Outdoor Tomatoes; Interview with Linda

Today we meet Linda whose back garden is a green and mouth watering space. Over 30 years of work has created a fertile, productive plot with a tried, tested and tweaked schedule of sowing, planting and harvesting which reliably produces delicious fruit, vegetables and herbs.

So before getting trug happy; time to focus on tomatoes. Linda grows both inside and out. The indoor tomatoes thrive in large terracotta pots placed in a light filled, glass conservatory whilst outdoors the tomatoes are planted directly into the soil, in 1 of 5 rotating vegetable beds. This year it’s their turn to root down at the end of the (permanent) asparagus bed.

Today I’m asking Linda about outdoor growing. Tomorrow’s post will feature her approach to indoor growing.

TL: When and how do you sow your tomato seeds?
Linda: I sow mid March and use seed trays; John Innes seed compost and a heated propagator. A week after the seed leaves have developed I prick them out and move them on into 3” pots. I want to move them on before their roots have developed too much in order to avoid disturbing them.

TL: How do you look after the seedlings?
Linda: For compost I would ideally use John Innes 1 or if I’m short of that, John Innes 2 mixed with a little seed compost. During the day they sit on the conservatory windowsill and receive lots of light. At night because the temperature drops I put them back into a heated propagator to keep warm. Lid on when small; as they grow just as base heat.

TL: When do you move them outside?
Linda: I spend several weeks hardening them off by moving them, still in pots, outside during the day and back into the conservatory at night. From mid May, if the weather is looking as if the likelihood of frosts have passed, I’ll plant them out.

TL: Could you tell us your approach to planting outdoors?
Linda: When the plants are about 15” high I plant them out at 20” intervals, arranged in 2 rows which are 2ft apart.  I’ve 5 different beds which I rotate every 5 years. For support I am moving over from bamboo canes to strong, plastic coated steel canes.

TL: Do you have a specific approach to feeding?
Linda: I put down a base dressing of chicken manure about 2 weeks before planting but apart from that with the outside plants I don’t really feed. My soil is rich, the result of adding compost and building up the soil level over 30 years. When I first started growing, the soil here was clay to less than a spade’s depth, including blue clay! Year by year I just kept digging, removing the clay and adding in compost. As a result I’ve now a good depth of soil; 2 plus spades depth and it’s more loamy than clay. But if I were to feed I’d use Chempak.

TL: And what about watering?
Linda: When I first plant out the tomatoes I water them in but again after that, I rarely water outside. The soil is good water retentive soil. I’d water in a really dry summer, always in the morning, that way the plant gets the water when it’s going to need it – in the morning and in the day. If it’s really hot, an extra drink in the afternoon is fine but with cooler nights you don’t want water lying about when the temperature drops.

TL: Which varieties are you growing and when you do expect to picking your first outdoor tomato?
Linda: I’m growing Ferline and Legend. I’ve chosen them for their resistance to blight. Last year my first outdoor tomatoes cropped on 8th July. My approach is to take the plants to 4 trusses and in late July pinch out the tops. I stop them when they are high enough to manage and when I look at the plants and weigh up if the flower buds coming through are going to have time to develop.

As you can see from the photos Linda’s plants are robust, stout characters. Their stalks have girth to write home about. Her method most definitely results in strong, healthy plants. Thank you to Linda for sharing her know-how and hard dug experience !