Why I'm not growing tomatoes this year

I’ve decided not to grow tomatoes this year.

Gasp!!

Or at least, not from seed. I may cave later in the summer and buy some plugs, but after two pretty dismal tomato years, my interest in cultivating the little red fruit is waning.

I’m sure it is possible to grow good tomatoes in Scotland: I’m sure because people do all the time. But trying to do it in a completely sound environmental manner is just very frustrating.

Part of the problem is that you have to sow them so early. So if you don’t have a heated greenhouse or propagator, that means you’ve got messy trays kicking around the warmest room of your house. For me, that’s my kitchen, as I’m lucky enough to have an AGA keeping the room reasonably toasty, even on the coldest of nights (though I did have an issue last year with a mouse that came in and ate all my chili seedlings, which I’d stupidly left on the floor).

Then there’s waiting for the nights to be warm enough to transfer your weak little tomato plants out into the big bad world. They say you shouldn’t put them out until it stays above 7C, which in Scotland can be pretty late into the spring, certainly May. Put them out too early, and they struggle to thrive,

making them vulnerable to pests. Put them out too late, and they’ll never have a chance to grow and produce fruit before the nights get cold again at the end of the year.

Then there’s the struggle of what to grow them in. I tried grow bags (with those extra plastic pots on top for more space) and the results were pretty dismal. But since even finding peat-free grow bags is a challenge, I then moved onto pots. I think they worked a bit better, but I still struggled to get good results.

Then there’s the feeding. Organic tomato food isn’t easy to come by. I couldn’t find it in any shops, and resorted to buying it online. I actually found a huge box quite cheaply, and it’s proved great for putting into containers with flowers as well (buried, because the neighbours’ cats seem to find it an enticing smell) but it’s an extra thing to remember to do, and there’s the question of how often and how much…

Then there's the plants themselves. First of all the pruning. It's a constant battle to rip off the right shoots, that one there, or this one? And if they get away from you, the whole thing ends up as a tangled mess. And the leaves? Off or on? And when? And how many? And the tomatoes themselves. When do you pick them? Do you leave them until they're red, or take them green? And if you leave them, how do you stop them dropping off and plopping on the floor in a disgusting mess?

But the biggest beef I have with growing tomatoes is the water. Now, we don’t have the warmest of summers here, but we do have some pretty hot days from time to time, and my greenhouse gets it straight in the face. Watering is a constant battle, and a daily chore in the summer, but the thing that always seems to suffer most from erratic watering is the tomato. Too little and they shrivel up in protest, too much and the fruits split and get upset with all sorts of blossom-end rot type things.

And at the end of all that, months of effort, and cost and worry, you end up with a tiny harvest at exactly the same time that the shops have tasty tomatoes in abundance.

So I’ve had enough!

This year, no tomatoes. Which means two things:

First of all, would anyone like a whole bunch of tomato seeds? There’s still time to sow for this summer, and I’m loathe to just throw them out. Will swap for flower seeds if you’ve got ‘em, but I'm not too fussy.

And secondly, I’m looking for ideas as to what I can grow in my greenhouse instead! Should I try figs, or another fruit, or get some exotic flowers in there? Remember it’s unheated, so whatever it is will have to survive the winter frosts. But I’m open to suggestions...

#tomatoes #greenhouse