Allotments 4 All

Okay, first question is can I grow different kinds of tomatoes next to or neat each other?

My first ever tomatoes were Moneymaker tomatoes last year. I grew these on the balcony and not at the allotment. Some were even upside down, and that was fun, though the yields were the same. (Container size mattered more than how I grew them)

This year I'm trying four varieties (and if it feels like too much, there is no shortage of people who would take plants from me!)

1. Siberian (bush) - Okay, so if these are bush, how tall do they get? I'd like to grow them at the allotment.

2. Alaskan Fancy - also, how tall? These too are for the allotment.

3. Tumbling Tom, cherry tomatoes - These will be on the balcony in containers.

4. Ilidi, yellow chery- these are indeterminate... can use a stake for support on the allotment? Other recommendations for support?

I thought I could stake the bush ones, but haven't a clue how long the stake should be. Bush tomatoes, that mean they will stop growing on their own and I don't have to pinch them out, right?

Any words of wisdom?
I learned last year here that I can plant them right up to the first set of leaves and that mulching them like mad means I may just be able to grow them at the lottie!

Thanks, seriosuly, what would I do without this forum? It's fun to learn all this stuff!

Bush. don't prune,make a cage if you can out of 6 inch square rigid wire mesh, this will hold  up  a really loaded bush tome and you can pick easily, some of the bush are very heavy plants, usually 3 feetish. Look on net for making tomato cages.  alot of people don't use them but I really think it helps as they grow wide .

Indeterminate prune out suckers, loads of info on here about how, good stake well down will hold them. I tether my stakes to a top rail though.

Plant them deep.

They will live together just fine.

XX Jeannine

You could try stringing the indeterminate ones, that is growing them up strings, You do need something to tie the string to though, but once you have some sort of rail in place, you just twist the vine round the string as it grows, it's dead easy and saves space too. I once did a sort of maypole affair, stuck a great long pole in the ground and secured about half a dozen strings to the ground with strong pegs, each peg was about five feet from the pole in a circle around the pole. The strings then were tied to the top of the pole, and the tomatoes were planted at the base of each string. It worked fine with Gardeners Delight, but when I tried it with larger tomato types, the whole lot collapsed under the weight! Did give other people a bit of a laugh though  ;D

Stringing them works fine under cover - that's how we support them in the GH, and just tie them in to the roof. But I don't think I'd like to chance it outside, at least not on my windy plot! I normally use stout bamboo canes (4 or 5 foot), but for the big beefsteak tomatoes perhaps tree stakes might be better - there are generally 2 or 3 that manage to collapse!

Ildi seems to grow & grow; up to 6 or 7 feet one year in our lean-to mini_GH (until the frost got it!).

But no problems growing different varieties together. You can even save seed from them and it comes up true.

hmm this is interesting. I already planted my tomatoes so just as well the answer is yes! I have:
2 cherry tomatoes,
2 Roma tomatoes,
about 16 Marmande big tomatoes,
a "Noire de Crimée" purple tomato
and a couple I was given of unknown species!!!
Trouble is now I don't know which is which!!
I put them all in the ground next to a big wooden stake, even the cherries.
What are bush and indeterminate? To me, tomatoes are the easiest things to grow and I have always had loads of fruit whenever I have grown them in the past without doing anything! I don't think I have ever pruned a tomato....seems I have been living in blissful ignorance??

Are they indoors or out? If they're outdoors you grow them all as bush.

everything I do is outdoors, I live in a flat and don't have a greenhouse, but don't need one here either really, it is a warmer climate.
what is the difference between the two types? I thought that all toms grew as tallish bushy plants???

According to about.com:

Most of the tomato varieties grown in home gardeners are considered indeterminate varieties, or vining tomatoes. They continue growing until they are killed by frost and keep setting fruit throughout the growing season.

Determinate tomato varieties tend to reach a fixed height and ripen all their fruit in a short period of time.

Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on May 16, 2007, 09:57:22
If they're outdoors you grow them all as bush.

Really?? Have always pinched out outdoor cordons. Am a bit stunned by this! :o

Quote from: pye on May 17, 2007, 23:43:49
Have always pinched out outdoor cordons.:o

Me too. (But most of the varieties I grow are indeterminate anyway.) It stops them sprawling everywhere & keeps them open for when the blight strikes. (Or perhaps it's just that I like to see things tidy!)

I grow everything as bush because I want the maximum fruit in the minimum time.

In all my years of growing, most tomatoes are grown outside,it is only since coming back to the UK I have grown them in a greenhouse.

I prune if indeterminate and not if determinate ,outside or in.

I want the fruit to be what I expect it to be, it is why I pick a certain variety over another one,pruning or not gives me what I am looking for. eg. If I want 1-2 pound sized fruit off my Aussie plants  I will get it ,but if I don't prune I would get nice eating fruit but they would much smaller. So to get what I expect I follow the the accepted rules.

XX Jeannine

Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on May 18, 2007, 07:44:57
I grow everything as bush because I want the maximum fruit in the minimum time.

Robert this is really interesting. I thought that these max fruit/min time were the choices - one or the other. So leaving them as bush gives you lots of fruit and quick too?

I feel an experiment coming on. Thanks.  :)

I am growing:

gardeners delight
marmande
moneymaker

all the above are indeterminate??? so I should be pinching out the sideshoots and securing with a cane?

I also have a few seedlings of 'blaby' (sent kindly by an A4A user). Any ideas on these variety?

I know a little about the Blaby  ,I am fairly sure it is an indeterminate, I have been trying to get seeds for this one for some time, do you have any seeds you can swap,I would be most grateful as it has eluded me. I have lots I can swap you for, XX Jeannine

I was sent the blaby seeds by 'markfield rover'. I have no idea if she has any left, but you could try pming her. I only had a few seeds and I have planted them all. I would be happy to send you some saved seeds later in the year from this summer's crops though  :)

Thank you Sparkly. XX