Raised bed tomato plants

2017 is setting up to be another good year for growing tomatoes outdoors. The heat wave earlier in the year got the plants off to a good start with all the plants in the raised bed now setting fruit. The weather is now a bit changeable so some overhead protection against heavy rain can help keep the dreaded tomato blight at bay.

A raised bed is ideal for growing the indeterminate (cordon) type tomatoes that grow on long vines (up to 3 metres). These can be trained to grow horizontally. The yellow varieties usually appear first before the red ones. Here three classic varieties, Yellow Perfection, Golden Sunrise and Moneymaker have started to produce. They should continue producing for the next 6-8 weeks.

Once the plants have set the green fruit, most of the worry is over. It is now just a case of waiting. Growing classic heirloom varieties actually suits small gardens or balconies as the fruit are generally smaller than shop bought tomatoes thus requiring less direct sun. Harbinger, Ailsa Craig and San Marzano work well in the limited light conditions of city gardens.

A bit of variety in tomatoes is good. Lily of the valley is a French heirloom that produces delicious fruit for eating off the vine. Fitting some Roma bush tomatoes into the raised bed provides good paste tomatoes and fills space. Clementine produces hundreds of small bright yellow fruits ideal for children to pick and consume on hot days.

Choosing the indeterminate (continually growing) types of tomato for a raised bed works well as the growing vines will continue producing fruit over the summer months. It is worth cutting off tops that reach too high as this concentrates the new growth at a good height. In the next few weeks the red fruits will set creating a nice display. Growing heirloom tomato varieties is an old gardening tradition well worth trying.

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