Feature: How to Grow Tomatoes

Tomatoes are a pure delight to grow. Watching your own plants swell to produce sweet, aromatic fruits is one of the true pleasures in life and one that many people repeat year after year. The Tomato is one of the only vegetables that you can grow in a diverse range of shapes, colours and sizes. […]

Heirloom Tomatoes

I went to the Spring Gardening Show in Malvern this weekend. It’s always lovely to see so many gardeners walking around with basketfuls of plants. This year there seemed to me to be more than the average number of nurseries selling unusual plants and flowers. I even thought about buying a Clematis! Still thinking. One […]

Teeny-Tiny Tomatoes

I don’t know about you but I’ve had hardly any Tomatoes this year. Most of mine are still green and sitting on the bush in the rain – booh! The only success I’ve had with outdoor Tomatoes this year was with my clutch of teeny-tiny Tomatoes, my Sweet Pea Currants. I lovingly raised them from […]

Ten Steps to Blight-free Tomatoes

> It’s about this time of year that I start to fuss and worry about blight on my Tomatoes. I’ve never really been able to relax since The Year the Tomatoes Died. So I thought I would re-publish this little article that I wrote last year for the Guardian Gardening blog. I will be doing […]

When to Plant Out Tomatoes

I learned something today. I always thought that as soon as you had hardened your Tomatoes off then they should go straight in the ground – assuming there’s no risk of frost, that is. But apparently there is another factor at work, that of overnight temperature. Apparently, you’re looking for a consistent temperature of not […]

Sowing My Tomatoes

It’s time to dig out my heated propagator and start sowing some of the more delicate plants, like Tomatoes and Chilli Pepper in order to give them the best chance possible to get big and strong before I plant the out in early Summer. Tomatoes and Chillis in particular need the longest growing season I […]

Tomatoes and Basil

Call me old-fashioned but I do like a nice Tricolore. Especially, when the Tomatoes ‘and’ the Basil come straight from the garden. There’s nothing like a nice slice of Mozzarella coupled with Tomatoes and Basil and drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Très healthy too. I also like Black Forest Gateaux and Arctic Roll!

Post Holiday Harvesting

I’m back! And look what was waiting for me in the garden. Heaven! We had a long drive home and I stopped off at M & S (as you do) to get some essentials since we had no food at home. I nearly bought some Lettuce (and some Tomatoes – I’ve no faith) but I […]

Tomatoes At Last!

Success! My Tomatoes are ripe. And I managed to pick these before holiday too. Brilliant. The rest of the year can be rubbish now – I have my Tomatoes. I’m happy.

Tomatoes Ripening, Yey!

My Tomatoes are beginning to ripen, yey! I have at least one Tomato nearly ready on all eight plants. That’s a potential Tomato meal before we go on holiday. Well, that’s better than last year. All my Tomatoes were pretty much green and hard at the end of Aug 2008. This year, we’re heading towards […]