I SAY TOMATO
Tomatoes are no longer just round, red fruit, says Leigh Bramwell
ILOVE SURVEYS. You occasionally get ones whose subjects are the most bizarre and/or idiotic you could imagine, such as how differently men and women behave when using ATM machines, whether blondes have more fun, and what percentage of people would save their dog over a foreign tourist. (I would certainly save my dog over pretty much anyone, so I am in the 40 per cent of people who said they would.)
A much more burning question than whether blondes have more fun, however, is whether or not tomatoes are the most talked about plant in New Zealand at this time of year and yes, they are. All the garden centres say so. New Zealanders are almost as obsessed by tomatoes as they are by the All Blacks’ recent performance record, and they will continue to be obsessed long after the team has lifted its game.
Labour weekend is the traditional time to plant tomatoes — they need a good three months of warm, frost-free weather to do the business — so while you don’t need to get out there with the spade just yet, you do need to start looking at what varieties are available, and what you want to grow.
Tomatoes are no longer just round, red fruit — they’re round, oval and elongated, they’re smooth, ridged, and lumpy, they’re heirloom and mass produced, they’re dwarves and skyscrapers, they’re yellow, green, orange, purple and black, and of course they’re as tiny as marbles and as big as rugby balls — well, not quite, but that day is probably coming.
Apply common sense when you’re choosing your varieties. As your mother would have told you, you need to know if you’re going to get on with anyone or anything you’re about to partner up with, and whether they’ll like living at your place.
Happily, you’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to picking your colours, shapes and tastes. Yes, these days tomatoes do come in quite different flavours.
If you’re not the adventurous type, or you don’t really care as long as they’re red, some of the classics are Money Maker, Beefsteak, Russian Red and Mortgage Lifter. (I’d not actually heard of the last one, but if I thought it meant what it said I’d plant the whole garden in it.)
Tomatoes for tiny house/tiny garden people are Patio Prize, Dynamo and Tumbling Tom. Truly, how could you not plant a Tumbling Tom?
There are many lower acid varieties available, including Roma Acid Free, Sweet 100, Gold Nugget, Black Cherry, and Tomaccio.
And for those who are adventurous types, how about Bloody Butcher, Green Sausage or Indigo fireball.
If you want to show off when friends are admiring your crop, you can refer to your tomatoes by their botanical name Solanum lycopersicum, and share that they are native to South and Central America and into Mexico, and were introduced to Europe by Columbus.
Originally they were thought to be poisonous and were grown just for novelty. Of course it took the Italians to realise the fruit had a sublime flavour.
To grow good tomatoes you need lots of sun and free-draining soil rich in organic matter. That soil can be in a container or in a bag as long as you use a specific container planting mix. Smaller growing, less vigorous varieties are good for pots, and you should use a specific container planting mix.
To plant, water the seedlings while in their containers and plant at least 40cm apart. Don’t disturb the roots. Firm the soil gently. You can take it about 2cm further up the stem than it was in the pot.
Wherever you’re planting them, stake and train them (dwarf varieties don’t need as much staking), protect from wind, feed fortnightly with liquid feed, and don’t ever let them dry out. As plants become loaded with fruit they’ll need more water, so mulch with compost to conserve moisture.
To minimise pests and diseases, don’t plant them in the same soil in which you have planted tomatoes previously, and quickly remove foliage or fruit showing signs of disease.
Watch for early blight, late blight (yes, seriously), wilt, white fly and the myriad other difficulties tomatoes seem to have. And what about removing the laterals? Well, there have been some studies on that which have shown that crops are just as heavy on plants where laterals are left, fruit ripens at the same rate and there is no discernible difference in taste.
Possibly a better subject for a survey than whether blondes have more fun.