Tomato Ideas, Tips & Guides

Remember those heady days at school, when you were faced with choosing your subject options, or which courses – at which higher education establishments – to apply for? There were a lot of things to consider, lots of differing advice on hand, and the prospect of making decisions that would affect (you were told) the rest of your life.

I live within walking distance of a Wyevale garden centre, and this year they have been tempting me with some interesting plants. First, there were the framberries – strawberries with a raspberry flavour. I bought two of those, and they’re currently happily resident on the patio until their final spot in the garden is ready for them.

Yesterday I noticed that one of my Calycanthus floridus is in flower. I have two, currently both in pots, and it’s rare for me to be able to find both of them at the same time. They are refugees from the old garden; they were too young to flower there. They were planted in my parents’ garden in Malvern for a year or so – whether they flowered there, I don’t know. I suspect not, as they were given a rather shady spot. After we moved here I reclaimed them and planted them back into pots. So they haven’t had the best start in life, and I’m happy to see that at least one of them seems to be thriving regardless.

It’s at this time of year, I think, that a polytunnel or greenhouse really comes in handy in the garden. Over the summer it may just be a tangle of tomato vines – productive, but a space that you really only go in to keep up with the watering chore, or to harvest ripe tomatoes. You know you’re going to come out with green stains on your clothes and hands that smell funny – tomatoes are like that. Those tomatoes will hang on longer into the autumn than you thought they would, and by the time you’ve cleared out the polytunnel the season will be so far advanced that it will be cold and dark and your crop of overwintering salads will barely be growing – just marking time until the days are long enough for them to actually grow.

My parents are coming to visit today, to ‘see the garden’ (which is probably just a convenient excuse for them to visit). I am a little apprehensive – not least because it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop raining all day. We were going to have a barbecue; we’ve thought better of it.

Most vegetable gardeners lucky enough to have the use of a greenhouse use it for raising seeds early in the year, extending the season into the autumn, and of course growing tomatoes and cucumbers in the height of the summer. If you’d like to find something a little more exciting when you open the greenhouse door, these unusual crops will appreciate the extra heat.

We don’t really eat fresh tomatoes in this house, and as a rule I don’t tend to grow them. Last year I was tempted by a trio of unusual flavoured tomatoes from Wyevale, but they were tall and needy things that wanted constant watering. I didn’t notice any significant difference between the flavours of the ones we did eat; I gave most of the fruit away. When I had a juicer I would grow cherry tomatoes and make tomato juice; the chickens loved the leftover pulp. (And yes, if you juice yellow tomatoes you get yellow tomato juice.)

The barbecue doesn’t need to be the preserve of meat – quality vegetable kebabs go down a treat with meat eaters and herbivores, they just require a bit of time and imagination. The halloumi adds some bite and additional texture, going beautifully crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside.

I’ve been struggling to find a theme for the garden for next year. After 3+ years without a permanent garden, I have ideas, plans and dreams a-plenty. Picking just one or two of them to run with, and putting the rest off for a year, was proving too hard a task. The garden isn’t even ‘finished’ yet, but it should be up and running by the end of the year. So I have been asking myself, “What do I want to write about next year?”

I’ve mentioned the TomTato and the Egg & Chips plants before – they’re exclusive to T&M, grafted vegetables that grow two crops – potatoes combined either with tomatoes or aubergines. Now opinion is divided as to whether they’re genius space savers or a novelty that won’t give you your money’s worth on either crop. But if you’d like the opportunity to decide for yourself then they’re on offer today – you can buy a pair of plants (one of each variety) for just £4.99.

Is growing veg easy? There’s a big trend in the gardening media at the moment promoting growing your own vegetables as easy, or simple. The prevailing wisdom seems to be that, unless you promote something as ‘easy’, people aren’t going to try it. There’s a flip-side to that, of course; if you say something is easy and people try and fail, then they’re not going to want to try it again. Or maybe it’s just because the people writing the articles have been gardening for so long that everything they do has become routine.

I first tried to grow tomatillos (Physalis philadelphica) in 2011. I don’t remember much about it, to be honest, but obviously I got some fruit, because I took some photos of it! Equally obviously, a lot of the fruits were left on the plants and rotted away to almost nothing, leaving a very attractive spidery case behind.

Header image: TheOldBarnDoor/Shutterstock.com

The news that Iceberg lettuces are being rationed in the UK, due to supply shortages, has made me ponder the nature of salad. When I was growing up, salad was Iceberg lettuce, sliced tomatoes and cucumber. I didn’t eat salad.

The latest Cargo Dragon resupply mission docked with the ISS on Saturday, and the crew have been unpacking essential supplies. Their fresh food treats this time are Gala apples, navel oranges, cherry tomatoes, onions, lemons, mini peppers and ripe avocados.

Jill Edmondson, University of Sheffield and Jonathan Leake, University of Sheffield

Q: I’m thinking of buying a polytunnel to extend the growing season, but while many of my gardening friends think it’s a great idea, others have warned me off it, saying that they’re a lot of work to look after. Any advice would be welcome. PK, Co Kildare

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We might be in the final weeks of summer, but that doesn’t mean all the perks of your summer vegetable garden are over. In fact, there are a ton of amazing ways you can prolong the use of your veggie patch—and keep enjoying the literal fruits of your labor—well into autumn. That’s why we turned to Ashley Nussman-Berry, founder of the Black Planters, and a few other amazing members of the Facebook Group, to ask for their advice. 

A cherry plum, sweet, thin-skinned and very prolific (you’ll also find it sold under ‘Red Grape Sugar Plum’). It was in the top three of our recent taste test and everyone liked it for its strong tomato flavour that’s sweet but not overly so, and its firm not mushy texture. It has a slight acidity running through it which all sweet tomatoes need. It ripens quite late compared to ‘Sungold’ and produces for a long period of time. It’s lovely in a mixed salad with the larger varieties. 

Unparalleled in their August marvellousness at Perch Hill are of course tomatoes. The smell of the stems and leaves that lingers after pinching is almost as good as the taste of the fruit. We grow groves of tomatoes in the greenhouse here, and these are sometimes supplemented with the hardier and more reliable ones growing in a sunny spot in the garden. And we plant lots of basil in amongst and through our tomato jungle. 

I touched on cracked tomatoes in the post onthree common tomato problems in the garden. In light of a recent weather change I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the topic and provide a bit more info. After extended dryness we've gotten a bit of moisture. The welcomed rain is unfortunately starting to cause some tomato cracking in the garden.

Tomato plants are a staple in many gardens, but did you know that there are weeds out there that can easily be mistaken for them? From horse nettle to black nightshade, check out these Weeds that Look like Tomato Plants.

“If you look the right way, you can see the whole world is a garden.” ~Frances Hodgson Burnett~

Summer is still here, and it is still HOT. What could be better than a glass of lemonade to beat the heat? As we approach the last few weeks of summer, preparations for the change of seasons begin. Youth and adults navigate the start of a new school year, retail stores reset for upcoming holidays, and small and large farmers transition into fall crops, winding down harvest of summer produce like tomatoes, corn, and blackberries, making them harder to find at local markets.

It’s already June and summer is now establishing itself with a steady step. If you’ve gone through the to-do list for this month, you know there’s still time to plant some crops. We suggest you to try companion planting, in particular the best plants to grow with tomatoes.

The idea of growing our own vegetables and herbs is gaining popularity in the UK (possibly thanks to Felicity Kendal and ‘The Good Life’ circa 1975). However, not all of us have access to a garden, especially in large cities. So, what can you do if you would like to grow some veggies at home, but don’t have a garden or much space to work with? Don’t worry, you can still put those green fingers to good use!

Imagine if you can have a fresh green salad in February or some juicy red tomatoes in November. Sounds like a dream doesn’t it? Maybe you’ve heard of it. Maybe you’ve seen it. Maybe… it’s cold frame gardening.

Do you know about the Amazing Baking Soda Uses for Growing Vegetables? It is beneficial in producing a sweeter harvest, protecting them from unwanted pests, and much more!

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Wondering What Do Moths Eat? Delve into the intriguing world of these fascinating insects and explore their diverse eating habits in this detailed guide.

Growing Tomatoes from Tomato Slices is the easiest way to have your own specimens. The best part is, you can do it from store brought tomatoes and then relish fresh harvest right at your home!

Tomato plants can produce a lot of suckers — shoots that emerge between the stem and the branch of the plant? These suckers sap valuable energy from the main plant and hinder its growth, which is why it’s often recommended to prune them.

The key to getting the most productive tomato plants is to plant the right companions with them. Read this article to find out which are the best Tomato Companion Plants!

It is a regular debate whether you should leave your tomato leaves on the plant or snap them off. For intermediate varieties I am strongly in the ‘get them off camp!’

Woodlice are generally seen as scavengers who eat rotting matter, they are not thought of as harmful to the garden. However, they do chew leaves and stems of tomatoes and cucumber in the greenhouse. They are not true insects but a species of crustacean.