Saturday 31 May 2008

Micro Tom - small but easy to grow

As we reach the end of May, planting tomato plants in their final position, is what occupies the time of most tomato growers.

This is a very satisfying time knowing that all the potting on, lifting heavy bags of compost, moving trays of seedlings into the sun and bringing them in at night is over. You can now stand back and admire your healthy looking plants (hopefully) and imagine what they will look like laden with fruit ... in about two months time!

However, if you haven't sown any toms this season it's now too late for outdoor growing as from seed to fruit takes at least 4 months and that will take us to the beginning of October when the weather will be too cold for growing outdoors.

Nevertheless, you could try Micro Tom ... my first variety to mature this season. Although the toms are only small, they still look great in salads and can be grown on a sunny windowsill indoors.

They do need some support though, because their stems aren't strong enough to support their fruit.

On the subject of support and canes, be careful with canes around 2 or 3 feet high. It is at this height that they are most dangerous. You bend down to look more closely at your toms and if you don't see the end of a cane you could lose an eye!

Attach heavy duty tape (or something similar) to make the ends more visible.


I use canes in large pots and containers to support my bush varieties and have had the end of a cane in the face on more than one occasion ... I now make them easier to see!

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