ROB SMITH KITCHEN GARDENER
Helping you get your best-ever fruit and veg
I’m looking forward to lots of scrumptious summer salads
At the beginning of February I started off some micro tomatoes, the types that only reach 20–30cm tall and are perfect to grow in small pots on the greenhouse staging or a windowsill.
The plants have been growing happily in my Harvst grow unit (harvst.co.uk) and are being potted on into individual small terracotta pots of peat-free compost now that the roots are beginning to protrude from the base of the module tray. As with any tomato, the plant can be transplanted deeply to make it more compact – just remember to snip the bottom leaves from the plant and make sure none are touching the soil when you’ve finished transplanting.
By doing this with small-sized varieties, you end up with extra-compact plants which can be grown just about anywhere.
Along with the tiny toms, I’m starting to sow some cordon varieties, which will be grown in the unheated greenhouse. They still need heat to start them off, so either use a heated propagator or a warm windowsill to begin with. One new variety I’m looking forward to growing is a medium-sized beefsteak tomato that has dark shoulders and red flesh, called ‘Sunfired Flare’ from Vital Seeds (vitalseeds. co.uk), based down in Devon. We eat a lot of mixed tomato salads in summer, so this dark, anthocyanin-rich variety should add colour and flavour. Being a cordon variety, it’s best grown in the unheated greenhouse, so I can get sowing now. The plants for growing outside won’t be started until April – I don’t want them to turn into triffids before I’m able to plant them out after the last frosts in May!
Along with tomatoes, it’s time to start off some protective companion plants. By growing certain plants together, you can help reduce the number of pests and other problems veggies suffer from without the use of chemicals. One of my favourite plants to grow around the base of tomato plants are marigolds; the fragrance helps reduce problems with white flies and thrips, plus they look good and add a little colour at the base of the pot.
