Why we all love to grow tomatoes
How many of us grow tomatoes? I imagine a lot of you have got your hands up right now and I bet the reason we grow them is because our parents/grandparents did and ‘it’s just something we do’ each summer.
This year, though, for the first time, I’ve been wondering why we actually bother – a heretical thought initially stirred by the rocketing price of growbags in garden centres.
I mean, tomatoes are the divas of the fruit world – they aren’t designed for our climate, they’re beset by pests, they’re absolute blighters for falling foul of blight and if they don’t get enough water or the right nutrients they develop tough skins and hard, flat bottoms. I mean, why do we bother?
But then I bought some supposedly ‘sun ripened vine tomatoes’ from the supermarket and remembered exactly why we spent time and money growing our own.
It’s all down to the taste – or, rather, the lack of it. For although they were perfectly shaped and unmarked, these commercial tomatoes were virtually tasteless – and that’s something you rarely say about homegrown ones.
I’m sure we all agree, there’s nothing better than the sweetness of a cherry tomato plucked, still sun-warm, from the plant, nor the unctuous richness of a pasta dish dripping with a homemade tomato sauce. Nor even the satisfying tang of green tomato chutney in a cheese sarnie.
So I will keep on growing tomatoes, feeding them, watering them, nurturing them through summer – and so, I am sure, will you! Remember also any bought-in compost can be used again in the future as a mulch and saving seed helps save money long-term and tomato growing is sweet again in every sense.
- To prevent blossom end rot, feed and water your tomatoes consistently, never letting them dry out or get soggy.
Successful growbag cultivation
1. I always turn growbags on their side before planting. They take up less floor space but most importantly, it gives the roots more space and you can water more deeply.
2. A potassium-rich tomato will boost all crops, and flowers too. If feeding plants in growbags, make sure their compost remains damp, not sodden, for the best nutrient uptake.
Free tomato plants
Using pinched out shoots as cuttings
1. Pinch out the shoots growing between stem and main shoots and remove their lower leaflets.
2. Dip the ends in hormone rooting compound to help robust rooting.
3. Carefully insert the shoots into a damp mix of seed compost and vermiculite and firm them in.
4. Seal the pot in a bag, place it somewhere warm and light and remove the bag when the cuttings start to grow.
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