However a few had come into flower and decisions had to made. A few of the leafy, not doing much ones, were consigned to early composting and the rest planted into this re-useable vegetable bag. 60 litres of compost and it was still only half full. Instead of adding more, I ‘earthed’ up and patted the compost in and around the stems, a technique borrowed from sandcastle building days.

As the plants are at 1 or 2 trusses, I pinched out the growing tips and then wondered if they were just too immature for that kind of treatment – so left the rest to settle in.

I’ve no idea if they’ll thrive – but so far they’ve at least withstood the wind and squally rain ! After weeks of sunshine I’d forgotten how noisy and intrusive bad weather is. It sounded like am-dram ‘Riders on the Storm’ being played out, buckets of water arcing against the windows. And I liked my pots where I’d put them – I didn’t want them rearranged courtesy of all that huffing and puffing. But thankfully everything – including that 1 ‘getting redder’ Gardeners Delight - held on tight to their moorings….

to this …….

I’ve gawn and shorn the Sungolds.

I first read about the French method of pruning tomatoes in Living the Life in St Aignan and then in response to my post on Spacing Tomatoes Holylandswain recommended removing the lower leaves to maintain air circulation around closely spaced plants.

I did a bit more research and found this article on pruning tomatoes which  recommended removing leaves from the bottom 8 to 12 inches of the plant.

Enough to convince me to have a go.

I chose the 3 Sungolds in the giant sized growbag as they were spaced12 inches apart, unruly and becoming entangled. I started tentatively enough, a little snip here and a little snap there. But personality will out and once started I’m not inclined to leave alone. A squeezer of spots, a popper of bubble wrap and now a scalper of tomato plants.

Will it be the making or the breaking of the Sungolds ?  Will they be glad to be rid of their excess green baggage or is this a cut too far?

With spacing Tomato Plants there are two different distances to consider:

• The distance between each plant in a row.
• The distance between each row.

There are also some differences to consider between Cordon (Indeterminate) and Bush (Determinate). Bush tomatoes sprawl further sideways and will require an additional 6 to 12 inches between them .

However it’s difficult to find a standard recommendation as the starting point.
For the spacing between each plant in a row the minimum distance is 16 inches whilst some recommendations are for up to 4ft. The most frequently recommended distance though is 24 inches (2ft).

Again the recommended spacings between rows varies between  2ft and 5ft. There must be some tomato lovers with a lot of garden !  The most frequently recommended distance is 30 to 36 inches.

Recommended spacings are made for the grower planting their tomatoes directly into the ground, either outdoors or in a greenhouse border, in mind.

Getting the spacing right between plants is about making sure that each plant will have enough access to water and nutrients and that there is room between plants for air to circulate.

For plants in pots (one plant per pot ) sharing water and nutrients does not have the same consideration. However air circulation and therefore how far apart the pots should be placed does need to be thought through.

Grow bags are in that hybrid ground in the middle ! Sharing resources and by the nature of the container they will be at a set space from each other. However that space doesn’t look like enough.
I measured how far apart the tomato plants are in the giant tomato planter. It is 12 inches.
It will be interesting to see what the impact on their productivity is. I have a feeling I know the answer and I don’t like it!

Have you arrived through trial and error at your own spacing ?

Photo by zizzybaloobah

More Grow Bags.

This time the extra large one designed for tomatoes.

For ‘Easy Watering, Better Root Growth, Extra Yield, Top Quality Full-Flavoured Tomtoes’.  Yes  please to all the above

56 litres of compost.  Just under 19 litres each for 3 plants .
I’ve planted one with 3 x Sungold and 3 x ‘No Label’; to be known as The Lucky Dip bag.

Method:

• Lie bags in position.
• Cut out the three panels as per dotted lines on the bag.
• Put cane in each opening and drive down into the ground beneath the bag.
• Dig out a space for the plant (have container handy to hold compost).
• Place plant and replace compost around it.
• Tie plant to cane.
• Repeat for each plant.
• Water.  6 litres of water per bag.  It helped to hold the plastic edge away from the bag and then water down inside the bag to prevent compost washing over the outside of the bag.

Instructions for these bags advised to avoid piercing the base so I have complied.
Other instructions were to wait to plant until the first flowers open.  Not possessing that kind of faith or patience, that got ignored !

The giant grow bags were easy to put in place and to plant up.  However unlike with the upended bags and pots I couldn’t plant deep and by having 3 plants per bag the distance between each is only 10” to 12”.  Less than the ideal, which depending on variety, is between 18” and 36”.

However it’s all part of the great Tomato Towers Trials! ( A fancy, smancy way of saying it’s all trial and error here; with an optimistic bent towards trial !)

Grow Bags divide tomato growers.

Do they:

Provide an all in one, convenient container for 2 or 3 tomato plants
OR
Result in uneven water distribution and unsatisfactory root space.

One way to overcome potential drawbacks with grow bags is to upend and halve them, resulting in narrower but deeper bags.

I gave it a try.

Materials:

• Standard Size Grow Bag
• Scissors
• Empty Plastic Drinks Bottle, bottom and lid removed
• Cane
• Twine

Method:

• Flip and fold the bag backwards and forwards where the divide will be to move the compost away from the middle.
• Stand folded bag on its ends.
• Cut across top of fold.
• Push compost back down into either side.
• Cut across bottom of fold.
• Bag is now in two halves.
• Compost compacts, so empty into holding container and break up.
• Snip/pierce holes in base of bag for drainage holes.
• Place bag in position.
• Return compost to bag to provide bottom layer.
• Add bottomless water bottle.
• Put in cane.
• Add tomato plant.
• Tie plant to cane.
• Return rest of compost to bag around tomato plant.
• Water through the bottle, checking it drains through.

I included the watering bottle to direct water down to the base as it’s now quite a deep container. However it looks crowded!

I’ve put 4 plants into upended grow bags but am not sure about them. The bag doesn’t sit right and the plant doesn’t look very at home.  I don’t have the option to secure the cane into the ground but that might’ve anchored it . The whole thing look a bit makeshift. 

So 1st impressions not great but I’ll stick with them and see how the tomatoes do .