Last summer I decided to conduct an experiment in my greenhouse, to see which varieties of tomatoes would grow and produce best, and in which of 5 growing mediums, in response to lively discussion on a Facebook group I am part of. I carried out the experiment, but was rather remiss about actually publishing the results, so here I will link each of the YouTube videos, plus add the results and my comments, so it's all in one place. If you are just after the results, scroll down.

So, first, this video explains the experiment and set up (why You Tube insists on using the sheep for the thumbnail....??):

On November 26th I made a video update, in which I commented that there was already some signs of plants in some mediums doing better than others.....

I actually ended up sending an email to the company that produces the potting mix and compost, and as a result had a visit from one of their regional managers, who was interested to see what was going on. By the time he visited, the plants which were in the compost, which had initially done much better, were slowing down somewhat, and the plants in the potting mix, which seemed to have deficiencies at first, were doing much better. This is logical when you think about it - the compost provided initial burst of nutrition, which then got used up, while the potting mix contains slow-release fertilizers, which took a while to kick in.

However, as the summer heat kicked in, and humidity in the greenhouse rose, the plants all got blight. Despite this, many of them continued to produce well. I shot two more videos, which I have combined into one you-tube clip: updates from 1st February 2015 and March 16th 2015.....

A note regarding feeding the plants - initially I started off feeding the plants with fish suspension liquid, and then later some worm tea and/or Seasol. Anytime I fed them, I fed all of them the same. However I did not continue this regime for terribly long - getting too busy with other things. Obviously, if I had consistently fed the plants, they would likely have produced more than they did. But either way, they all got the same treatment, so for purposes of comparing growing mediums and varieties, there are still things we can learn from this very unscientific experiment.

The main results I was looking for were actual tomatoes produced. So, as I picked each time, I weighed the resulting fruits and wrote them down under the # of each bucket, and at the end collated the results.

I'm going to group the results two ways - first by variety, and then by growing medium. Weights given are in kilos, and are the total harvested weight from the given plant in that bucket. The easiest way for me to do this is to create tables in Word then import them as images - apologies if they are a bit fuzzy.

Total harvest by variety.
(I) stands for Indeterminate variety - keeps growing like a vine.
(D) stands for Determinate variety - grows into a bush, produces, then dies off.

What conclusions do I draw from this experiment? Well, on the face of it, straight potting mix produced the most tomatoes, after a slower start, with straight compost not far behind. If the Roma in potting mix hadn't died, there might be a bigger difference.

No matter what growing medium one uses, though, consistent feeding over the life of the plant is the key to maximum returns!

Of course, one can't really draw final conclusions from this little experiment - to do that, one would need to grow more plants of the same variety in each growing medium, and have some in different conditions (eg outside as well as in the greenhouse).

What am I taking away from this personally? I won't be growing Roma or Silvery Fir Tree varieties again. Moneymaker is a good, reliable producer, but needs proper trellising set up to support it, and regular pruning/training. I don't personally like Box Car Willie as I don't like big, beefsteak type tomatoes. I do like Tigerellas, a stripey heritage variety, but again they need good trellising.

Growing in the greenhouse for some reason (possibly the very high temps at time) prevented the plants from getting infested with tomato-potato psyllid, which devastated my outdoor plants.

This summer I think I will grow just 2 Moneymakers in my greenhouse, in bigger pots filled with a quality potting mix, with better trellising and regular feeding. I will also grow some more smaller pots of determinate varieties Tiny Tim and Sub Artic Plenty. If I grow any outdoor tomatoes, they will have to be carefully covered in micro-mesh to keep out the psyllid. And maybe I'll also experiment with some other varieties. After all, where's the fun in gardening without some experimentation with new plants and/or ideas??

Last year I grew tomatoes. I thought I knew what I was doing, but actually I was clueless! My vines reached gigantic proportions, which shocked me. But upon reflection I realised that previously I'd only grown a couple of tomatoes, in pots. Well, technically they were my son's tomato plants, given to him by a generous friend. When he neglected them, I gave them a little attention. Turns out, two tomatoes in pots does not a tomato expert make!

But, I did learn a lot last year! I planted 38 plants in January (late, but I planted them anyway because a friend gave them to me). Another friend, viewing my baby plants all prettily tied to far-too-short stakes innocently asked "So, are you going to pinch out the laterals?" Ummmmmm.......laterals?? A little reading later, yes, pinching out laterals is a good idea. So I did. Sort of. Haphazardly. Those things grow inches every time you turn your back! One day they're so tiny they're barely there - so you figure you'll wait until next week when they're big enough to actually pinch. Next week they're the size of a small tree.....

We ended up building a plastic-house over the top of the tomato patch (that midnight adventure described HERE), and I did end up with tomatoes - I was still picking them in July. I didn't really know how to train them, so they ended up with a complex array of tying-up attempts as I struggled to keep them tidy and off the floor.

So, this year, I'm going to grow lots of tomatoes. And I'm going to diligently train them, and make them follow all the rules of good tomato plants. My tomatoes are going to be terrific. And tidy. Because I said so! LOL <Insert manically grinning emoticon>

Ok, being more serious now. Ahem. <Clears throat and assumes school-marmish demeanor>

I'm sure by this far into this blog article you're all aware I'm totally an expert tomato grower, and therefore are waiting with baited breath for me to impart all the wisdom of the great tomato oracles so you can grow terrific tomatoes too.

Well, an expert I may not be, but truth is, doing things wrong is often a great way to learn - it tends to send one to the books and real experts so you can figure out what to do better, and having that practical experience under your belt (even the messy, untidy, of dubious success type experiences) makes you better prepared to understand what they're really saying and apply it next time! (Which is why my 2013 gardening motto is "Just do it!")

So, I shall lay out for you what tomatoes I'm growing this season, how and where. And what the "rules" are.

We eat a lot of tomatoes and tomato-based foods in our house. We like 'em fresh in season, and we like 'em any other way all year long. I have in the past bought a lot of tomato sauce, canned tomatoes etc, but have come to realise more and more that store-bought tomato sauces contain a lot of not-so-nice ingredients, plus they're packaged in plastic bottles. Plastic should not be in contact with food, especially acid food like tomatoes. And tin cans are lined with a plastic coating (because otherwise the food would react with the tin) which is high in BPA (one of the serious nasties of the plastic world - just look it up!). Unfortunately, non-BPA alternatives are not actually better for us. And acid foods like tomatoes cause BPA to leech into the food at a much higher rate. Fredrick Vom Saal, an expert endocrinologist at the University of Missouri, who studies the effects of BPA, will not personally eat canned tomatoes. Ever.

Besides, it's always much better, cheaper and tastier to grow your own! Despite my own ineptitude last year, I managed to harvest 35kg of tomatoes at a time of the year when they cost $10-$12/kg in the shops. Even after spending almost $300 to build the plastic house (which has since given me even more returns as a propagation house), I came out ahead. And they tasted soooooo good!

Call me boring, but I like my tomatoes red. Of course there are some gorgeous looking heirloom tomatoes of many colours out there, but I'm not quite ready to try them just yet. The varieties I'm growing this year are:

*Money-maker (8 plants) - a nice all-rounder, good in sandwiches etc

*Cocktail (10 plants) - small and tasty - great for the kids and salads

*Silvery Fir Tree - a Russian heirloom (4 plants) - I've had this pack of seeds in my seed box for a while so figured out I may as well give them a go. What are they like? Red. Beyond that, I'm pretty clueless.

*Roma (48 ish plants) - a good bottling tomato, and I plan to do lots of that!

*Sweet 100 (1 plant) - because I got it cheap at a market

*Russian Red (1 plant) - because I got it cheap at the same market

*Tiny Tim (15 plants I think) - it sounded cute. And turns out it's a true dwarf, only growing about 30-40 cm high with lots of tiny wee tomatoes. Perfect to snack on in the garden or for the kids to help themselves to, so hopefully I can (mostly) keep them away from my main tomato crop.

Apart from the two market buys, all my tomatoes have been raised from seed in my plastic house. I wasn't too impressed with the silvery fir - the seedlings are a lot weaker, and I ended up discarding a number of them. All seeds were sown in accordance with the moon calendar.

My tomatoes are being grown outdoors this year, in the main garden beds of my vege garden. I have 3 beds I'm setting aside specifically for tomatoes, and one that will be half planted in tomatoes.

To stake or not to stake - the vital tomato growing question which engenders endless debate and opinions! I spend some time thinking about that this year. I liked the idea of tomato cages, but the cost is prohibitive. You don't HAVE to stake tomatoes - you can just let them sprawl, and they reputedly produce more tomatoes that way. But it's messy, difficult to harvest, and creates a bit of a harbour for slugs and snails, which are a big problem in my garden. Using a permanent fence or trellis system to train the vines along is another option, one which I'm seriously considering for the future, but not possible in my existing beds for this year.

The other thing one needs to know about tomatoes: they come in two sorts - determinate and indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes only grow to a certain height, and then more or less stop. Roma and Tiny Tim are both determinate types. Indeterminates (most modern tomatoes) are also called "vining tomatoes" - they send out long shoots and keep growing and growing. The determinates are the ones often not staked by growers, but after some thought and research I decided that I would stake my Romas. The Tiny Tims will be the only tomatoes I don't stake this year.

I have planted one bed of tomatoes so far - in setting it up for my Moneymaker, Cocktail and Silvery Fir tomatoes, I first set up a frame-work of metal re-bar stakes, pushed quite deeply into the ground, and tied to a horizontal frame 1.5-2m above the bed. This is a good, solid set up. But it's not without price. Of course, I can re-use those stakes for a number of years (and will) and rebar is useful for so many things in the garden! But I can't afford to set up 3 beds that way this year, so for my two beds of Romas I will be creating the top horizontal framing, and then using a system of growing them up strings instead of stakes. This should work well for the Romas, especially as they are not as heavy as some of the other varieties.

Growing up strings is done by waiting until the tomatoes are about 30cm high, then pinching off the bottom two leaves. A length of twine is tied with a reef knot where the leaves were removed, and the other end is tied to an overhead support. Some sag is left in the twine. As the plant grows, the twine is twisted around the stems for support. I'll be using natural jute twine - I think it looks better, plus it can be composted at the end of the season.

My two market-whim tomatoes are each staked at the end of the extra bed, and the Tiny Tims will be planted out between them next month. These are running down the length of one half of the bed - the rest of the bed is planted in parsley and silverbeet.

1. Thou shalt remove laterals. Most tomatoes do best when grown up a single main stem, which is staked or supported. A tomato plant will naturally send out many lateral shoots (one from each of the points were a leaf grows off the main stem). Pinching out the laterals keeps the plant tidier and more manageable, and keeps it's energy focussed where you want it - on forming flowers and then fruit. I won't be pinching laterals on my Tiny Tims, but will on all the others. My experience last year made me realise how essential it is to be diligent about this, so I plan to be attending to it once or twice a week without fail!

2. Thou shalt support the tomato plant. As discussed above, I'm using stakes and suspended twine to train my plants up. Regularly tying them to the stakes, or twisting the twine about them, is essential. I'll do this when I check for laterals.

3. Thou shalt remove lower leaves. Early in the process, I take off the lower leaves. You don't want any leaves drooping down and touching the ground as that can increase the chances of pests and disease. Also, keeping good airflow around the plants is important to reduce the likelihood of fungal disease. Later, as the fruits are maturing, it's also common practice to remove more leaves so that the sun reaches and ripens the tomatoes.

4. Thou shalt limit the number of trusses on each plant. A truss is a cluster of fruit (tomatoes) that grows where the set of flowers was. Many experts advise that if you limit the plant to 4 or 5 trusses, it will produce better, bigger tomatoes. If you allow it to keep setting trusses after that, they will diminish in quality and size.

5. Thou shalt pinch out the top of the plant. When the plant has set 4-5 good trusses, I will remove the top shoot to stop it growing further. That way the plant can concentrate it's energy on developing those trusses. Plus it means I'm not going to be tangled in endless lengthy vines I would need a huge scaffolding to continue training  up!

6. Thou shalt feed the plants. Tomatoes are very hungry plants, and need lots of good sustenance if they are to remain healthy and produce good fruit. Feeding begins by good soil preparation, incorporating lots of compost or aged manure. Then at planting time, I place a mixture of dolomite, gypsum, blood and bone, Neem and sheep pellets under each plant. Last year I used fish heads, chopped bananas and crushed egg shells. Tomatoes need lots of calcium - so not only did I put dolomite under the roots, I've also sprinkled crushed eggshells around the plants on top of the soil. Side dressings during the growing season of such things as blood and bone, tomato food, compost, manure teas and sulphate of potash help to keep plants strong and healthy.

7. Thou shalt supply plenty of water. Tomatoes need a lot of water, and a plant that wilts due to lack of water becomes weaker and more prone to problems. If rainfall is low, water regularly, as well as doing all you can to conserve moisture in the soil.

8. Thou shalt protect the soil. Bare soil is bad! It loses moisture and nutrients and leads to all sorts of problems. This year I'm under-planting my tomatoes to create a "living mulch" - the bed planted so far is under-planted with dwarf beans. Being a legume, they will also fix nitrogen into the soil, feeding the tomatoes. Look up tomato companion plants and select something low-growing and suitable, preferably something you can also eat as a bonus crop. I will be trying summer savory in another bed. Mulching with straw or similar is also a good way to protect the soil. One of the beds that is being prepared for my tomatoes is currently sown in buckwheat as a cover crop - shortly I will pull the buckwheat and lay it on the soil where it will serve as a mulch and soil improver. And the perfect mulch? An inch or two of good compost!

9. Thou shalt be diligent to prevent or deal with pests and diseases. I grow everything organically, so don't use any chemical sprays etc. But there are plenty of organic ways to protect your tomato crop. I'm growing marigolds around the outside of the beds, as they deter many pests. Feeding your plants and keeping good airflow helps to keep them healthy - a healthy plant is naturally disease resistant. Removing and destroying any diseased plants or plant leaves is sound practice. Encouraging beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps and ladybirds is a very good idea - providing plenty of suitable flowers and habitat in your garden is the way to do that. They will control a variety of pests such as aphids. Home-made sprays can be used. Spraying with a "compost tea" can be extremely beneficial. (For excellent info on the making and using of compost, read Mike McGrath's Book of Compost). Some growers swear by Liquid Copper painted on when laterals are removed to prevent disease. Others insert a piece of copper wire through the stem of the plant to provide protection. I shall try one or the other, or both. Last year I had a huge problem with leaf-roller caterpillars. Regularly checking for and squashing any caterpillars helps. Neem sprays are useful for this and a variety of pests (as is neem granules in the soil). Encouraging natural predators is helpful too. Slugs and snails love tomato plants - removing their habitats (hiding places) is a main weapon against them. Night-time slug/snail hunts are very helpful. I do occasionally resort to the use of a less-harmful (to pets) snail pellet such as Quash. And lastly, covering the crop with bird netting to keep the birds from eating all your hard-earned fruit is a must in my book!

10. Thou shalt encourage pollination. Good pollination means a nice full truss of tomatoes. Poor pollination means much fewer tomatoes. Tomatoes are self-fertile; they are able to pollinate themselves in the right conditions. The flowers face downwards, and pollination occurs when the pollen falls upon the stamen. Wind is what generally causes pollination in the open field, though bees are helpful. In fact, apparently the buzz of a passing bumblebee's wings is just the right frequency to cause pollen to drop and pollinate the flower. In a greenhouse situation, where there are no wind or bees, it is common practice to use an electric toothbrush to stimulate pollination. The toothbrush apparently vibrates at just the right frequency too - the vibrating shaft (brush head removed) touched to the stems of the plant on or near the flower sets does the job. I did this last year in my greenhouse, and saw an obvious increase in pollination. But in the outdoors, your main focus will be on ensuring good air flow and encouraging bees to buzz around - again, providing plenty of flowers will do the trick. If you are noticing poor pollination (eg only one or two tomatoes setting in a truss) it might be time to pull out an old electric toothbrush!

So, that's the theory. As with most food growing, time will tell! I'll keep you posted on my (hopefully) terrific tomatoes! Of course, no matter how diligent or expert one is as a gardener, some things are simply beyond our control. As any gardener knows, some years certain plants just don't do well. So in the end, all I can do is do my best, and leave the rest in the hands of God. God willing, I hope to grow terrific tomatoes this year!

This year, I've grown purple cauliflower for the first time. Purple coloured veges add some interest both to the garden and to the plate, and also veges with the redder hues to their leaves are reputed to be higher in nutrients in winter than green veges and so something we should all eat more of in the colder months (think red cabbage, purple lettuces etc).

But there is one thing I don't understand....

When I grow purple cauli, it's head is a beautiful purple colour. But when I cook it, it turns a pale green! And yet when the cooked, now pale green cauli is served on rice, it stains the rice purple!

It's a mystery to me! Any scientists out there who would care to explain?

Pictured here - a mixture of purple cauli and regular broccoli, cooked (the paler florets are the cauliflower).

Then steel reinforcing mesh over sides and top.

I don't recall ever growing corn before, so this crop has been a learning curve for me.

In late December, my husband and I dug up 3 blocks of dirt in the front yard for corn. I had been given several packets of F1 Hybrid sweetcorn by a friend. We added sheep manure, woodash, and compost to the beds. The soil was very dry, hard, and looked very low in organic matter. It was a patch of the garden that used to flood every winter when we first moved here, before we improved the drainage. I doubt it had ever been given any soil improvement measures.

When I started doing this, I hadn't given any thought to planting by the
moon, so it wasn't until later that I realised how the planting of these beds
fell into that. The middle bed was sown first, on Dec 23rd, with 65 seeds.
Turned out this was a good time, according to the moon calendar. The far bed was
sown on Dec 29th with 65 seeds, a bad time according to the calendar. The
closest bed was sown on 8th Jan with our remaining 70 seeds, again a bad time. 

By 1st March, the differences were even more striking - the middle bed's corn are way over my head and in full flower. The others are still small, but starting to show signs of flowering. I've had to repeatedly prop up plants in the third bed that kept wanting to fall over.  

The proof will be in the harvest, details of which I will add to this page when they are available, sometime soon.