Just bought some lovely tomato plants, now what do I do with them?!

dorisday

Hi just to say good luck with your tomato plants. This is the first year that I have started to grow veg/fruit with seriousness. I took loads and loads of valuable information off the internet. Have spent many hours on here researching how to grow things. So you dont really need any books.

missymoo81

thanks for that doris, I too have read loads on here, the book I got before I started reading, but is very good, and was only about £3 on amazon, am rather worried about my pumpkin and squash etc, i wonder if OH would mind our patio being overrun with things growing!!

Primrose

Of the squash, pumpkin and courgettes, the courgettes will take up less space so they might be more suited to a large pot if you're short of space. Quite honestly, if you've never tasted pumpkin and squash you might be better to buy a butternut squash from the supermarket and try it first to see whether you like it before allocating a large part of your growing area to them, only to be disappointed as they are also heavy feeders and you'll need to manure the ground well to get the best results. Yes, you can grow them up a trellis - thin bamboo canes might be too weak to take the weight, and be prepared for the squashes to start creeping onto your lawn area. Pumpkin tastes very bland. Squashes such as butternut are delicious either roasted, or made into soup.

Lotus-eater

Pumpkin, most people are happy to leave to halloween lanterns and not eat them, winter squash are something else and make lovely soup when they are roasted.
What you can do with both, is to obviously put the roots into soil, then the vines which sprawl different distances depending on the type, you can lay anywhere you have space, so paths, patios, anywhere really. So you only end up using a small amount of growing space, even though you may have to do a bit of stepping over greenery during summer.

missymoo81

Thank you, what I'll think I'll do is sell/make halloween lanterns out of the pumpkins, and eat the squash.

Have decide to plant them in big pots beside the pergoda then they can grow up it.

My tomato plants seem to be doing ok and I have remembered to water them which is quite a big thing for me.

Today I have planted:

Some herbs - corriander, thyme, basil and parsley
dwarf french beans
3 more red cabbage
spring onions
rocket
peas
beetroot

I would still like to plant more peas but not in pots in the garden, mange tout, potatoes and my squash and courgette plants. Everything seems to be doing ok,nothing has changed as yet. Have made sure I have been watering them every day. I need to go back to the pound shop and get some more cane, some tomato food, some big pots and some seeds.

I do hope everything comes out ok.

wssla00

I have them in my garden. Did you know you can carve in words on them when they are small e.g. a kiddies name or happy halloween etc and they will grow into a big name plate on the front?

pookiewn

Missy: Wow! There's loads going on, where's the pics?
I think pumpkins are very nice, especially roasted pumpkin soup. Delia's recipe is yummy.

Wssla00: That sounds great! Will give that a go (if the pumpkins grow), thank you.

missymoo81

thank you wssla definitely worth trying to do I think.

hmmm not very good with pics, I really want the weekend to get here so that I can get on with more. I'm going to try and get some bits done tomorrow night though.

Ada3050

Thanks for this, I have just been outside to de-side shoot my toms!

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

you want to leave about 18" (45cm) between plants, and it is often easier to take the first lot of sideshoots off before you plant them, then continue to keep nipping them off as more grow!

Make sure it is sideshoots you remove, not leaves, or trusses! Sideshoots grow out (like armpit hair!) between the main stem and the leaves - they eventually get big and thick if left.

missymoo81

hey ada, I found this sooo helpful, the armpit hair thing, made me realise what they meant!!