My Daughter Kelly caught Covid and moved out and into her sisters place as they were away to try and isolate herself away from us on Friday, but I swiftly followed with the cold and flu type symptoms on Saturday and my good lady wife became positive on Sunday.
With the weather being so nice I took the opportunity to get out of the house and into the fresh air and sow the tomatoes for this year, outside of the Joe Mills Grow With Me 2022 varieties, that are quite established.
Blight Resistant Tomatoes
The world’s first blight resistant orange fruited variety. Plants are high yielding, producing a mass of brightly, rich orange toms.
Taste is sweet with a slight tangy flavour, making them perfect for summer salads. Indeterminate.
10 Seeds £2.80
As well as its ability to shrug off even the worst blight, Crimson Crush will provide great yields of exceptionally fine tasting, large, round tomatoes (each weighing up to 200g). Bred for outdoor growing, it's the tomato that everyone should be planting this year. (Cordon variety - one stem grown by pinching off side-shoots as they appear, needs staking and tying in.)
Ideal for the home or the allotmentPlease note: With regards to the nature of the blight resistance, plants can still show infection (up to 10-15%) of leaves, stems etc. without effecting fruit quality or yield. The plants having the resistance to be able to grow away from the attack.
The Crimson Plum is the first blight-resistant plum tomato from seed. Great for both indoor and outdoor growing, it is the ideal tomato variety to be grown outside in the UK.
This remarkable fruit is ideal for pots, baskets or any containers, reaching heights of 150-200cm (59-79"); spread 40-50cm (16-20").
Support with a cane and remove side shoots regularly. Feed regularly with tomato food.
The Crimson Cherry is the first blight-resistant cherry sized tomato, making it the perfect variety to be grown outside in the UK. This remarkable tomato variety is ideal for small pots, baskets, or any containers, reaching heights of 151-200cm (59-79"); spread 41-50cm (16-20"). Extremely versatile, this tomato plant shows good resistance to Fusarium, Verticillium, and both early and late blight!
Crimson Cherry tomatoes are deliciously sweet (9 Brix). Its fruits have a satisfying 'tang' which makes you want more. These tomato plants will keep cropping until the first frosts outside and longer if grown in a greenhouse or tunnel.
Mini, Micro & Mini-Dwarf Varieties
Variety released by Reinhard Kraft, Germany. Golden yellow, cherry sized fruits.Good taste, juicy with an mild acid bite.
Determinate micro dwarf plants from around 1ft / 30 cm. Huge yields from small plants. Regular rugosa foliage.
Perfect pot variety, all year round.
I got the seeds from a seed circle.
Probably the smallest tomato plant ever! Micro can be grown in a 6" pot or window box, growing only 4-5" high, but still managing to produce dozens of tiny fruit. Suitable for people with no growing space, and an astonishing conversation piece.
A small percentage of these seeds can occasionally revert to produce a larger plant, so please select the smallest, dwarfest seedlings and reject the larger ones. (Bush) Few seeds produced.
Cute, super short and perfectly formed – that just about sums up Micro Tom.
Released in 1989 by the University of Florida, this variety is often touted as the world’s tiniest tomato plant. The plants are about 8cm in height, and can be grown in window boxes, small troughs and pots. The plants fit inside the smallest of cold frames, and they are worth a try outdoors.
The small fruit turn red as they mature, and though the flavour isn’t the best, it is decent enough to give Micro Tom a try. Your kids will love them!
Determinate (miniature bush) growth habit.
This is a great little tomato in all senses of the word. Open pollinated, heritage (heirloom) variety. A true dwarf variety that will grow to around just 12" (30 cm) tall and produces masses of sweet and juicy cherry tomatoes - that are proper cherry tomato size!
In order to keep its dwarf habit, good light is essential. In low light levels the plants will grow larger and have a more lax habit.
This is a determinate variety and best grown as a bush.
There is no need to side-shoot though thinning excessive growth to allow light and air in can prove beneficial.
A tiny dwarf variety that will happily live on a windowsill and fruit at no more than 12" or 300mm tall.
This variety has been bred for growing in pots or window boxes. It is an ideal variety to grow on the patio. It has a compact habit producing medium sized fruits, which ripen very early in the season.Pot on after first true leaves appear. At about the time of last frost, set out into grow bags. Do not allow the plants to get too cold. Plants need staking but there is no need to remove the side shoots.
Other Tomatoes
Indeterminate variety best grown in the greenhouse. it produces long, cascading trusses, each with up to 40 tasty sweet, bright red cherry tomatoes that rival the sweetness of Sungold.The long trusses are impressive when loaded with glossy red fruit, and this variety has the flavour to match with a 10% Brix rating for sweetness.
Harvesting time will depend on sowing time and growing conditions, Fruits when mature weigh about 20 grams.
These 'Burlesque' tomatoes are certainly big and beautiful! They produce an abundance of large (400g) beefsteak tomatoes with a sweet and tangy taste (Brix 6%). These whopping tomatoes are perfect to grow in a greenhouse or outside further South as they are also blight tolerant! The flavoursome fruits grow in masses and should yield 40-50 tomatoes per plant during peak season.These tomatoes are thick in size with a thin layer of skin, but don't fret because these fruits certainly won't crack or burst! The meaty, juicy and tender flesh of this Cordon variety is scrumptious when served in a sandwich, or on a home baked pizza with mozzarella cheese and basil.
Sow March/April for greenhouse growing (or April for outdoor growing) in a propagator on a windowsill or pots or trays in a greenhouse at 18-21C using a good quality compost. Cover seeds with 6mm compost (Germination 7-14 days). Transplant seedlings singly into 7.5cm pots. Grow on, finally planting into large pots, or direct into a greenhouse border; or outdoors 45cm apart when the risk of frost has passed. Support with a cane and remove side shoots regularly. Feed regularly with tomato food.
Produces world beating extra large fruits up to a huge 700g - 1kg in size. The fruits have good flavour and one can be sliced to feed a family of four!!Best grown in a greenhouse.
Harvesting time will depend on sowing time and growing conditions.
