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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?
{ 26 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
I grew Shirley’s for the first time last year, acquiring a plant from a nursery and growing it in a Growbag. The cropping was reasonable (45 tomatoes grown outdoors) and I made seeds from them, coating them in seaweed extract before storing in winter and recoating them again prior to growing them this year.
The seed recovery rate was 100% and growth has been excellent this season. I planted inside on 7th March and the plants are now nearly 60cm high with 2nd trusses well formed and third just beginning to appear. First flowers came this week – 26th to 28th May on 8 plants now in final 10 inch pots.
I have been feeding them with a foliar spray of seaweed extract, gave them a dose of Epsom salts today at the first signs of magnesium deficiency and last year used Tomorite for the fruiting phase courtesy of its high potash content.
They were grown inside until early May, when they returned inside for 2 weeks at night. Now with the warm weather they have been outside for ages.
These plants form strong stems but can get leggy if you forget to keep them watered. For the first 8 weeks, I only watered once a week by standing the flowerpot in a shallow dish with rainwater.
I’ve just planted 4 plants into the garden as an experiment to see whether they will grow in the soil: prepared the ground with garden compost and newspaper, followed by cut grass/hay, blood, fish and bone, then a 1:1 mixture of a commercial compost with the soil dug in the planting site. They appear to have tolerated the transplant well and we will see how they do.
Hello
Thank you for that great account of your method.
Your plants sound very well cared for – right from the method of saving the seed. I haven’t heard of coating seeds in seaweed extract so that was interesting to read about.
The development of your plants and the fact that you have nearly three trusses is a very good argument for starting them early as you did in March.
If you’ve planted 4 into the garden – do you have others growing in Growbags again this year – or are you growing all direct in the soil?
Hello Sally
I’m actually growing 8 in 10 – 12 inch pots and four in the soil. I’m kind of winging it on a low budget so am using my Growbag to grow two new varieties to prepare seeds from.
What I can say is that we got a water butt last year and, courtesy of all the rain in April and early May, I’ve been able to feed the tomatoes solely natural water rather than tap water with chloride in it. I noticed last year the difference in growth rates (rainwater saw growth being much faster) and have therefore tried to stick to that. In the warm spell, they’ve needed watering daily, but the growth rate with foliar spray and the warm sunshine has been 2 – 3 cm a day for the past week or so. I didn’t expose the seeds to rainwater though: apparently those that know say that seeds don’t like the microbugs, fungi and algae etc which are to be found in the rainwater…..
I’m hoping we get one of the sharp showers this week as the butt is nearly empty courtesy of a dry 2 – 3 weeks. Hopefully adding an additional butt a year for a few years will allow dry spells to be accommodated. You probably need 50 gallons to feed a dozen plants in 10 – 12 inch pots daily if temperatures hit 23 – 25C for four weeks……that’s assuming you don’t use any of it to water anything else in the garden!!
Sods law has decreed that as soon as I planted the 4 plants into the garden, the medium-term forecast is for a return of much cooler weather around the weekend. I guess I must find something to wrap them in. All the others can live in the garage overnight if the temperatures drop……
That’s very interesting about growth being faster with rainwater – I’d love to hear from others if that’s the experience (and you are right about not using rainwater for seeds – do you think it’s the sitting around in the butts that’s the problem as rainwater itself should surely be ok?).
And great idea to use Growbags to raise the plants that are for seed collection – as presumably you don’t need to allow them to produce as many trusses – unless you want 1000s of seeds?
Lots of experimentation which sounds so interesting.
Last year my neighbour put her tomato plants out very early – so I gave her some fleece to tuck round them when the temperature threatened to drop. I think she thought I was mad saying they needed wrapping up at night! But they survived a late frost. Although we both then lost out to the blight later in the summer. We should have kept them wrapped up!
Hi~~Have bought single ‘Shirley’ and just planted outdoors in large pot. Label says ‘grows to 50cm’. On reading some comments, this seems an incorrect statement.? Do I have to pick out side shoots and stop growth when and if it reaches 50cm+.
Thanks in anticipation~~~~Ian
Hello. Goodness – 50cm is nothing. I don’t think your plant will have got going by then! I would ignore that label! It will easily grow to 6ft. And yes do pick out the side shoots – as for stopping – it’s usually 8 weeks before the first frost. Which I am hoping is going to be late this year. I am going to start saying the words “Indian Summer” a lot and living in hope!
i am trying shirley for the first time this season(in unheated greenhouse).we have had bad weather for months here in liverpool but 3 out of four plants seem to be doing ok.one plant is about e most has th18 inches smaller than his brothers but at the same time it has the most fruit on it.i too only use rainwater from a water butt,it helps with all my veg.i will save some seed and see what happens next year…..will also pray for the rain to stop and the sun to shine for a couple of days at least……graham…
It’s great to hear from tomato growers that actually have fruit on their plants. I feel I am growing a lot of leaves – and a few precious yellow flowers but might never get to see a tomato – green let alone red – anytime soon!
I don’t think you prayers for better weather have been heard just yet! I think we are stuck with what we have for another 10 days at least. Your plants are nice and protected in their greenhouse – but I am sure they would love some sun to start ripening them. To think it was not so long ago that we were all being encouraged to think of growing drought resistant plants and mediterranean crops. Now the humble tomato seems exotic enough again!
sally,all 4 shirleys are flourishing now.5 trusses on each plant and and plenty of fruit,some are full sized just need the sun now.had 3 days of sun and have stopped the growth as the plants are hitting the greenhouse roof.i have had to move one outside to let me get in there to look after my cucumbers.i am feeding once a week wth tomerite in rain water from my water butt.looking forward to my first taste……graham…
Yippee, one of my orphans turned out to be a Tigerella and now has a ripening bunch among the four trusses. I had to put it outside as it was trying to escape the greenhouse via one of the roof vents and the top growth was starting to shrivel. However, this tom will be the first this year to be in one of the many salads,hopefully one of many now the weather is improving. Things are looking good with the rest of my many varieties both in and out doors.Hope all tom fanatics have a good year George
Hi this is the 1st year my mum has grown Shirley for me. We have about 8 very tall planets growing in the greenhouse with lots of tomatoes coming in all sizes. My question is, do they rippen on the plant or do we need to remove them and place them on the kitchen windowsill ? Any advice would be greatly recieved.
It sounds as if you are in for lots of home grown tomato treats. They will all ripen on the plant. Lots of light coming through the greenhouse panes and then when some start to ripen, others will quickly follow suit! (I would tend to use the kitchen windowsill method of ripening for outdoor fruit later in the season.)
the shirley i had to put outside has the biggest fruit and one large one has turned red already in the green house there is 8 fruits on the turn spread amongst the 3 plants.done a quick check and cant see any differance between the inside toms and the outside (shirlies).my 4 tumb ling toms have just stated turning red but my 4 gardeners delight are still looking pityfull….most of my friends have pulled their outside toms this year because of the bad weather we have had in the north west…somebody has given me some seeds from a blacl tomato…has anyone tried them ?…….graham…
Hurray!
A red tomato this summer is the equivalent of Olympic Gold! So Shirley for Gold with Tumbling Tom on the Podium for Silver!
You sound like the lone tomato success story of the North West this year – so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for ripening weather – I think it’s meant to be nice again at the end of the week.
I wonder if the seed you have been given are Black Cherry – if so you are in luck. Have a look at this post from 2009 – not so much for what I wrote – but for all the comments that have accumulated there – all singing its praises. Once tried – forever hooked seems to be how it goes!
http://tomatolover.com/black-cherry-tomato/
you were spot on with the link about the toms being black cherry.lucky enough to have eaten one at the weekend and tonight had the pleasure of two shirlies in our salad..spot on,sweet and juicy..looking forward to the rest coming on…only snag is we go to rhodes in 9 days and i think we will miss the best time to pick them… mother-in-law has had her instructions on their care…
I know I am talking to a fellow tomato lover – when they describe their up and coming holiday to sunny climes (those that have all day sun and lovely food and wine!) as a SNAG!!!
That so made me smile.
Meanwhile your poor MIL – oh the responsibility!
she has her instuctions on how to pick the various toms and cucumbers also the diferant boxes of salads …told her to pick at her hearts content and give away to her sisters and any passing strangers..at least someone will benefit from from my labours…hoping some will remain for our own delight when we return from sunnier climes…graham…
That sounds lovely – lucky ‘rellies and passing strangers. A few gifts of home-grown produce and they will soon not be strangers. They’ll be back for more! If there’s any justice you will come back to plenty as well. Although right now justice seems to be in short supply in tomato world!
well thats it.shirley season over….had plenty of red uns since we came back from our hols plus a good few green uns which will be turned into delias green tomato chutney….the tumbling toms werte by far the winner this season,with shirley in second place.my gardeners delight have been woeful.have moved them inside to see if they improve over the next 7 days.the last of my tumblers that are red will be turned into tom and chilli relish(cooked in a slow cooker for 8 hours) a really nice relish that i discovered last year . p.s.the best year ever for cucumbers…all the best everyone for next season…graham….
Well it sounds as if tomatoes no matter what colour end up well used in your hands. That tomato and chilli relish sounds good. Glad cucumbers have had a good year – every veg deserves a best year! Just so long as 2013 let’s tomatoes take a turn!
sally i too hope next is the year of the tom….got a great recipe for dealing with the surplus cucumbers…..peel,cut in half length ways,scrape out the seeds,cut into chunks…meanwhile put enough rice wine vinegar in a pan with a spoon or two of sugar and bring to the boil,,,when cool put cucumber slices into pre warmed jars and fill to top with the vinegar and screw on lids…can be eaten straight away or placed into fridge…eat within 6 weeks….bye for now,,,graham..