"Jeannie" wrote in message
I have been given several tomato plants which I have been assured are of
the
outdoor rather than greenhouse variety. The are currently in a growbag at
the side of my shed and were planted there when the weather was more June
like, i.e. early last week. I haven't been to my allotment for a couple
of
days due to the weather, but I initially thought that the rain might do
them
good. As the weather hasn't appreciably improved since the last time I
saw
the plants, I was wondering exactly how hardy outdoor tomatoes are.

Basically, due to the unseasonably cold weather and here in Notts it is
currently winter coat weather in my "nesh" opinion, would I be better to
bring them into the greenhouse or not. I've never had any dealings with
tomatoes before and am not sure how much of an English summer they can
stand.

Provided there is no frost you won't have much of a problem until towards
the end of summer, just as the fruit is ripening, when they may get struck
with Blight. We spray ours with Bordeaux Mixture as a preventative from
about the second week in August. (it washes off)
Out on the allotments, keep them well tied to their supports to avoid wind
damage, and the supports must be strong as a plant covered in fruit and wet
with rain is very heavy. We found a single cane was not enough and I now
make a strong "goalpost" type structure from metal and wood and tie the top
of canes to that.
As soon as the first truss has set start feeding with a tomato feed as
directed on the bottle, seaweed extract seems to work well too.
We think Toms grown outside in the ground have a better flavour, it's just
you don't get a crop 'till the end of summer, and it does depend on the
summer weather too.

The only time we have ever entered a competition we won "best plate of Toms"
against all comers for our outdoor grown Roma's.

--
Regards
Bob

Some photos of my plants at.....