Growing Tomatoes
Growing tomatoes, or as some would incorrectly write growing tomatos, is one of the joys of summer gardening.
There are still those who ask why we grow our own tomatoes when there is so much choice in the shops. Perhaps these are people who have never walked into a greenhouse, picked a tomato, washed it and eaten it immediately with a salad. Just writing about it makes your mouth water! No air miles or big carbon footprint for grown at home tomatoes.
There seems to be differing opinions in print about how easy it is to grow tomatoes. Some say it is difficult and that tomatoes are very susceptible to all sorts of pests and diseases and others who just write as if there is no need to mention any possible problems when writing about how to grow tomatoes.
The answer is that growing your own tomatoes can be an easy process but just like growing any other food crop in your garden you can and at some time will encounter problems. One year the weather will be perfect for tomato gardening and a large healthy crop will be harvested. The next year will be cold and wet and the crop will not be so good. One year the aphids will be no problem and another year they will give you terrible trouble. But this is gardening and usually the successes far outweigh the failures.
Growing tomatoes indoors usually translates to growing greenhouse tomatoes. At one time all tomatoes were grown straight into the greenhouse garden soil but different methods have been tried and tested. Tomato cultivation now includes growing tomatoes in a growbag, growing tomatoes in pots or even growing hydroponic tomatoes.
We can even distinguish by size, medium fruit, the large beefsteak and of course the sweet cherry tomato variety.
It is possible to grow tomatos outside in the garden soil or alternatively growing tomatoes in containers on the patio is acceptable but in both cases choose the best sunny spot you have to ensure good ripening and taste. Growing tomatoes in hanging baskets has become popular and there is quite a varied choice of cherry tomatoes now available.
Choose your tomato seed or buy tomato plants to best suit your situation. You will find good retailers label seed and plants as suitable for greenhouse only or as also right for growing outside.
Gardening Tips | Best Tomatoes - Growing TipsI have grown my own tomatoes for 30 years now and my grandfather led the way for more years than that. My family would not forgive me if I did not provide a crop each year.
Growing Tomato | Questions and Answers | Hints and Tips
By far the largest postbag of questions received is about tomatoes. There are still many more questions in the bag and I will attempt to answer them here, it may take a while to get through them all!
Growing Cherry Tomatoes
Growing cherry tomatoes is a treat waiting to happen. One thing that can be said about cherry tomatoes is that there are several ways to grow them and most people with a little space can achieve results.
