Try These Tomato Tricks

In Tasmania the first half of the season (Sep-Dec) is often too cool and cloudy for tomatoes to really prosper. The tricks below will help make your tomato plants more resilient, healthy and productive in our fickle climate.

Large Tomatoes on Show!

Would you love to grow large tomatoes, but wonder which good-tasting varieties do well in Tasmania? This blog post shows the varieties that Food Garden Group members put forward for the 2024 Golden Tomato Award, a description of the variety, and where to get seeds and seedlings if commercially available.

Ross T. picked this 560 gram fruit in his garden on 18Feb24

Tomato Care & Repair

Most tomato plants are like demanding prima donnas. Everything needs to perfect all the time, otherwise they will play up. Add to that Tasmania’s fickle climate and you find that even the most experienced food gardener struggles at times. This blog post might help you make things ‘just right’ for your tomato plants or improve things if they tell you that they are not happy.

An inside look at the Botanical Gardens tomato sale

Every year the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG) in Hobart produces quality heirloom tomato seedlings on a semi-industrial scale for its annual sale in October. This year I joined nursery-horticulturist Margot White and an amazing team of volunteers, and found out how this is done, and what home gardeners can learn from this process.

Caring for 8000+ tomato seedlings in the lead to the sale

Veggie Patch Basics - 5 (Oct-Nov)

Spring opens up great opportunities for growing vegetables, but the tricky Tasmanian climate makes timing really important.  This fifth post in the Veggie Patch Basics series covers the October - November period.  It aims to help you decide what to grow, and when to sow and plant it.

Early tomatoes!

In Tasmania most gardeners pick their first ripe tomato in January, but there are things you can do to have ripe tomatoes early!  Over the four years that the Food Garden Group has awarded the Golden Tomato Award to the first member who came forward with a home-grown ripe tomato, the winners have taught us things that can help you grow early tomatoes too!

Propagating in the Food Garden

At a recent food garden visit two Food Garden Group members explained and demonstrated the basics of propagation.  This blog post is a summary of what was discussed, with more info added when we put together the blog post.

Tomato workshop notes

Denis M has grown thousands of tomatoes from seed every year for many years to sell and raise funds for a school in Africa.  In a recent Food Garden Group workshop he showed his methods and tools.  Over two sessions participants discussed growing tomatoes from seed to crop in great detail.  Denis gave us two handouts that are shown below.

Seed Saving Made Easy

Sowing seeds collected from your own food garden can be fun and successful if you stick to a few basic rules. Taking control of the whole cycle from seed to crop and back to seed is very satisfying and it saves money! This blog post shows how it can be done for a range of vegetables.

Sowing in Pots and Punnets

Sowing directly in your food garden means you don't have to transplant seedlings and therefore avoid transplant stress.  So why then can it be better in some cases to sow in pots or punnets inside or in a hothouse?  This blog post looks at why it can be a good idea to sow in punnets and how this is best done.

Better Pollination, Bigger Crops

Knowledge of how pollination works can make the difference between getting a crop or no crop at all. It can also help you achieve a bigger crop than you otherwise would have.  So let's have a look at some of the theory behind pollination and then at how this can assist you in your food garden.

A tomato from the Galapagos Islands?

Those of us who have met Food Garden Group member Max K know that he likes to make a joke now and then, so when he turned up at one of our food garden visits with a tomato plant 'rumoured to be from the Galapagos Islands', we had a bit of a laugh.

Determined about your tomatoes?

I don't know how it is for you, but most summers I end up with a nice crop of tomatoes without really thinking too much about what varieties to sow or buy.  I may get one or two varieties that worked well for me last year, plus, depending on what nurseries have, two of this, and three of that, and two of that one I have never tried before and often I end up with more plants than I have space for in my garden.  In other words, I do not have a 'tomato plan'.

Is this a heirloom tomato record?

In her last blog post Marg made us aware of the Royal Botanical Gardens spring plant sale held today.  Last week it was also mentioned in the Mercury and earlier today it was again discussed in the Weekends with Chris Wisbey radio show.  Following all this publicity I expected a large crowd to turn up, but I could not stop myself from finding out more.

Spring has definitely sprung

Lotte, chief garden supervisor and bird scarer on duty

Its Crunch Time

With warmer weather and showery days the slugs and snails are out and about so get out there in the evenings with a torch and start collecting and crunching before they get stuck into your spring plantings.

Planting and sowing

This is the time of year when most  things can be planted or sown. However there are a couple of exceptions. In most areas it is still too early for carrots, parsnips and beets. Wait another week or two. Seeds sown into damp cold soil will not germinate.

The nurseries are selling tomato plants but don't be fooled. By all means purchase your plants but be prepared to pot them up with a pinch of potash  and give them full sun during the day but indoors at night until well into October. We all love to get a head start with our tomatoes and if you do decide to plant them early give them some protection, such as a plastic sleeve.

Dwarf beans sown now will be overtaken by seeds sown in October so be patient. I am planting a few into pots hoping to get a head start.

Heeling in Leeks

From past experience I know my overwintering leeks will start to put up a flower spike in September and become hard and inedible. Last year I practiced the old technique of heeling them in. I lifted my huge summer leeks in March and with roots intact  bundled them together into another spare bit of ground. Pushed the dirt around them and there they stayed for several months. I pulled them as needed and used the last of them in June. Still in perfect condition. This technique seems to suspend growth but maintain quality.

Fun with a hothouse

Some years ago I attended a workshop by a vegie-garden expert and the subject of hothouses came up.  I remember his comment on the subject because he was in no doubt.  'You don't need a hothouse in Tasmania' he said.  Then I met Russell.  He has a vegie-garden at Acton and is really enthusiastic about his hothouse.  Acton has quite a moderate micro-climate compared to many parts of Tasmania, so I wondered why Russell really likes his hothouse.  I decided to find out more.

Russell's hothouse in his garden at Acton

Q: What have been the benefits of a hothouse for you?

• It is a lot of fun, especially with early and late tomatoes.  I begin to pick tomatoes well before Christmas and pick my last ones mid to late August.  This season I am going to plant a tomato towards the end of the normal season to see whether this can be extended even further.  I also grow chillies.
• It is an ideal environment for seed raising.
• It is a nice place to be on a cold wintery day.

Q: What are the mistakes you can make with a hothouse?

• Don't plant into the ground.  To avoid diseases and pests that thrive is hot conditions use pots and potting mix (normal soil will turn into a brick) and replace the soil at the end of every season. 
• Soils going dry.  An automatic watering system is essential or the risk of loss is great.  
• Not enough ventilation.  You need windows that can be opened and you need to prune so there is plenty of air around leaves and fruit.  Therefore don't have too many plants. It is hard to apply self-discipline here. 
• Too much mono-culture.  For tomatoes for instance add chillies and marigolds.

At the end of June with more tomatoes on the way

Q: How do you control the temperature?

• My hothouse came with a cover to put over it in Summer, but I don't use it.  I find the louvre window in the side, the door and the window in the roof sufficient to control the temperature.

Q:What would you advise people considering getting one?

• Mine is 2.5 metres by 1.9 metres and I use one side and one end for the plants and have a bench on the other side. You could remove the bench to maximise space for plants.  I have a paved area in the middle for walking on and where the plants go I have blue metal so water can drain away.
• It is not hard to put together.  It came with instructions and it took two of us 3 or 4 hours to put together after I had made a base of sleepers.

Tomato seedlings for the new season, watering system and work bench

 Q:Where did you buy it and what were the costs?

• I bought it 3 years ago at Stonemans Nursery in Glenorchy.  At present the model costs $1919.  There is a larger version (2.5 metres square) with a double door that costs $2299.  I found the structure to be strong. Acton is a windy place and I have had no problems.

Thank you Russell!

Russell's comments further convinced me that I like a hot house in my garden.  In my case it would have to be where there is an outside brick BBQ area at present.  A standard hothouse would not fit.  I am thinking of building one myself from recycled materials.  Later this season I may let you know how I am getting on with this.

It is tomato time !

The first to ripen in Southern Tasmania are varieties that produce small cherry tomatoes such as Tommy Toe and Sweet Bite. Early varieties such as Patio Prize and Stupice are also now beginning to produce. For other varieties such as Rouge de Marmande (see photo) it is early still, whereas varieties such as Grosse Lisse, really need to be seen as late varieties in Tasmania.

Every garden is different.  If frosts start early in the season in your garden, or you get shade later in the season, consider planting early cropping varieties.

Planting tomato seedlings deeply (some say to just below their first leaves) is a really good way to ensure that plants don't dry out.  It also means that air roots that form as the plant matures are in soil rather than just above it.  If you see nobbly bits appearing just above soil level, cover them with soil.

Sulphate of potash is an essential ingredient if you want to get the most out of your tomato plants.  A sprinkle around the roots every fortnight, once seedlings are established, will focus the plant on producing fruit rather than leaves.

Tomato seedlings planted in rich soil will grow really well, but fruit will form late.  Plant tomato seedlings in soil that has received little or no manure or compost in the last twelve months, and you will be much happier with the outcome.

It is easy to lose tomato plants just when they are on their way to producing a great crop.  The trick is to provide just the right amount of water.  Soil needs to be slightly moist below ground level, but not wet.  Too much water may rot roots.  Watering on leaves, rather than at soil level, may lead to diseases. 

Best of luck with your tomato crop!