Let's talk tomatoes

It's February, it's still cold and yet now is the time to start sowing tomato seeds!

As always I start off sowing using heated propagators because you'll find that without the extra warmth you won't get tomato seedlings for a long while. Seeds will come to life when the soil is the right temperature and you can do this a few ways:

Heated Propagators  - these will require electricity to work

Sowing indoors - There are window sill seeds trays in so many shops this year and you could grow from seeds and cuttings in the warmth of your house this time of year.

Heated Beds - I did try to grow seeds in raised beds a couple of years ago, which had lots of fresh poultry manure dug in. The plan was to try and increase the soil temperature from the manure rotting away from below (a Victorian method) but alas this didn't work for me. I'd suggest that you'd need a big greenhouse and lots of manure to try this method.

So this year I'm growing several varieties of tomatoes. This is because I want to maximise my productivity. My children enjoy all different colours of tomatoes (when on holiday in France they loved picking orange, green and black toms off the supermarket shelves) so I want some different colours for salads. I've also chosen some large, fleshy varieties for bottling up for the winter, meaning I'll still be using home grown tomatoes for meals long after the growing season.

Orange, black and green tomatoes with radishes - my kids loved these when we were in France

How to choose the right tomato for you

You might find that when you're looking at buying tomato seeds or plug plants that they come in two categories: determinate and indeterminate but what does this mean?

Determinate: this means that the plant is a bush variety and will stop growing at a certain height, producing several fruit from it's branches. What'll happen is once fruit starts forming the plant will stop growing.

I love growing determinate tomatoes in hanging baskets in the garden, such as cherry varieties, which are great for salads and accompaniments to all sorts of food. Tumbling Tom is a good cherry variety, which I grow both the red and yellow colours.

Indeterminate: these are the tomato plants that will grow for as long as the weather allows them. I grow indeterminate tomatoes in my polytunnel, using string to support them. Usually, the varieties of indeterminate toms that I like to grow are larger fruit such as the fleshy Marmande and some plum tomatoes. One indeterminate that has always been a success for me is Money Maker.

Indeterminate tomatoes will need support while they grow. Canes (as seen above) are a simple, reliable method. 

When choosing which tomato plant you want to grow have a think about what you want. Do you want a salad crop? Are you into small tomatoes or do you prefer the large fruits that have less seeds? What space do you have for growing tomatoes? Limited spaces usually mean that small determinate plants would be better but then maybe you feel you can train an indeterminate like the big commercial growers do, making plants grow in circles.

Fancy growing tomatoes like a commercial grower? They use indeterminate varieties that are grown under glass, circling around long lines, producing tonnes of fruit every year. The crates pictured above are just some picked from one line. 

Once you've decided what you want to eat, go get those seeds and sow them! You don't have to start early as I have, especially if you don't want the added cost of using heated propagators. You can sow your seeds under glass or on a window sill in March and still enjoy tasty fruits over the summer.