Tomato Growing 2026

ADMIN NOTE: - START OF 2026 TOMATO THEAD

Last year's thread

Tomato Growing 2025




My cuttings of Chocolate Drop are overwintering quite well so far. The sweet peppers went in today. So I popped in a few micro dwarf seeds into the propagator to keep them company.

 

Hello, tinies! Henry Harrington's, Lois' Baby Tiger ( GWR Variant), Betalux, Mongolian Dwarf.

 

Gosh @eatenbyweasels you're early! What lights do you use to keep them growing properly this time of year please?

 

At the moment, they're under a fold-out bulb screwed into an old floor lamp. As the plants need more space and thus more lighted area, I'll add a gooseneck light.

 

Those look good @eatenbyweasels ! I bought a big fold out one for the greenhouse but it needs quite a support to hang from. Also the boys in blue might start enquiring why I need it (it would be visible from the road). I will put it there eventually...

 

My lights are in full view of the street. Quite happy for the local coppers to come in for a peek. They'll soon clear off when I start boring them with tomato talk.

 

Gosh, that's early. I didn't sow tomatoes until early March, but that was in France and when I had a greenhouse. I'd start them in an electric propagator. If I sowed them earlier they would get too big as all the spare space in the GH was taken up with trays and pots of seedlings of veg and flowers on trestle tables. Once that lot was out in the cold frames in early May I could plant the tomatoes in the GH bed and in the garden if it was warm.

Now that I've downsized in France and I spend a lot of time in England I just buy tomato plants for the French veg garden.

 

These are micro dwarves which only reach around 30cm so they'll be happy on or near the windowsill for months. The cuttings will probably be lopped back at least once to keep them under control until potting on.

 

I ripened some indoors very late and they tasted pretty awful TBH.
I threw them all away in the end.

 

I must admit I had a cracking crop last year after a very slow start and was still eting them till early December..Still have plenty Roma's in the freezer for soups and passata.

 

Elf Tears, although not a stand-out for flavour, kept surprisingly well when picked at flush stage ( when I took down the plant). Still perfectly okay to eat into mid- December.

 

Going to grow a few new ones to me this year. Have any of you tried these?
Suncherry f1
Sunlemon f1
Sunchocola f1
Burlesque
Big mama f1

Plus I've got merrygold f1 for outside again.


I'll decide whether or not to grow any of the saved ones I've grown over the past few years later, but probably not this year

 

New varieties arrived or ordered.

Resibella
Russe ( Black Russian?)
Soul Patch
Dwarf Red Heart
Spike
Petit du Ramallet
Pa's Pride Micro
Bayou Sun
Bonny Best
Brown Berry
Canne Torre
Cheerio Bush
Chestnut Chocolate
Cuore Nero Piccolo Cherry
Delta Dwarf
Dr Carolyn Pink
Efiop
Fruit Punch Cherry
Grusha Chernaya Paste-type
Honey Drop Cherry
Sailor's Luck
Tar Tops
Not Deaton's Dwarf