Tomatoes....

LilacPixie

:rotfl:first year of tomatoes for me.. I sowed 'sweetie' 'Roma' 'Gardeners Delight' and the kids had a kit for red nose day which is 'Amature'. Lots said not all seeds would germinate so I sowed 20 each of sweetie, roma and gardeners delight and the full kit of amature which was also 20. I now have 14 sweetie seedlings, 20 roma seedlings, 21 gardeners delight seedlings and looks like the full 20 amature seedings but they are in a round pot so hard to count. Now with the eception of amature which is in a red 9cm pot they came with all other seedings are in half seed trays. I will need to pot them onwards to some little modual containers soon as they are 4+ leafs and room is a premium. Question is if even only half survive to plants what can i do with them all?

Now I think all are indetermite with the exeption to 'the amature' which is a bush type. at 3 per growbag for tall ones I will need 9 growbags which seems a huge amount and god knows what the yield would be..

I actually have some purple tomatoes i also fancied trying this year but i think I have enough already

Ayne got any words of wisdom?? :rotfl:

TonyMMM

I would work out how many of each type you want to grow , and have the space for. Then choose the strongest few seedlings of each type and pot them into individual pots, with a few spare. The rest go in the bin .... no point growing them on.

LilacPixie

Aww thats a shame. I hate waste and was hoping I could of just put them in the ground or something

grrmich

I had the same problem as well. My first year of growing tomatoes from seed and sowed far too many. I've chosen 4 of each variety to keep, and I potted up the rest into pots I made from newspaper and gave them out at work.

natlie

you could buy very cheap compost like ALDI 99p a bag and ask for some pots from friends or freecycle or pop in your local garden centre - you could try planting them in the ground? Have you got work colleagues you could sell the plants too or the tomatoes too? You could grow the lot and make pasta sauces, ketchup etc and you could give them as part of a hamper at xmas
Nat

Mrs_Domino

If you really haven't got the space for them and don't want to compost them (I never can) why don't you car boot them and make a bit of money back or put them on freecycle?

If you do want to keep them you don't need pots just cut a grow bag in half, shake down the compost, roll over the ends and voila instant planters.

LilacPixie

I think i might have the space tbh. i have back garden plus an allotment and 2 6x4 greenhouses its just what to plant them into and what sort of crop to expect.

Carboot sounds good but i have 3 kids under 5 so getting to one could be problematic. Think i might just plant them on and see what makes it and go from there.

Orange_King

The 2 greenhouses will be packed out by the time they are in full growth and you shouldn't crowd them as they all need a bit of breathing space. If you hold onto them all you should have an ample supply and then some.

foxgloves

You could decide how many you want, & keep a couple of extra just in case any turn their toes up begtween now & when they go outside. Then, could you not have a little table outside the front of your house & sell the other plants for 50p each or so? There's a house near where I live that does this. Or offer them as a swap. Someone is bound to have grown too many courgettes, lettuces, beans or whatever? I've done a swap with my sister.....i've given her 12 cherry tomato plants that were surplus to requirements, she's given me 4 summer tops she no longer wanted!

Sally_A

Donate the excess to the school after potting on, lots of mums will buy one or two plants at pick up time, and your kiddies school benefits, and you are seen as a hero mum.

LilacPixie

All great ideas here. think neighbour over fence is going to take some I was out in garen earlier putting form cucumber plants out in the sun and he said he fancied growing some veg but didn't know where to start so I said i would give him a few tomato plants to kick start his plans. I'm wondering if i could aquire lots of flower buckets and use them as individual panters with canes on the patio and up the sides of the lawn/fence where i removed lots of ivy