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Growing Tomatoes In A Greenhouse Or Outside At Home, Provides Best Tasting Tomatoes.
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Growing tomatoes in a greenhouse at home turned from being a hobby into a small business. From childhood memories there seemed always to have been a greenhouse in the garden in which tomato plants were grown. When father's friends came to visit, the subject of conversation, on many visits, included tomatoes; about tomato plants, about growing tomatoes outside, and the best way of growing tomatoes.
This was before the age of the supermarket from where it is now possible to buy tomatoes throughout the year, imported from many different countries. Families in years gone by, who had the facilities to do so, would grow their own tomatoes, which were then almost certainly seasonal fruits/vegetables. When the war started in 1939 more people tried to grow their own, vegetables in particular, and some fruit. There was a demand for tomato plants; some families were growing tomatoes in a greenhouses, and some growing tomatoes in pots. Tomato plants were bought when the danger of |
frosts was almost nil, when it was safer growing tomatoes in unheated greenhouses, or in sheltered positions outdoors.
Three types of greenhouses were used for growing tomato plants to sell. The smallest greenhouse, in which the tomato plants were propagated from seed, was heated by hot water iron pipes connected to an external boiler fuelled by coke. A larger greenhouse, heated in a similar way, but at a reduced temperate, was used to grow the tomato seedlings, pricked out in soil beds on top of the greenhouses stages, until they were big enough to be potted up in individual pots, filled with a steam sterilised soil mix. The potted tomato plants were then moved to their final 'nursery' until they had grown big enough to be sold as tomato plants, or to be planted in beds of unheated greenhouses to be grown on, to produce tomatoes, that were sold from home to families in the neighbourhood, or to local shops. |
Picture Shows Growing Tomatoes In Raised Beds Where Rainfall Is Uncertain.
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Sowing the tomato seeds in shallow seed boxes; pricking out seedlings into beds on stages; the potting up stage of young tomato plants into small pots, and the final stage of planting into greenhouse beds or large pots. Training the tomato plants up vertical strings, or tieing the plants to canes.
Pinching out the side-shoots attempting to grow out of the spot where the main leaf joined the stems of the tomato plants. When the plants were in flower, and on a warm dry day, giving the tomato plants a good shake to help with the pollination. Watching the fruit |
develop into a saleable size with an attractive red color. The satisfaction of picking and eating the first ripe tomato of the season, which always tasted delicious. Memories of a time long ago, but the events seem as if they happened but yesterday!
Of course, growing tomatoes involved watering the plants, and the appropriate feeding with liquid containing fertilizer of one sort or another, sometimes being cattle dung. A watchful eye had to be kept out for the first sight of troublesome insects or moulds. The greenhouse windows had to be opened or shut on hot sunny days, to adjust the internal temperatures. |
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| During a recent visit to the home of a friend, a different way of growing tomatoes was seen. Planting tomatoes in raised beds, in fields subject to desert like conditions, blazing hot sun and very little rainfall. The raised beds having a protective layer of polythene helped to preserve ground moisture. Wellwater was channeled between the beds to sustain the crop. |
This type of cultivation is illustrated in the picture above, which was taken soon after a replanting of some parts of the field had to be made, due to severe wind damage.
These days, if children are asked, 'Where do tomatoes come from?', some of them are quite likely to give the reply, 'Tesco!'. |
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The tomato is now grown worldwide for its edible fruits, with thousands of cultivars having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions. Cultivated tomatoes vary in size from cherry tomatoes, about the same 1 or 2 cm size as the wild tomato, up to beefsteak tomatoes 10 cm or more in diameter. The most widely grown commercial tomatoes tend to be in the 5 or 6 cm diameter range. Most cultivars produce red fruit; but a number of cultivars with yellow, orange, pink, purple, green, or white fruit are also available. Multicolored and striped fruit can also be quite striking. Tomatoes grown for canning are often elongated, 7 to 9 cm long and 4 to 5 cm diameter; they are known as plum tomatoes. Src: Wikipedia.com. '''''
The tomato is now grown worldwide for its edible fruits, with thousands of cultivars having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions. Cultivated tomatoes vary in size from cherry tomatoes, about the same 1 or 2 cm size as the wild tomato, up to beefsteak tomatoes 10 cm or more in diameter. The most widely grown commercial tomatoes tend to be in the 5 or 6 cm diameter range. Most cultivars produce red fruit; but a number of cultivars with yellow, orange, pink, purple, green, or white fruit are also available. Multicolored and striped fruit can also be quite striking. Tomatoes grown for canning are often elongated, 7 to 9 cm long and 4 to 5 cm diameter; they are known as plum tomatoes. Src: Wikipedia.com. '''''
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21st June, 2007
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