Kitchen Garden Forum

Q1. The suggestion was to fed my 'taties in a bags' . . . any suggestions what feed to use . . . perhaps tomato liquid feed?

Q2. Lime seems to be a good idea on a veggie gardens, and a little sprinkled around the tomato plants? Can anyone expand on that, when, how, where, is lime available as a standard product?

CJS

I think the potato expert said to use Vitax Q4 to feed the potatoes in bags, but tomato food should be OK too. The gardening catalogues sell pelleted potato food too to add to the soil before you plant them.

I don't think it is a good idea to sprinkle lime round tomatoes as they need a ph of about 6.5 which is slightly acid. If you are thinking of their need for calcium to prevent blossom end rot then this is better provided by a good supply of compost or bone meal added before planting and then keeping them watered adequately so they can take up the calcium from the soil.

I get my lime from an agricultural merchant as I couldn't find another supplier. My father used to get hydrated lime from a builders merchant but they don't seem to stock it anymore round here. I think some garden centres sell it in small bags too.

Thanks for that 'PP' . . . I wonder, as I always grow my tomatoes in grow bags outside on the old flower boarder . . . crazy? well the original idea was the boarder is in fact a raised bed/planter, 7'x18", I presumed all the nutrients were in the bag, had no idea what state the planter soil was in, in the planter? So, as this is only my third year of growing anything . . .

The plan was do the same in grow bags outside, very successful previously. But to grow some oddball toms in the greenhouse this year, One called 'Pineapple' an old beef variety and an Italian Plum, cant even read the name nevermind pronounce it! So I will do the same as I did last year with peppers and aubergines; 'Ring culture', and mix some bone meal in with the compost, I think I used blood, fish and bone, would that be OK? or should it be 'bone meal'?

Had a great crop of peppers and aubergines . . . discovered we dont like aubergines!! So this year, its long red peppers, tomatoes and a cucumber called 'crystal', round, the size of a russet apple with a citrus flavour. Running before I can walk . . . ???

Lime, I will have to keep my eyes open, only need a small bag???

CJS

Hi CJS, Your tomatoes should do even better under cover. If you are using freshly bought compost there should be enough nutrients in it to get the plants started, but the plants soon use this up and in any case I would use a good tomato liquid feed as soon as the flowers start to appear. I thought you were talking about planting outdoors from your question.

I grow mainly heirloom varieties so I can save the seed. I've not tried the pineapple variety though. One of my favourite salad tomatoes is Kenilworth King George from the Heritage seed library, then I like Costoluto Fiorentino, Amish Paste, Cornu des Andes and Double Rich for their gorgeous flavours both fresh and for cooking. I'm also growing Abraham Lincoln, Black Krim, Eva's Purple Ball, a sweet cherry one from my own selected seed and finally Garden Pearl which is a nice little bushy one for growing in containers.

I'm still hoping for a good summer for the Aubergines. I've brought back a lovely flavoured small round white one and a long purple variety from Thailand. They've made nice little plants, but I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for a good crop.

I'm just growing a long pointed sweet pepper and a big chunky bell pepper from my own saved seed this year as I have bag fulls of chilli peppers from the last two years in the freezer to use up.

Well - back to the garden to sow some parsnips etc.

Slaked/hydrated lime is not used as much these days as lime mortar has been replaced with cement and limewash with emulsion,but if you can find a builder who does a lot of restoration work, they should be able to point you in the right direction. The stuff farmers use is limestone flour not lime as too much ends up as windborn dust with mechanical spreading and lime is slightly caustic
I grew Pineapple last year and found it very sweet but tasting very little like a tomato.