The problem was the Black Russians - despite a few fairly local people reporting average to good success, I had read many stories on the internet of "masses of foliage and not many fruits"; "large, mutant fruits taking everything from the plant"; and "taste was nothing special when considering how much of a headache they were to grow". So, as you can imagine, I felt quite glum about the BR's, and did the usual thing: cursed the internet!! Martin to the rescue....He's much better at Googling things and finding the best information.
After half an hour of contemplation I decided to stick to my original plan, if I could satisfy myself that they could be grown (with some success) outside. There are so many websites dedicated to tomato growing, but they all seem to speak to the experienced grower, whereas my principal concern was whether or not they would grow outside. Loads and loads of faffage about what to feed them, when to feed them, but nothing basic; nothing for the amateur. It took my stumbling across an article in the Daily Telegraph to find the information I needed: greenhouse or outdoor growing? Both. Hurrah! At this point I was on information overload, and could probably recite every troubleshooting point known to the most serious of tomato growers! I didn't care. As long as a heated greenhouse wasn't essential, that was good enough for me. I grew three separate lots of cordon-type tomatoes outside (in gro-bags) last year, with excellent success.
All that said, I spent much of last night silently seething at how much time I'd spent searching for the answer to that most basic of questions. Perusing some gardeners' forums yesterday, (Grow Your Own etc), I read many questions beginning: "This is probably a stupid question, but......". It's like we're all afraid to ask an experienced gardener what must seem like an obvious question, for fear of looking stupid. At least I can ask my parents-in-law....I think I'll have to set up an "Ask Allen" forum!
Anyway, on to the fun stuff. The tomato choices have been made, the order has been submitted to Mr Fothergill, and there's no going back now. Here are my choices for this year:
Black Russian - there isn't much more I can say about these, it's all been done.
Green Zebra - I talked about these in my post of 6th January.
Tigerella - I'm quite excited about these. Large crops that grow well outside, and can cope with a slightly cooler climate. I like the stripes too.
Sub-Arctic Plenty - the name says it all really, but here's Mr Fothergill's write-up:
"(Small Standard) As its name suggests, this will set fruit even in an unfavourable season when the weather stays cool after planting out. Masses of early, large, cherry-size fruits ripen quickly on the plant. Upset your neighbours and have the first outdoor tomatoes ready to pick! Determinate."
Sungold - I had excellent success with these last year, and they were by far the tastiest tomatoes! We couldn't get enough of them. They need staking up and are indeterminate, but the fruits are cherry-sized. The colour is the most beautiful golden orangey-yellow - hence the name. I hope they turn out as well as they did last year. Definitely one to pass on to Allen to see how he likes them.
Red Pear - I liked the look of these as soon as I saw them:
Don't they look beautiful? I thought they'd make a nice change from the tumbling toms and garden pearls - I grew loads of those last year and I think I'm ready for a new 'cherry' choice. I will probably still do a few tumbling toms and garden pearls as back-up, but I'm trying not to buy any yellow tumbling tom seeds - Martin will have kittens if he has to eat cherry tomatoes every day for three months, as he did last year! I haven't told him that I came across two packets of Minibel seeds from last year; they were ok - nothing much to write home about flavour-wise, but a result nonetheless.
And that's it for tomato choices for this year...wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it!!
ps All pictures have been taken from Mr Fothergill's site.
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