Shirley
Part 3 of the Tomato Lover series on the Top 5 Tomato seeds for home growers. Previously in the series we have looked at Gardners Delight and Sungold.
Shirley was joint 2nd favourite tomato along with Sungold. Of the 23 seed sites I searched this variety could be bought from 12.
This is what the seed suppliers had to say:
To eat, Shirley is:
- Medium size
- Uniform size and shape
- One of the nicest tasting, good flavour
- Deep red
To grow, Shirley is:
- Cordon Interderminate
- Favourite greenhouse variety to grow in containers or green house borders, grow in cold or slightly heated greenhouse, especially suited to unheated greenhouses
- Heavy cropping
- Matures early, early into production
- Disease resistant, resistant to TMV, Cladosporium, ABC, Fusarium 1 and 2
- One of the most popular hybrid varieties
- Short jointed, strong plant
- Sets easily
- Trusses, large, closely space, produces an exceptionally heavy bottom truss ,trusses may need stringing to prevent them tearing off
- Habit open easily managed plants, open growing habit, vigorous
To buy Shirley:
Available packet size tended to be between 10 and 20 seeds. Average seed price worked out at 21 pence per seed. But again with variations. For example you can buy 10 seeds from one supplier for £1.50 and 10 seeds from another for £3.50.
Do you grow Shirley?
Is she definitely a greenhouse only tomato or can be she be planted outdoors in a very warm spot?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
First year growing shirley but on the results ive gotten so far, it certainly wont be the last. Nice sized tomato’s. Ripened a lot earlier than the alicanta and no problems with the centre of the fruit either. Taste very nice and each truss has plenty of fruit. Would recommend to try this variety. We havent had a great summer here in ireland and this variety is holding up very well against disease. Would recommend a greenhouse for good growth and feed regularly with a good liquid feed. Pinch out side growth and polinate the flowers.
buy tomato seeds in France and you think you,,ve bought a jiffy bag as there are so many seeds in the packet. I am not suggesting Shirleys should be sold in such large quantities but £3/50 from some suppliers for 10 seeds is a wee bit of a rip off. I would like to see our suppliers be less greedy. I do,nt know what Shirley equivalent name is in France , If I knew I would ask my son to get me some
can shirley seeds be c ollected from the fruit and grown the following year or is this F1 for the one year only, how are these seeds produced
as F1 What is the secret
F1 seed breeding is an art and a science and one that I know I won’t do justice to if I attempt to explain! For some veg like Brussel Sprouts where you want say 15 robust plants of one variety that it makes complete sense to buy F1 – for tomatoes I love the choice that all the non-F1 seeds offer. Due to the genetics involved it is random as to what you will get if you save seed from F1 -but you can have the fun of trying! I like to grow a mix of F1 and not. I like to see what the seed breeders are developing with new F1s – some more successful than others. Some that stay around and become old favorites – some that quietly disappear after one or two seasons. But ultimately I would always come back to what grows well and what do I like eating! that’s always worth paying for in my view!
thanks for the info, I did read somewhere that Moneymaker was the parent of Shirley. think I,ll have a bash at polinating perhaps crossing a French St Pierre with a brandywine. Have you Sally tried anything like this? What is YOUR favourite tom. I am trying hard to catch up on this gardening lark now I,ve had to give up working in the garage, wish I had started earlier cos at 88 ive got to get moving pronto now the days and weeks fly by and I have to cram so much in. I manage to get enough toms processed to see us through to the next crop though