Whilst the weather offers up a smorgasbord of seasons, gardening magazines are full steam ahead to early summer. Today between squally rain and sunshine shots I sat with a cup of tea and read what Grow it! thinks May will be all about.
Terrific tomatoes declares the cover and inside, plenty of tomatoey know-how.
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about gardeners (especially the veg growing ones) it’s that they like nothing better than ‘repurposing’. Here it’s polystyrene fish boxes (the big ones presumably courtesy of a white wellied fishmonger). Once emptied of fish, they can be taken off to the unheated greenhouse to provide protection for young tomato plants with the bonus of being good light reflectors.
Plenty of recommendations on varieties ( Pink Brandywine, Gardeners Delight, Cosmonaut Volkov, Sun Cherry, Manitoba, Green Zebra, Sioux, Golden Sunrise, Czech’s Excellent Yellow, Stupice, Harbinger and Tamina with special mention going to those whose country of origin is characterised by short summers (Eastern Europe and Mid West US) and so should fruit and crop before the arrival of blight. Other recommended earlies include Glacier and Sub Artic.
And whilst that’s a lot of varieties to choose from it’s a pip in the tomato juice ocean compared to the 10,000 the magazine quotes as existing (which of itself is 2,000 more than quoted elsewhere).
Grafted tomatoes get another mention. This time ‘Elegance’ from Suttons. Again the main advantage is seen as vigorous disease resistant rootstock, especially useful for greenhouses where border soil may harbour soil borne disease.
Greenhouse tomatoes get an in-depth article on Ring Culture in the context of growbags.
Points of especial interest were:
- Make sure both growbag compost and the extra used to top up the bottomless pots (the rings) is warm
- A bottomless pot can add 8-10 litres of compost, which addresses the frequently voiced concern re growbags – too little compost
- First truss should be 30 cm above compost level. Something else to add to my things to be measured list!
- Advice on how to make a grow bag frame to get round the unsatisfactory process of staking growbag plants.
Tips for TL’s who are going to buy plants – look for sturdy plants with dark green foliage. Reject if tips curling or leaves blackened. This means they were not tucked up warmly on cold nights and will have suffered accordingly.
And then a couple of final tips. As well as upending growbags, consider keeping them horizontal but double stacked, with the middle polythene layers cut out. What I like about that idea is it should also help with staking.
And to ensure plants don’t go thirsty on hot summer’s day make watering last longer by mixing water retaining gel into the compost.
And this month’s mouthwatering kitchen garden visit - where I suspect no growbag, double stacked, upended or otherwise, sullies the planting perfection – is Aberglasney Gardens in Wales.
