"bigboard" wrote in message
...
Matthew Durkin wrote:
Hi All,
I was wondering - is there a variety of beef tomatoes that will grow
outside
in the UK? I love beef tomatoes but I know they are normally grown
in a
greenhouse. I grow tumbling toms outside, but would really like to
grow beef
and I don't have a greenhouse...
If anyone's had a go with success - let me know!

Thanks,
Matt


I'm trying this for the first time this year, and so far they are
growing very well. Plenty of fruit so far. I'm growing 'Marmande'.

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Yes, the beef tomatoes are excellent, especially for sandwiches; when
sliced they seem to fit slices of bread very nicely.
That said, I never had much luck up here near the sea near the Lake
District with outside planting.. They grew alright but seemed to be a
bit hardish and difficult to ripen, whereas the greenhouse ones grown
upwards on a single stem were very satisfactory. The only complaint
have is being on one stem, (otherwise they take up too much room),
they only grew about three trusses. Nevertheless the size of the
tomatoes made up for it . The taste is excellent too.
Mind you, those were the days when the inside temp in the greenhouse was
lucky if it got up to 70 degrees.
Today I was a bit slow in getting there, and in sun with all closed up
the temp was just over 90 degrees.
I didn't grow any Beef tomatoes this year because the ones I got were
Shirleys: Gardeners Delight, (about twenty on each truss, - picked the
first three ripe ones yesterday): Alicante: Moneymaker:, and Cossack,
(of the Shirley family).
All a gift from a pal: and they used up all the room.
Doug.
********