One of the best things about tomatoes is that you can grow them just about anywhere, even on a small patio or tiny balcony.

Cherry tomatoes growing in a container.

While some people maintain that growing tomatoes in containers is more time consuming than growing them in a veggie garden, this is not true. Provided you have a spot where they get a good dose of sunlight every day, and they are fed and watered regularly, a tomato plant will reward you with an ongoing harvest of fruit for as long as any garden-grown tomato plant will do.

Choose a Site 

Ideally you want a spot that will get about eight hours of sunlight every day – unless you live in an area that is subjected to intense heat, in which case you will definitely need some shade. In both instances you need to consider what will cast shadows over your pots.

If your home overlooks a garden or public open space, then trees and man-built structures should be considered. If you are growing your tomatoes in pots on a balcony or in a roof garden, then buildings will be the main source of shade. Take notice of the shadows that both natural and man-made structures form.

How to Choose the Best Pots and Containers

The best rule of thumb is that containers should be as large as possible to ensure that the roots have space to spread and grow. Generally aim to use pots that hold at least 20 litres or five gallons.

So-called self-watering containers are available, though you obviously have to fill the reservoir, and there is always a danger of over-watering. Generally you need less water for tomatoes that are grown in self-watering containers. You also need to be sure that over-crowding doesn’t take place since this can have the effect of blocking the circulation of air, which can quickly result in disease.

Which Tomato Varieties to Grow in Containers

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to choosing plants, though it is probably true to say that bush varieties of cherry tomatoes are the most rewarding. Sometimes nurseries and garden centres label these patio or container tomato plants. Some are tastier than others.

There are some delicious hybrid cherry types that can be successfully grown in hanging baskets.

You generally need to avoid varieties that will become top heavy and blow over.

The Best Soil for Containers

The better the quality of the soil in your pots, the better your container tomatoes are likely to do. You want soil that is rich in nutrients but that will drain well. It also needs to be “heavy” enough to be able to anchor large, growing plants in the pots.

You can use a good quality potting soil mixed half and half with compost. Feed regularly with a little organic fertilizer, or use a slow-release product that is manufactured specifically for tomatoes. Synthetic fertilizers may be used, but nurserymen who specialise in tomato growing suggest halving the quantity recommended on the label.

How to Support Your Growing Plants

A good way to grow bush tomatoes in containers is over a wire cage. Alternatively you can use bamboo or some other types of stake, or train the plant through a fence or trellis screen. Whichever form of support you choose, place it in the container when you pot the plant otherwise you risk the danger of damaging the roots at a later stage.

As the plant grows, pinch out the smaller side stems and prune the plant if it begins to sprawl too much.

How Much Water to Give Your Growing Plants

The simple answer to this question is just enough and not too much! You also need to be consistent, and to aim to keep the soil moist without allowing it to get too wet. If the soil becomes dry this may cause the flowers to fall off before the fruit has formed. If the soil becomes saturated, the roots could rot, or fungus might form.

If the soil is just right, you will be rewarded with a delicious harvest of tomatoes for your table.

Tomatoes are an incredibly versatile food ingredient that can be eaten raw, cooked or made into soups and sauces. They can be stuffed with meat, rice or breadcrumbs, and used as the main ingredient in tarts. Combined with onions and a few spices, they also make a refreshing sambal for curries and other Eastern dishes. 

So why is it that when people talk about tomato soup, they more often than not are referring to the sort of cream of tomato soup commonly sold in cans?

If you’re growing tomatoes successfully in your veggie garden, here are some different ideas for making fresh soup, including a really hearty version of the old favourite Cream of Tomato Soup.

Ripe Tomato Soup

This is a quick and easy recipe that shouldn’t take longer than about half an hour to prepare and cook.

Cook one kilo of nice ripe tomatoes (roughly chopped) together with a sliced onion in about 30 g of butter until soft. Rub through a sieve into a clean saucepan and add a litre of boiling water. Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a little thyme (preferably fresh); add three tablespoons of long grain rice, bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Italian Tomato Soup

This is a quick and easy recipe that retains the lovely flavour of fresh tomatoes. It’s delicious hot, but can also be served cold with fresh Italian bread.

Skin and chop 750 g tomatoes and fry lightly in about six tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Add a crushed clove of garlic and a tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs (ideally a combination of fresh parsley, basil and marjoram or oregano). Cook for about five minutes and then add 500 ml meat stock or chicken broth as well as salt, pepper and sugar to taste.  Cook for another five minutes and serve immediately.

Algerian Tomato Soup

Allow at least a couple of hours for this meaty soup from Africa.

Skin, seed and chop four large tomatoes (or more smaller ones); and cut four large onions into chunks. Season with salt and pepper and then fry the tomato and onion lightly in about 30 g butter, together with one large sprig of mint coarsely chopped and two or three chillies, seeded and chopped. When the veggies are golden brown add one litre of water, 350 g neck of lamb or mutton, and 125 g dried apricots. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about an hour and a half.

Remove from the heat and allow it to cool, before removing the meat from the pot. Remove the bones and chop the meat into little pieces.

Add 60 g vermicelli to the soup with the meat and simmer for another 10 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked.

Bread and Tomato Soup

This is another Italian recipe, and the soup may be eaten hot, lukewarm or cold.

Sauté three chopped garlic cloves with a sprinkling of dried chilli flakes in 125 ml olive oil for about ten minutes. Add 500 g very ripe tomatoes (skinned and chopped) and continue cooking for about 15 minutes.

Pour in 750 ml hot chicken stock and add 500 g stale bread cut into small pieces, together with four or five fresh basil leaves, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir well and simmer for at least 15 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat, cover and leave to rest at room temperature for about two hours.

Reheat if desired before serving. Garnish with a sprinkling of coarsely ground black pepper and finely grated Parmesan or Pecorina cheese.

Hearty Cream of Tomato Soup

Cook one chopped carrot with one chopped onion in about 30 g of butter until lightly browned. Add three tablespoons of flour and mix well before adding a litre of chicken stock (preferably homemade) together with one crushed clove of garlic and two leeks thinly sliced (baby leeks are even better and will add a nice sweet flavour, but use more than two), as well as four white peppercorns, a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of sugar and 750 g roughly chopped tomato.

Bring to a simmer, cover and cook on low hear for at least an hour. Remove any scum that forms during cooking before rubbing through a fine strainer into a clean saucepan.

Add 250 ml ordinary thin cream, stir, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. If the soup is too thick, add a little more stock or a bit of milk.

Serve garnished with parsley or croûtons.

Enjoy!

While a growing number of people are realising the benefits of companion planting, there is still a certain mystique about why some specific vegetables thrive with others. Similarly, those not in the know find it puzzling that it can be disastrous to combine plantings of certain other vegetable types together.

For example, carrots love tomatoes; or do they?

While many people grow both tomatoes and carrots in the same garden beds, alongside one another, quite successfully, there is no real evidence that either plant does better in the same neighbourhood. In fact there is some suggestion that tomato plants can stunt the growth of carrots – which stands to reason if they are grown too close to one another, since the one is a root plant and the other grows above the ground.

Why We Imagine Tomatoes Love Carrots

Whether the late Louise Riotte, author of the world-famous 1975 book Carrots Love Tomatoes came up with the book title, or her editors suggested it, the idea has taken root, and writers and vegetable growers have perpetuated this idea ever since.

Certainly tomatoes are compatible with carrots, but they are also compatible with chives, onions, parsley, marigolds and nasturtiums

Furthermore there are other plants that carrots appear to “love” even more than tomatoes; and plants that do more good to tomatoes than carrots will do. For example:

• Leek and carrots are true companions, with leeks repelling carrot flies, and carrots repelling leek moths and onion flies.
• Tomatoes and asparagus are also good companions because tomatoes contain solanine that repels the dreaded asparagus beetle.
• Tomatoes also have the effect of protecting gooseberries against insects.
• It also seems that tomatoes protect roses against damaging black spot.
• Basil, on the other hand, has qualities that repel insects from tomato plants.
• Stinging nettles, which are rich in nitrogen, also benefit tomatoes.
• Garlic, specifically protects tomato plants from red spider mites.
• Carrots seem to have the capacity to help beans grow, and both vegetable types will thrive if interplanted with one another.
• Onions and tomatoes grow well together.
• Parsley will add “vigour” to tomatoes if planted in the tomato patch.
• Peas also grow particularly well with carrots.

In fact, other than stating that “carrots love tomatoes”, Louise Riotte doesn’t give any evidence of why this is so. Probably it is the volatile alkaloid, solanine that is contained in tomato leaves.

Consider What Tomatoes and Carrots DON’T Like

At the end of the day, when it comes to growing tomatoes, carrots, or any other veggies, it’s probably more important to be aware of the plants they don’t do well with.

Carrots, for example, do not grow well if planted next to potatoes, cabbage, fennel, broccoli or cauliflower. They all stunt each others growth. Tomatoes particularly dislike kohlrabi and fennel.

The idea of “dry farming” tomatoes is fascinating for anyone who is passionate about sustainable living and eco-friendly farming practises. But it is not something that anybody can do. For dry farming to be successful, you will need to live in a climate that is able to support the growth of your plants naturally.

Early Girl tomatoes grown using the dry farming method at a farm near Santa Cruz in California.

What Dry Farming Means

Technically, dry farming means just that: you grow your crops without using any form of irrigation. If your climate is right, it will be cool enough, and you’ll get enough rain, for the tomato plants to grow without your help. Of course you’re going to have to ensure that the soil is right; it needs to be rich and fertile, with all the nutrients it takes to produce good, healthy fruits. Lots of organic matter in the soil will have the effect of slowing down evaporation of whatever moisture there is in the soil. You will also need to remove weeds, and should consider companion planting, as well as rotation planting once the last of the season’s tomatoes have been harvested.

Because surface water is not supplemented by irrigation, the plant roots grow deeper in their search of water. This results in wonderfully tasty tomatoes.

While some people maintain that it is necessary to water your tomatoes normally until the plant begins to set the fruit, this is not the way the purists do it at all. (If your climate isn’t perfect, yet you want to give dry farming a try, it could be a workable compromise.)

Pioneers of Dry Farming Tomatoes

There is no argument that the pioneers of modern dry farming tomatoes come from California on the west coast of the USA. Generally summers are hot and dry and winters cool and wet. Close to the coast, for instance in the Santa Cruz area, which is recognized as a major “dry farming” region for tomatoes, overcast, foggy evenings and mornings help to keep the plants cool in summer.

Here farmers who have proven that the technique produces incredibly tasty tomatoes (albeit in smaller yields), have dispensed with irrigation in their tomato fields altogether.

For example, Mark and Nibby Bartle who established the organic Two Dog Farm near Santa Cruz more than a decade ago say of their dry farmed tomatoes: “We don’t water them in after transplant, don’t water during dry spells, we just don’t ever water them. We don’t even have water available in those fields. The plants and the fruits are smaller and the yield is less, but the flavour of the tomatoes is intensely concentrated.”

Like many of the organic farmers in this area, the Bartles sell their flavoursome tomatoes at farmer’s markets. Like most of the rest, they also plant the Early Girl variety. It seems that’s the way to go.

Black cherry tomatoes

Some of the most appealing little tomatoes on the market today come with names that make them sound ultra fruity and wonderfully tasty. And it’s not just plain cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes that fit the bill. Today they come in so many shapes and colours, it’s difficult to know what to choose.

So next time you want to plant tomatoes with a difference, and you are looking for small “fruity” tomatoes, check out the vast number of different seed offerings available from reputable seed companies on the Internet.

The Best Cherry Tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes don’t taste like cherries – although some types are unbelievably sweet and juicy –and only some of them are shaped like cherries or are even the size of regular cherries.

Today cherry tomatoes are generally either round, plum-shaped (like popular Roma tomatoes) or even pear-shaped, like the gorgeous heirloom variety, Yellow Pear that bears huge numbers of yellow-orange bite-sized cherry tomatoes.

They also come in a vast variety of colours, from tomato-red to yellow, and even “black”.  For instance Supersweet 100 is quite a dark red, while Sungold is a kind of orange. Brown cherry tomatoes are a brownish colour, while Snow White and Dr Carolyn are kind of “white”, or perhaps better described as very light.

If you’re fascinated by the idea of “black” tomatoes, there’s a relatively new Black Pearl Hybrid on the market. It’s a tasty treat, and one that changes its flavour when refrigerated, taking on a super-sweet grapey flavour – even though they are characterised as cherry tomatoes and not grape tomatoes!

The Red Lightning Hybrid is particularly interesting in terms of colour. If you painted tomatoes to look like these people would laugh at you! A kind of orangey red, they look as though an artist has washed lines of dark red and yellow over the fruits. Better still, they are said to taste beautifully sweet.

Other examples include tiny Red Currant and Yellow Currant tomatoes that grow on a vine. They look like they sound and are, by all accounts delicious.

To top it all, Green Envy cherry tomatoes are intriguing little fruits that look more like emerald green figs than tomatoes.

All worth trying to grow.

The Best Grape Tomatoes

Not as well known as cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes (like some varieties of cherry tomato) grow in clusters on a vine. What makes them stand apart is that they are amazingly sweet in taste and very juicy.

One of the reasons grape tomatoes haven’t attracted the same worldwide popularity as cherry tomatoes is probably because they have to be picked AS they ripen. This means that those who grow them don’t normally do so commercially. Where they do make the stores, they are VERY expensive.

There is currently a lot less choice when it comes to grape tomatoes than any other type of tomato – cherry included. They are also more likely to be traditional tomato red in colour. But look out for Rosalita which is “pink”.

If this doesn’t tempt you to try growing little fruity-named tomatoes, nothing will. Have fun!

There’s a classic book called Carrots love Tomatoes that was written by a North American woman, Louise Riotte, nearly four decades ago.

Considered by many to be the “bible” of companion planting, it was first published in 1975, and is still on the bookstore bookshelves years after her death in 1998. But in those days the idea of growing particular plants together for mutual benefit was something most backyard gardeners either rejected or failed to consider.

Today, with the ever- growing trend of things organic, and an increasing awareness of the need for sustainability, home gardeners – and many commercial gardeners for that matter – are practicing companion planting, along with crop rotation, green manuring and other natural pursuits.

Why Tomatoes Need Companions

While the companions favoured by different plants vary, the reasons for companion planting are essentially (within broad parameters) the same for all of them. While not all companions fulfil the same function, broadly speaking certain companion plants will:

• attract bad bugs
• attract good, beneficial bugs
• assist pollination
• feed and nourish the soil
• provide shade
• provide support

The end result is that by planting good, suitable companions for the vegetables and other plants you are growing, you will find that you are able to minimise the pests in your veggie garden and produce beautifully healthy, organic crops for the table.

The Tomato’s Favourite Companions

Plants that are acknowledged to be the tomato’s best friend are asparagus, basil, cucumber, gooseberries, marigolds, nasturtiums, onions and other members of the onion family, including chives, parsley, stinging nettles and yarrow. They are also compatible with garlic.

Of course carrots are also reputedly an excellent companion for tomatoes, although oddly enough Louise Riotte doesn’t explain why in her book about companion planting. She had an article published on the Internet in 1992, titled Carrots love Tomatoes: Companion Planting for a Healthy Garden, and she doesn’t elaborate there either! Carrots have antiviral properties which might be why tomatoes like them; although the Riotte book’s title seems to state that carrots benefit from tomatoes, not necessarily the other way around. Tomatoes certainly protect roses against black spot, although roses don’t necessarily benefit from tomatoes. And it is the active solanine (a powerful natural insecticide) in tomato leaves that is so special … so maybe this is what the carrots like too.

It is this way with all companion plants, and in this instance, some like tomatoes, while tomatoes benefit from others. Marigolds probably come out tops, since they have a powerful active ingredient that gets rid of the nematodes (or eelworms) that so often attack tomatoes.

Plants that Tomatoes Don’t Like

Tomatoes belong to the nightshade family (solanaceae), as do peppers, eggplants (aubergines), and Irish potatoes, and it is a golden rule in gardening not to grow plants from the same family together. They simply don’t like one another, and therefore won’t thrive.

The other family of plants that tomatoes despise are the brassicaceae – members of the cabbage and mustard family. These plants include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, rutabaga, and turnips.

They also hate fennel … but then so do most other vegetables.

Discover More About Companion Planting

Our new book – Companion Planting for Veggies provides a wealth of information on the benefits of companion planting and which plants to locate near each of your favourite veggie plants, and which to keep apart.  It also comes with a great bonus book How to Control Pests Using Natural Remedies – which delivers over 50 remedies and recipes to rid your garden of 25 common pests.

If you’re looking for an exciting, tasting hybrid tomato plant to grow in your garden, now is the time to try out grape tomatoes.

A typical grape tomato plant

Originally developed during the 1990s, these dinky tomatoes have become hugely popular small-sized tomatoes. They have a slightly thicker skin than cherry tomatoes – more like the skin of yummy beefsteak-type tomatoes – and a much lower water content. Their flavour has been likened to popular Italian Roma tomatoes, only they are considerably sweeter… and as the converts will tell you, much better.

Origin of the Grape Tomato

The very first tomatoes of this type are thought to have been grown in Southeast Asia. They had quite thick skin, very low water content, and they were incredibly sweet (which basically fits the contemporary descriptions of this type of tomato).

Two American tomato growers – one in Mexico and one in Florida – imported the tomato seeds from the East in the 1990s. Once on the market, it got its name because of its size and shape, being a lot smaller than some cherry tomatoes, and much more grapey in look (if not in colour).

Pros and Cons of Grape Tomatoes

These tomatoes grow in clusters on the vine, and must be picked as they are ripening, and changing colour. The green tomatoes won’t ripen off the vine, and if the fruit is too ripe, it’s shelf life may have passed by the time it gets to its destination. This makes harvesting a very labour-intensive exercise, and is the main reason that these tomatoes wre initially only marketed to special produce and up-market gourmet grocery stores willing to pay more (and charge more) than regular supermarkets and grocery outlets.

But the grape tomato has at least one winning aspect – in many areas you can grow it all year round. This means that you can harvest your own grape-type tomatoes at any time of the year, even when other varieties are out of season.

Some Different Types of G-Tomatoes

Elfin grape tomatoes

While these particular tomato seedlings are not very easy to find yet, you can find different types of seed including:

• Elfin, an open-pollinated type that is shorter than most other types.
• Rosalita, a pink grape tomato that epitomizes the size and shape of the true red grape tomato. These are indeterminate tomatoes that grow on tall, vigorous plants.
• Sprite, which is a much smaller plant that produces small, red, oval-shaped grape tomatoes. These are determinate plants that should bear large numbers of berries.

Sprite grape tomatoes

Even if you aren’t sure whether this type of tomato is for you, if you enjoy growing your own veggies, particularly tomatoes, how on earth can you resist trying them out?

People often get a kick out of growing the biggest vegetables possible. In fact there are competitions that farmers enter to show off their giant vegetables. And the biggest of the big sometimes even get into the Guinness Book of Records.

Record-sized Tomatoes

Certainly the world’s biggest tomato has made it into the Guinness Book of Records. Grown by Gordon Graham in Edmont, Oklahoma, who harvested his record-breaking tomato in 1986, it weighed a whopping 7 lbs 12 ozs or 3.5 kg.

Charles H. Wilber, who managed to grow and pick 1,368 lbs (620.5 kg) of tomatoes off just four plants in the 1990s, also made it into the Guinness Book of Records.

But what about the world’s smallest tomatoes? These don’t appear to have the same appeal, expect perhaps for the ideal child’s “fairy garden”.

How Small is Small?

We all know that cherry tomatoes are small, and that some are smaller than others. But what seems to be one of the world’s best-kept tomato secrets is that you can even grow tomatoes that are the size of tiny peas out of the pod.

Photograph: Reimer Seeds

A USA-owned Internet seed shop is now selling the “world’s smallest tomato” which they advertise as Lycopersicon esculentum. You’ll expect to wait about 65 days to harvest after the plant has germinated, and then you can expect “heavy yields” of the tiniest, cutest little red, pea-sized tomatoes imaginable.  Described as “very flavourful”, this variety of Lycopersicon esculentum is so tiny you will be able to cram at least 10 onto an ordinary dessertspoon.

The plant itself is an indeterminate variety, which means it will continue growing, and can reach a height of up to five metres or more than 15 feet. If your crop thrives, you should be able to continue tomatoes for a good three to five months, depending on local conditions.

Like all Lycopersicon esculentum species, these tomatoes grow best in soil that has a pH of between 5.5 and 7.0. They also thrive in the warm season and won’t survive if there is frost.

Currant tomatoes – Lycopersicon pimpinelilfolium – are heirloom tomatoes, and also tiny. They are a lot more purple in color to the so-called smallest ever tomatoes, although their popularity has resulted in a number of exciting hybrids emerging out of the USA. Examples include:

• Hawaiian Currant,
• White Mexican Currant,
• Sugar Plum,
• Cerise Orange.

Tiny currant tomatoes

So if you want to grow something that is really different, why not give the world’s smallest tomatoes a try?

Tomatoes are amongst the most rewarding veggies to grow in your own home garden – although strictly speaking they are a true berry, and therefore a fruit. This is probably why so many different tomatoes have generically fruity names: for instance plum tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and of course, much-loved cherry tomatoes.

About Cherry Tomatoes

Native to South America, tomatoes (or rather one particular species, Solanum lycopersicum) were taken to Mexico where it is believed they were first domesticated. Interestingly, there is a school of thought that believes the first domesticated tomatoes were grown by the ancient Aztecs in Central Mexico. It is thought that they were yellow in colour, and the size and shape of our most common cherry tomatoes.

However, it is known for a fact that cherry tomatoes, as we know them today, have only been cultivated since the early 1970s. Two Israeli scientists, Haim Rabinovich and Nachum Kedar, wanted to stop tomatoes in general from ripening so quickly in hot climatic conditions. Having identified tomato genes that would do this, they also discovered a way to produce small cherry tomatoes.

Varieties of Cherry Tomato

Three of the earliest cherry tomatoes were:

1. Santorini, a Greek tomato that is well known for its wonderful flavour.
2. Tomaccio, an Israeli variety bred from wild Peruvian tomatoes.
3. Selke Biodynamic, an exceptionally prolific type named after the 20^th century biodynamic researcher, Margrit Selke, who was a leading pioneer of bio-dynamic composting.

Today cherry tomatoes come in a wide range of colours, shapes and sizes, albeit that the main factor they have in common is that they are small (roughly cherry-sized). You are sure to find suitable seed in your local nursery, but if you like the idea of being boggled for choice, search out some of the amazing catalogues put out by international producers of seed. There is so much choice you could devote an interior veggie garden to cherry tomatoes!

Here are some favourites to look out for:

• Red Robin Lovely sweet red tomatoes that can be grown in your veggie garden or in pots. Determinate.
• Supersweet 100 A darker red than Red Robin, and super-sweet. Produces tomatoes in clusters, like grapes. Indeterminate.
• Sungold An English variety that is extremely sweet and ideal for growing in a greenhouse. Not quite yellow and not quite red.
• Sweet Chelsea Round and larger than most, this variety is resistant to drought and it produces particularly high yields. Indeterminate.
• Sweet Million Even though these plants take a bit longer to produce their fruit, one plant can give you as many as 500 sweet, flavourful tomatoes. Indeterminate.
• Isis Candy Pretty yellow-gold fruit with red streaks. They will grow all year long provided there is no frost. Indeterminate.
• Snow White Ideal for mixing with red and yellow tomatoes in an unusual salad, these are very sweet. Indeterminate.
• Dr Carolyn Not as white as the previous variety, these turn from green to ivory-white, and then to a pale yellow as they mature. Like most of the other types, they are very sweet. Indeterminate.
• Brown A good producer that will also add colourful oomph to any salad. Indeterminate.

And this is just the beginning of a list that seemingly goes on forever. There is no doubt that everyone will find their own perfect cherry tomato if they want to!

Greenhouses and less sophisticated tunnels provide excellent growing conditions for tomatoes, even when temperatures are not closely controlled. They provide protection from wind, rain, hail and of course from the sun and from excessively cold conditions.

When tomatoes are protected from the elements, they can withstand lower temperatures than they normally would when grown out in the open – even though they do need to be heated if there is going to be protection for the plants and fruit from frost.

Many commercial tomato farmers grow their crops in greenhouses which have a scientifically controlled micro-climate. But even a sheltered environment like a plastic-covered tunnel frame gives some natural “control” of both light and moisture.

Choose a Protected Environment for your Tomatoes

Original greenhouse designs originating during the Victorian era were expensive structures that were made with steel and glass. Over time a growing number of companies have manufactured less expensive structures, some of which are available in kit form. Many of these utilise polycarbonate materials instead of glass. Some are made with aluminium (or aluminum – depending where you live!) and either glass or polycarbonate sheeting.

Greenhouses are permanent structures and can be very attractive features in the garden. The glass (or polycarbonate) transmits light during the day and can be capable of trapping quite a lot of heat at night. They are usually the same kind of height as a regular shed and so are tall enough to grow high-growing tomato plants. Large plants can grow up to 3 m or 10 ft!

Windows are often incorporated in traditional greenhouse structures, aiding ventilation. However you will still need to water the plants, and may want to install an automatic irrigation system.

In some countries, greenhouses are more commonly used when weather conditions are less than perfect, or to raise seedlings that are going to be planted out.

Walk-in tunnels are a much more modern invention, but strangely not necessarily cheaper than a small greenhouse. The thing is that tunnels are usually quite large, having been developed for commercial use. But if you have the space for one, it could be a simple alternative to a greenhouse, and could enable you to grow some superb juicy tomatoes at home!

Generally tunnels are made by stretching transparent polythene over a series of metal hoops that form the structure of the tunnel. There isn’t therefore the opportunity to make openings, except at the two ends. While tunnels are not quite as sophisticated as traditional greenhouses, they do a really good job. Another “advantage” some give is that, because they are not “permanent” you can move them if the soil becomes “diseased”. This is largely a fallacy since tunnels are BIG, and if you move them you will damage the plastic, which will then need to be replaced. At the end of the day a tunnel and a commercial greenhouse generally do the same thing.

Constructing a steel tunnel

Pests and Diseases in Greenhouses and Tunnels

Shelter in greenhouse and tunnel structures unfortunately doesn’t translate to protection from pests and diseases.

One of the stock warnings professionals give when it comes to growing tomatoes in soil beneath a growing structure is that it needs to be sterilized or regularly replaced. Greenhouses, however, are more frequently built with a solid concrete floor and then the plants are propagated in growing bags. Tunnels are usually constructed on bare earth.

Regular watering within a greenhouse or tunnel not only keeps the temperature regular and creates a nice humid environment, it also helps to curtail invasion by certain pests including the red spider mite.

Funnily enough the damaging little whitefly is more of a pest in greenhouses that it is when tomatoes are grown out in the open.

So why not do a bit more homework before you decide which way to grow tomatoes at home? It may not be worth spending money on structures; rather spend time and effort ensuring the soil in your veggie garden is good.