Well that took a curmudgeonly turn that was quick even for this forum.
I think it is an interesting aspect of horticulture. Looking to extend growing seasons, yields and the type of plants we can grow. Without supplementary lights I could not grow hot chillis and my tomato season would be very short.
If you buy UK grown tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, etc; they will have been grown using lamps and all sorts of technology. Have a look at Thanet Earth. The glasshouses produce approximately 225 million tomatoes, 16 million peppers and 13 million cucumbers a year, equal to roughly 12, 11 and 8 per cent respectively of Britain’s entire annual production of those salad ingredients.
Like others I hold off sowing tomatoes until late March or early April. They can't go outside until well into May however big they get before that, so there's no point. My tomatoes aren't usually more than a week or two later ripening the fruit than those of friends who have greenhouses and sow much earlier.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
and apparently now part of the tomato crop is going to be replaced by medicinal cannabis.
The best way to grow tomatoes/chillies in the UK while causing as little harm as possible to the planet is to grow varieties developed to cope with a short growing season.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The best way to grow tomatoes/chillies in the UK while causing as little harm as possible to the planet is to grow varieties developed to cope with a short growing season.
That would be true if we only ate tomatoes in that short growing season. However in reality most of us don't. There is no way to know if using a couple of low power LEDs at home to extend the growing season is responsible for more or less carbon emissions than industrial scale production and associated transport. I know which are tastier though.
we try to eat more or less seasonally ... we do eat chillies in the winter, but we use dried ones
I dont think I’ve bought a fresh tomato for ages ... probably around Christmas. We have home grown ‘confit’ tomatoes in the freezer ... we do use tinned ones tho, so mea culpa for those
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Sorry, didn’t realise the people with propagators and gro lights were commercial growers, I was thinking of the home growers, but yes, growing tomatoes for the country as a whole will benefit from these items.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Many thanks for your reply's yeah im a full time green house grower i never put my toms outside the spend the life im the greenhouse , i always start my toms in feb as thats just what the marshall seed packets says to do :-)
Once there germinated and about a inch tall i take off the lid but leave the base heat swiched on , but due to some poking through quicker than others the lid sometimes does stay on longer then it should
Many thanks for your reply's yeah im a full time green house grower i never put my toms outside the spend the life im the greenhouse , i always start my toms in feb as thats just what the marshall seed packets says to do :-)
That’s brilliant, we need as many commercial growers in Britain as we can get. Even if you start off with local shops it soon builds up. Which variety do you grow?
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Posts
I think it is an interesting aspect of horticulture. Looking to extend growing seasons, yields and the type of plants we can grow. Without supplementary lights I could not grow hot chillis and my tomato season would be very short.
If you buy UK grown tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, etc; they will have been grown using lamps and all sorts of technology. Have a look at Thanet Earth. The glasshouses produce approximately 225 million tomatoes, 16 million peppers and 13 million cucumbers a year, equal to roughly 12, 11 and 8 per cent respectively of Britain’s entire annual production of those salad ingredients.
https://youtu.be/rWKAY9mI0xc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWKAY9mI0xc
now that’s progress https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/britain-s-biggest-tomato-source-1-692239
and apparently now part of the tomato crop is going to be replaced by medicinal cannabis.
The best way to grow tomatoes/chillies in the UK while causing as little harm as possible to the planet is to grow varieties developed to cope with a short growing season.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
we try to eat more or less seasonally ... we do eat chillies in the winter, but we use dried ones
I dont think I’ve bought a fresh tomato for ages ... probably around Christmas. We have home grown ‘confit’ tomatoes in the freezer ... we do use tinned ones tho, so mea culpa for those
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.