato and its possible lineage. While most likely a hybrid, some have speculated that it is an OP variety. In case you have not heard of Kumato, it is a "black" tomato introduced last year available only in Europe and Australia that is supposed to have a good shelf life. From its incredible sales last year in Sainsbury's grocery stores (the only stores to sell the Kumato), it was a very popular introduction. "
As you can imagine, this announcement generated a large amount of interest in the Kumato and its possible lineage. While most likely a hybrid, some have speculated that it is an OP variety. In case you have not heard of Kumato, it is a "black" tomato introduced last year available only in Europe and Australia that is supposed to have a good shelf life. From its incredible sales last year in Sainsbury's grocery stores (the only stores to sell the Kumato), it was a very popular introduction. "
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