Dick's Journal

my god thats early. mine are tiny jemo gave me three the last day but mine are a long way from that stage. i dont like the grow bags cause i find they havent enough compoist in them so i am using half barrels and then sow other stuff in them for winter, they will be my raised beds in the tunnel

Well ahead of most of us Dick. Mary

Tomatoes love a good deep root run. I have given up using growbags as they are too shallow. I use 10-12inch depth pots and they do much better for me now. I hope to plant mine this coming weekend.

Looking good, Dick. 

I have tom plants a plenty, but nowhere near this size either. I have a growbag to put 3 in outside, but have turned it on it's side for more depth. I am going to put a few in pots in the tunnel,but have only half filled the pots with compost. As the tom plant grows I will add more compost to give the toms a good root system. Something like growing/earthing spuds in bags. I have been growing toms since I was a teenager,for a commercial grower, but this is the first time I have diversed from the norm!

I am also going to try snipping the main stem and letting some side shoots grow instead. I saw this on a videoand it seemed to work. Just a few projects for me try this year :) 

Good thinking with topping up the compost as they grow. It makes them much stronger plants.

thats a great idea cath will try that, it wil take alot to fill the half barrels 

Kitty....use a mix of compost from Aldi and ordinary soil, it turns out really light and sandy. Add some wood ash to that and you have a good combination!

Nice tip cath, I grow mine in directly in the soil in the greenhouse border.

Well done dick, well ahead, 

I totally agree with you Dick. While I grow them mostly in the main beds, I put a lemonade bottle down with the end cut off, to water the roots more.

looks brilliant Dick.now just wait for crop.

My favourite trick with tomatoes in growbags is to put a pot with the end cut off into the opening in the growbag and fill this with compost, then put the plant in. I read somewhere that this allows the shallow roots at the top to develop and gives extra depth for the roots. It also makes it easy to water the plants.

Well done yet again Dick  out of the trapps and haring down the line long before most of us!

Well done yet again Dick  out of the trapps and haring down the line long before most of us!