Vegmonkey and the Mrs.

I think the most pointless thing about me growing tomatoes is that I don’t actually like them. Not raw anyway. I’ll eat them in spaghetti bolognaise and on pizza, but not on their own.

But they are relatively easy to grow, there are so many different varieties and they really do look good when the side shoots are cut off and they are fruiting. I planted 5 different varieties this year. The idea was that each would be treated to the same conditions, but they did get moved around quite a lot during the seedling stage, from the kitchen windowsill to the cold frame and so on. But, at least three plants from each variety have reached a decent height. The plants have been planted out, 3 to a growbag.

To be honest, they don’t seem much different at the moment, but we’ll see if any further variation happens as they grow. I took the pictures below before I cut back the sideshoots.

1. Fantasio –

These are getting quite bushy and have begun to produce a couple of bunches of decent sized fruits on each plant. These were the most successful seedlings from all that were planted, so we’ve ended up with 6 plants of these overall. Quite promising. They seem to be fighters. They have the biggest leaves or all the varieties.

2. Oregon Spring

These have been weak from day 1 – it took a lot longer for them to catch up with the rest of the plants and looking at them today, they are wilting quite considerably. Definately not fighters in my opinion – 10% had germinated by Easter Weekend and even those looked like they were about to die…

3. Legend

Definitely one of the best performers of the 5 varieties. Each of the plants has a decent clutch of chunky green tomatoes on it. Quite a small plant at the moment though, I’m hoping it will grow a little. 70 % of these germinated which is a pretty good return.

4. Moneymaker

A decent effort. Lots of little tomatoes are forming where the flowers have been. Quite an upright plant and still climbing! 90% of these had germinated by Easter Weekend.

5. Gardener’s Delight

Another decent effort, very similar to Moneymaker in size and fruiting so far. Surprising really as these were the worst germinators, a whopping 0% had come up by Easter weekend. I just about got 3 plants out of them.

So a mixed bag overall. Good to see some are fruiting as they have all been outdoors since 1st June. I’d be interested to hear of any comparables grown outdoors…

Tags: fantasio, gardeners' delight, growing tomatoes outdoors, legend tomato, oregon spring, tomato moneymaker, tomatoes in growbags