Planting - Tomatoes

And for the last of my baby plants that most traditional of british vegetables the humble tomato.  Well, maybe not traditional but when I think of growing things to eat the tomato is what comes to mind - most summers at home were accompanied by a bag of tomatoes by the side door basking in the sunlight and narrowly avoiding being crushed by errant car doors, shopping bags and trampling feet.

I may have jumped the gun slightly on my tomatoes though as whilst I checked how to plant them it wasn't until after they were all tucked into their little grow bag that I remembered to check when to plant them.  All of the plants I bought were happy to be planted in the spring but it seems that these little fellas would probably have prefered to be kept inside a little longer.  I think it will be more disruptive to them to try and lug their growbag up several flights of stairs into the kitchen than it will to leave them where they are so they will have to do their best to survive outside.

I have gone with an organic cherry tomato cultivar "Gardeners Delight" which is an outdoor variety which can be grown as a bush or on trusses.  I've given my little plants some stakes to hang onto and popped 3 into the grow bag and 3 in various other plant pots.  Tomatoes seem to be where my planning failed :( I managed to buy 6 plants but only a grow bag big enough for 3 of them.  On the plus side the potted plants are more portable so I have brought one inside to the kitchen to be lovingly cared for just in case the garden ones don't make it.  As a side note I won't be at all suprised if I manage to kill the one indoors and have the outdoor ones do just fine on their own!

The ever so stylish plastic bottles are phase 1 of my cunning anti-frost measures.  The internet tells me that if I surround my baby plants with a wall of water this will absorb heat during the day and then slowly release it overnight.  Given the insanely cheap price that tesco sells water for (12p a bottle!) I shall be constructing a water bottle fence around my little ones as soon as I get back from the shops tomorow.  In the meantime I've filled 3 empties from the recycling with warm water which I hope will be enough to keep them safe tonight!  Hopefully this will keep them toasty-warm until the end of May at which point all the neighbours will be looking jealously at my beautifully established tomato plants and wishing they had my green fingers.... alternatively I will sneak out in the dead of night to replace my poor wilted darlings with shiny new plants and so hide my shame at killing my first ever tomatoes!