Saturday 5 August 2017

The tomato experiment - greenhouse v. outdoors - part 2 - the findings




The tomatoes in the greenhouse grew much bigger much quicker than the tomatoes outside. The tomatoes outside have reached about 50 inches, the ones in the greenhouse around 70.

But interestingly, the Moneymaker plants both inside and outside the greenhouse produced ripe tomatoes on roughly the same day.
I wasn't paying enough attention to be absolutely certain which came first. I think it was probably the ones in the greenhouse, but it was definitely close. However, both the greenhouse ones and the outdoor Moneymaker tomatoes were pipped to the post by my miniature Gardener's Delight tomatoes growing outdoors, which ripened a few days earlier.
What I've really learned from this is that nothing I did with the greenhouse produced me tomatoes any earlier, but the plants are bigger and currently have more fruit on them. They're also more work because I often have to water the tomatoes in the greenhouse 2 or 3 times a day when it's hot. And I have less space available in the greenhouse, so I can produce a similar number of tomatoes outdoors simply by growing more plants.
Nevertheless, I like having tomatoes in the greenhouse, as the first year I ever tried to grow tomatoes, it rained and rained and rained and was cloudy and cold, and my tomatoes all got blight (or something long those lines) and never gave me a single tomato. Growing a couple in the greenhouse is likely to provide a hedge against that, as they are protected from both cold and rain in there. On the other hand, they're huge plants, so I don't want to grow too many of them in the greenhouse, especially not if they're perfectly happy to grow outside. I might try and see if I can grow a greenhouse-only tomato next year for more variety. Currently I'm most enjoying my greenhouse for things it's hard or impossible to grow outside in the UK. That's plants like bell and chilli peppers and aubergines.




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