In article ,
says...
In message , Mike Lyle
writes
They're listed as escapes in the field guides, so they must appear
quite often. This is SRH's territory, but I'd say the climate here
isn't reliably clement enough to guarantee them regular ripening, or
reliable germination the spring after that.

It may well be Nick Maclaren's territory.

URL:http://www.bsbimaps.org.uk/mstetrads...4359.0&sppname
=Solanum lycopersicum&commname=Tomatocountback=0

Botanists don't fossick about in people's gardens, so volunteer tomatoes
are probably more widespread than suggested by the records.

There's a concept known as the rule of tens. Of ever 1000 plants
introduced 100 escape into the wild, 10 become naturalised, and 1
becomes invasive. For example Zea mays is grown widely, but volunteers
are rare, never mind casual plants in the wild. (That reminds me; I have
one record of the species that I should pass onto the BSBI.)

As luck would have it, I found two feral specimens only yesterday in
the shrubbery at our Friends' Meeting House. These ones were far too
small to have any chance of fruiting before the frosts, but I don't
know how they would have done in a warmer spring than this year's.

URL:http://www.botanicalkeys.co.uk/flora/content/record/recording.htm

They're rather disease-prone, and also rather hungry and thirsty plants
which probably aren't good competitors. And they're separated by many
generations from the wild forms which might stand a better chance.

You raise the point that the volunteer plants that are being reporting
from gardens are likely from well-fertilised plots with little
competition; that makes is easier for a volunteer tomato to flower and
fruit.

There certainly used to be large stands of "wild" tomatoes along the
banks of the Thames in Berkshire in the late 60's, presumably the result
of many fishermans half eaten sandwiches, but far too much to be from
just one season
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea