Not the ones I've grown @Fire 😳 🤣 mutant toms maybe 🤣 Just looked up what is available now and it says if grown bush will give cherry type, but if cordon they will be bigger. That explains it, never grown bush.🤣
@purplerallim that’s what I said to my Spanish friend last year in March when we had minus 2 at night, but he said that if you grow them too long inside, they just get thin stems. My friend lives near Pamplona and I said to him that they have it still cold, but he said that’s not the cold, but wind that kills them. As long as we have no permanent frost, they will be much stronger.
I had moved my tomatoes into the greenhouse and left 4 plants in the flat. Guess what, the one from inside the flat didn’t make it when we had more colder nights in April, and the tomatoes that came into the greenhouse in March developed marvellous. Had to give to neighbours a pound tomatoes every second day in August and September, and I had to eat daily a pound too.
I do it this year the same: 5 are in the greenhouse and 3 are in the flat in case something doesn’t work out in the Spanish way.
I mean, I have to trust him. They harvest so much each year that they even have a tin machine.
Fire It doesn’t matter if you have a greenhouse or not, tomatoes need 4 months from seed to first green tomatoes and then another month to ripe.
1st of April. Easy to remember, should work fine without additional heat. The temptation is always to sow too early then they go leggy or get checked. I cracked and sowed mine a couple of days ago, but they always do better if I can hold off a bit longer.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I usually plant seeds last week of February ( was a week later this year) ten days to sprout, then growing on in a conservatory. At this point most people go wrong, it's not that they get thin and leggy, it's that they don't pot them on burying the stem nearly up to the leaves. This happens at least twice before they go out and into their permanent planting in the greenhouse. This makes for stronger plants I've found. I have the first truss set by late May, and the regular sized toms ripen by mid July when I start picking. Cherry ones could be ready earlier at start of July. Outside it's second week of August before I can pick at the earliest. As for last year @Simone_in_Wiltshire it wasn't a cold winter, to some we have had, so they may have faired better.
Thanks for the tip to pot them on @purplerallim I have the same cycle as you have. First harvest is at the beginning of July. This also the time when I start to take the side shoots off.
I think @raisingirl who is in your area would probably have a good idea. @Nollie who is not far from me, and I are up against the outdoors and although can be clement in April - we can get a late frost in May and bang!! goes the lot (rare).
@Simone_in_Wiltshire says: the ones who had the coolest germination turn out to be the hardiest - and in warmer climes, the ones that surface in the garden after we have been cosseting the seeds we have sown in the conservatory etc. are the toughest!
I germinate in my conservatory (unheated) but hot in the afternoon, then they go into an unheated outdoor plastic house which has "air holes" everywhere and are really, just in the lee of the wind. Cold spell at the moment as you have too. Brrr!
I don't plant outdoors until end April but really mid-May. As @purplerallim says - they start ripening mid-July which is pretty good as by August they all ripen together. That is meant to be an underline!
Cherry tomatoes are great because they produce and germinate so well. This year I have sown black ones, blue ones and yellow ones (plus the usual red).
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Just looked up what is available now and it says if grown bush will give cherry type, but if cordon they will be bigger. That explains it, never grown bush.🤣
that’s what I said to my Spanish friend last year in March when we had minus 2 at night, but he said that if you grow them too long inside, they just get thin stems. My friend lives near Pamplona and I said to him that they have it still cold, but he said that’s not the cold, but wind that kills them. As long as we have no permanent frost, they will be much stronger.
It doesn’t matter if you have a greenhouse or not, tomatoes need 4 months from seed to first green tomatoes and then another month to ripe.
I ♥ my garden.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
As for last year @Simone_in_Wiltshire it wasn't a cold winter, to some we have had, so they may have faired better.
I have the same cycle as you have. First harvest is at the beginning of July. This also the time when I start to take the side shoots off.
I ♥ my garden.
@Simone_in_Wiltshire says: the ones who had the coolest germination turn out to be the hardiest - and in warmer climes, the ones that surface in the garden after we have been cosseting the seeds we have sown in the conservatory etc. are the toughest!
I germinate in my conservatory (unheated) but hot in the afternoon, then they go into an unheated outdoor plastic house which has "air holes" everywhere and are really, just in the lee of the wind. Cold spell at the moment as you have too. Brrr!
I don't plant outdoors until end April but really mid-May. As @purplerallim says - they start ripening mid-July which is pretty good as by August they all ripen together.
That is meant to be an underline!
Cherry tomatoes are great because they produce and germinate so well. This year I have sown black ones, blue ones and yellow ones (plus the usual red).