Thursday 31 January 2013

Tomatoes That I Will Hopefully Grow in 2013


Tomatoes are my favourite food. Every since I was little I have eaten lots and lots of tomatoes. In our first season on the allotment back in 2011 we attempted to grow greenhouse and outdoor tomatoes. It appeared the outdoor ones were not too fond of our lovely Lake District weather, so last year we didn't even bother with any outdoor tomatoes and just stuck to growing well-known varieties (Gardener's Delight, Sungold, Ailsa Craig) in the greenhouse. 

This year I wanted to try growing a few new varieties, but I hadn't really thought much about it. I visited Wilkinson's on a quest to see if I could find some Lebanese courgette seeds, which I did. My prized Lebanese courgette seeds were only available in a multipack and there was 3-for-2 offer on seed packs so I decided to also get a tomato multipack and a sunflower multipack. So, this year I will hopefully be growing:
  • Orange Berry
  • Costoluto Fiorentino
  • Red Pear
  • San Marzano
  • Lldi
  • Tigerella

I've had San Marzano tomatoes before, and they are very tasty, however I am particularly looking forward to growing the tigerella. I'm not quite sure how I will manage to fit all of these into our little greenhouse. They are all suitable for growing both outside and in the greenhouse. So if the weather cooperates this year and provides us with a lovely hot and long summer I could maybe make use of all my seeds!

11 comments:

  1. I'm growing San Marzano this year, I did a couple of years back & they make a lovely sauce.

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    1. Hopefully I'll get enough to make it as far as the saucepan. My middle boy Theo loves tomatoes and they have a habit of disappearing :)

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  2. Surprisingly I did quite well with tomatoes last year given the problems with blight and the weather.
    On the plot I'll be trying Outdoor Girl for the first time, and Golden Queen which I've grown before. At home on the windowsill I'll be growing Red Robin again.
    Fingers crossed for plenty of sunshine to ripen them this year! Flighty xx

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    1. My fingers are firmly crossed! I wish I could grow some at home but I don't have a windowsill that is sunny enough. x

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  3. Hi Andrew, thank you for the invite. I have joined up and am looking forward to having a good look around your site this evening! Lindsay :)

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  4. It always seems such an agonisingly long wait between the last tomato of one year and the first of the following year. I think that they are amongst the tastiest crops you can grow and they beat shop bought hands down. My indoor ones fared reasonably well last summer but the outdoor ones drowned. Let's hope for be kind to tomatoes growing conditions this year :)

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    1. Hello Anna, I agree about the long wait. Nothing beats the taste of a tomato picked and eaten within seconds :)

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  5. I have grown three of the ones you are going to try the only one that didn't quite come up to expectations was Red Pear which I found tasteless. Good luck.

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    1. Oh that's a bit disappointing. If I run out of space I might give the Red Pear a miss then.

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  6. Fear not! There is ALWAYS space for one more tomato plant. You'll like Tigerella I'm sure - very reliable, prolific, good-looking and tasty. I've had good results with Ildi too - it produces enormous quantities of fruit on trusses that look very like bunches of grapes. It's also worth investigating Ferline, which has high blight-resistance. I've grown it several times and it always seems to do well.

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    1. I'd never heard of Ferline, will have to keep a lookout for it. :)

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