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?
{ 1 comment… read it 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.