Tomatoes on the 16th floor
Tomatoes come in many varieties and in two distinct growth strategies:
The Indeterminate varieties keep on growing a long, long climbers… meters long, sometimes!
In commercial glass houses, these vines are carefully “trained” to keep on growing on extensive support structures. Indeterminate tomatoes are usually grown in good garden soil and tied to climbing frames
The Determinate varieties do not become long vines, but are more like a bush that grows no higher than 50 centimeters and flops all over the place; they do not tend to need staking at all and are good for growing in large containers or patio pots
Some are adaptable to growing in hanging baskets, as their short-ish vines can simply hang down and produce their tomatoes on the vertical vine-lets.
A few things to be aware of when growing tomatoes in pots, containers or hanging baskets:
1) they use a heap of water (transpiration is key to good photosynthesis and production of sugars for the fruit.
2) Never let them dry out, because the root systems do not re-store themselves easily, once they were allowed to dry out
3) Use fruit/flowering fertiliser sparingly and perhaps best as a liquid fertiliser: “small doses and often” is the key; do not use high-Nitrogen fertiliser as it will only promote a lot of leaf material and not much fruit!
4) keep the plants in good day light; 8 or more hours of sunlight per day is very good! (works on 6-10 Hrs per day)
5) Use the best tub and container mix you can get: nice and friable with good drainage;
Now’s the time to get your seed sown: get a Kings Seeds Catalogue and select your chosen varieties to grow this year. Germination of seeds are best in temperatures of 21-24 degrees during the day (16 degrees at night) and don’t “bury” the seeds: keep them in moist (not wet) seed raising mix, just below the surface of the soil.
Here are some cracker varieties to look for:
* Window box red specially bred for pots/containers; cherry tomato size
* Baxter’s Early Bush is very compact too
* Container Choice Red grows up to 60 cm and is a larger “beefsteak”-sized tomato
* Patio Choice yellow F1 hybrid is a yellow cherry tomato: heaps of fruit on short, hanging branches; ideal for hanging baskets!
* Best Boy Bush is something that keeps low and sprawls all over the ground; should be good in large tubs; red, medium sized tomatoes
Two rather cold-hardy varieties that would grow well in cooler climes:
Oregon Spring is parthenocarpic and can self-pollinate when a short season doesn’t allow for many pollinators
Sub-Arctic Plenty was allegedly bred for the US military base in Greenland; very small plant, but tough as heck!
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