View from the Vegetable Patch: Tomatoes taste sweeter than supermarket varieties when you grow your own

Some time around the middle of March, I tipped out all the tomato seeds from my seed tin, checked the dates on the packets – and threw the whole lot in the bin.

My idea was to start from scratch using a mixture of fresh seed and seedlings.

But then I dithered about what to grow and so didn’t place my order until just before lockdown, with the result that my seeds are still among a mountain of orders on some computer and my tomato seedlings remain in the greenhouse of some large commercial grower while they await their turn for despatch.

They should turn up eventually and when they do I’ll be sowing the seed in the propagator and planting the young plants into large pots, growing them on under glass, watering them frequently, feeding regularly, shaking the plants gently to aid pollen dispersion and cutting out side shoots when they are 3cm long.

Tomatoes demand care and attention but the rewards are sweet fruits and varieties that you’d struggle to find in the supermarket.

I like growing those huge beefsteak tomatoes that look like deflated beach balls, any of the striped kinds such as Green Zebra or Tigerella and in particular I like cherry tomatoes for their unbeatable flavour.

Picked and eaten straight from the plant when they are still warm from the sun they are the taste of summer.

One of the plants I’m currently waiting on is Tumbling Bella, a cherry variety that can be grown in tubs and hanging baskets. If you don’t have a greenhouse then cherry tomatoes like this are worth trying if you can find them a very sunny spot in the garden, are willing to cover them with fleece on cold nights, and are vigilant about not allowing them to dry out.

Meanwhile the basil, rocket, pea shoots, spinach and lettuce sown over the last month are all growing strongly and this week I’ll be sowing Nandor, a short-rooted carrot; dwarf French bean Amethyst, beetroot Boltadry and pea Rondo, a reliable cropper that is best sown regularly to give a succession of crops throughout the summer.

To help all of these grow I’ve also sown borage, not just because I love its starry blue flowers, which can be added to drinks and salads, but because it is a magnet for bees and the idea is that, when these turn up to feast on the borage flowers, they’ll also help to pollinate the vegetables.