Tomato Growing 2025

Just demolished them, yum!

 

I'd forgotten about those books @JWK. I had several of those books [tho not the fruit and veg one] when I started gardening. Those Matthew Biggs ones should be good too. I didn't realise Jekka did fruit and veg books @NigelJ, but I don't grow loads of either, so I don't think I've ever had books on the subject.
I knew someone would be able to name a few good books for the poster.
Nothing tastes better than a tomato picked and eaten straight away @hailbopp. Many of mine never make it to the kitchen

 

@fairygirl

I think she did the herb section in that book, it's also got recipes in it.

 

Lois' Baby Tiger again. These are from the plant I gave to my friend. Not remotely similar to the fruits on my own plant. LBT is clearly unstable but the results are still pleasing. These are GWR and very sweet.

 

The 2 outdoor Sungolds are doing well in this warm weather


Jenny namaste

 

I have grown tomatoes for years and never had any problems at all until now. I usually grow about twenty plants of different varieties in both the conservatory and a fairly shady greenhouse. This year I only grew three plants, one Alicante, one Sungold and one Moneymaker, as I’ve been a bit occupied with other things. So far, every single fruit has been well and truly knobbled by blossom end rot. Fed up doesn’t express how I’m feeling right now.

 

The only variety that has been reliable recently in our greenhouse is Maskotka. Just eaten the first ripe fruits today. Absolutely lovely! Just four plants on the go (there's only two of us!) and they're dripping with fruit. They're a bush variety with a drooping habit so they need a lot of support if, like me, you prefer to grow them in an upright manner.

 

@NigelJ - I know Jekka [not personally!] for her herb gardens and books, but I wasn't aware of the tomato or other fruit/veg association. I've never read any of them though.
I suppose most of my very basic tomato growing has just been from personal experience and probably from G's World [TV] or similar. I never used to grow them at all, because I had nowhere to grow them, and having them outside was pointless here.

 

The Readers Digest "Food from your Garden" is a good all round basic book about growing food. It contains plenty of recipes too.
First published in 1977 and reprinted with updates/amendments in 1985. Whether there have been more updates since then, I don't know but I've always found it useful.

 

I've always thought that tomatoes grow like weeds in ideal conditions.
Disease is probably the biggest factor, ( blight ), they mostly grow themselves with a bit of watering and feed if container grown.

 

Yes, it's always amazed me how some of their seeds can survive the human gut (with it's acid & digestive enzymes) then the domestic drainage systems and still manage to germinate at the sewage treatment works!

 

I've got seedlings coming up in my garden and some pots from last year.
It's only really the short growing season that makes then occasionally a challenge.

 

Tortoises can also produce healthy seedlings which , grown on, are not to be sniffed at