It's tempting, with so many different-looking fruit to choose from, to select varieties that are new and gorgeous. I'm enamoured of the black ones and a friend has given me a plant, but I'm also going to try to be sensible. Selecting tomato varieties is a bit like choosing a new partner. As with anyone you're about to hook up with, you need to know if you'll get along and if they'll like living at your place.
Unlike human partners, tomatoes do have a lot of requirements in common. Lots of sun and free-draining soil rich in organic matter are musts. That soil can be in a container or in a bag as long as you use a specific container planting mix. Smaller growing, less vigorous varieties are easiest to manage in pots so you could try Dwarf, Sweet 100, or Russian Red.
To plant, water seedlings in their containers and plant at least 40cm apart. Don't disturb the roots. Firm the soil gently. You can take it about 2cm further up the stem than it was in the pot.
Wherever you plant them, stake and train them (although dwarf varieties don't need much staking), protect from wind, feed fortnightly with liquid feed, and never let them dry out. As plants grow and become loaded with fruit their need for water will increase, so mulch with compost to conserve moisture.
The thought of masses of ruby red fruit on the plant, in the fruit bowl and ripening on the windowsill is enough to make anyone go slightly overboard, but plant only what you need. Overcrowding makes them more susceptible to problems.
Although some tomato experts seem to grow them with little strife, others are beset by pests and diseases which make you wonder why you don't just buy other people's tomatoes from roadside stalls. It's probably cheaper and certainly far less time consuming. But you'd never get that extraordinary burst of sunshine in your mouth that follows biting into a tomato straight off your own vine.
To minimise problems, don't plant where you have planted tomatoes before, unless you replace the soil. Prune dense plants to encourage air circulation, and quickly remove foliage or fruit showing signs of disease. Watch for early blight, late blight, wilt, whitefly and the myriad other difficulties some people's tomatoes seem to have.
I'm planting cherry tomatoes this Labour Weekend because I seem to be able to grow these without too many problems, and an heirloom called Albenga Oxheart because it's Italian and I'm told it has a fantastic flavour and is quite disease-resistant.
If I manage to nurture them to teenage-hood I'll then need to get emotionally prepared when I have to decide whether or not to remove the laterals. It can be as much of an issue -- and as hotly debated -- as whether to let your daughter have her navel pierced or your son get a tattoo.
Conventional wisdom has long advised removing laterals or side-shoots to encourage upward growth and fruit. But recent studies have shown that crops are just as heavy on plants where laterals are left. Fruit ripens at the same rate and there is no discernible difference in taste. Possibly we need a referendum on this one, too.
Tommy's protectors
Tomatoes thrive on good company and the use of companion plants to attract beneficial insects or repel pests is a great idea.
For example, marigolds can attract some aphid predators. Nasturtiums repel aphids and green shield beetles and may reduce fungal diseases, while members of the umbilliferae family, such as celery, parsley and carrots, are known to attract aphid-unfriendly hoverflies.
Basil will repel aphids and whitefly and, of course, it's a natural mate of tomatoes and valuable for culinary uses.
You can try making sprays from the leaves of companion plants to zap the pests, but if that's not your style, you could use chemical sprays or dusts.
Some are registered for use on organic farms, and some are quite specific for particular pests or diseases.
It's best not to use a broad-spectrum spray because it might zap some of the pests' natural enemies.
