Tomatoes are one of the most satisfying crops to grow at home
Jane Powell
They are easy to raise, slugs leave them alone and the fruit come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, often with a flavour that is hard to match in the shops.It’s also really easy to save the seed of varieties you like, and grow them again the next year.
As ever in gardening though, there are a few challenges
Tomatoes come from South America, and although they are quite tough and will grow outdoors in cool damp Wales, they suffer in at least two ways. One is that they don’t always get enough sun and warmth to ripen. Last year, my outdoor Alicante tomatoes only produced red fruit in October, and that was after I’d picked them green and hung them up in a sunny window.
The other is that they are susceptible to blight, which is spread by fungal spores that like wet weather. At the community garden, all our outdoor tomato plants and many of those in the polytunnel were hit by blight last August and had to be ripped out, whether they had got round to fruiting or not.
So it wasn’t a great year for tomatoes, at least not for us. I was struck therefore to read on Twitter than an acquaintance had been eating ripe tomatoes in mid-July, from plants grown outdoors. In Carmarthenshire!
It turned out to be a yellow cherry variety called Galina, bred in Siberia, which he had obtained from the Real Seeds company in Pembrokeshire.
Real Seeds
Real Seeds specialize in heritage varieties which are not commercially available and are often better suited to home growing. It turns out that they have quite a few tomato varieties that are very early and so suited to the UK.
Another source of seed is Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library. You pay a yearly subscription and then get to choose six packets of seed every spring.
But this year will be different!
I’ve sourced seven varieties of tomato seed (not all of them early, necessarily) which I’m raising at home and will grow at the garden. Marc is trying two cordon (or vine) tomatoes in the polytunnel. We will also share them out so that people in the Aberystwyth area can grow them in different conditions and report back on how they do.
The varieties are as follows. RS = Real Seeds, HSL = Heritage Seed Library, PD = Plants of Distinction, and the descriptions are taken from their catalogues.
Galina (RS)
Early yellow cherry. Grow as a vine but let a couple of shoots develop for highest production. Makes amazing yellow tomato soup or even yellow ketchup, too!
Imun (RS)
Semi-bush, early sauce type. A brick-red old Czech variety that is best grown as a supported bush. Early to crop, with excellent colour, and good for sauces and ketchup.
Gardener’s Ecstasy (RS)
Bred by Tony Haig at Brithdir Mawr, Pembrokeshire, from a cross between Gardener’s Delight (see below) and Dr Carolyn. Combines excellent flavour and good productivity: hundreds of cherry tomatoes with a delicious mix of sweetness and acid.
Aurora (RS)
Early bush variety from Siberia. Round red tomatoes with thick flesh, and is particularly good for cooking down into a rich sauce.
Cape Teaser (HSL)
Sprawling plants that bear pale orange cherry tomatoes in profusion. Their intense flavour is delicious when eaten raw, but also makes them perfect for a tasty tomato puree.
Whippersnapper (HSL)
Very early tomato. Sprawling, but compact, plants perfect for containers or hanging baskets. Yields an abundance of attractive, small, oval, pinkish-red fruit with a fabulous sweet flavour.
Conseulo (PD)
Exceptional Tomato with large cherry sized fruit weighing 15-20 grams and with the most delicious sweet flavour. Clusters of 25-30 fruit are borne on long trusses and each plant can yield up to 150 tasty, bite sized tomatoes. Trials in Northern Europe have found that it has good resistance to blight. Cordon.
Red Pear (PD)
Heirloom variety. Red pear-shaped Tomatoes with a smashing flavour and on occasions will sport an odd yellow fruit. Cordon. 80 days from transplanting.
Gardener’s Delight
A commercial cherry outdoor variety, very popular with home gardeners. Seed saved from last year.
We will have seedlings ready to share in late May, when there will be a seedling swap event, and we are interested to hear from anyone who would like to join us in experimenting with these new varieties.
Maybe you have your own favourite tomatoes you would like to swap with us, too.
Who can get the first ripe tomato of the season? Which has the best flavour, the highest yield?
Maybe we will be able to meet up in the late summer for a tasting session.
Please email if you would like to know more.
We also welcome donations of 3” pots to put the plants in.