After years of failed crops outside, last year was the first year I had a greenhouse (6' x 8&#39 I had a bumper crop of saved heritage and Gardeners Delight seeds. All of them had a hard yellow centre that never ripened, sounds like your problem. They were horrible to eat but cooked up OK after freezing.

I read somewhere that it might be due to getting too hot. This year I am thinking of looking for a greenhouse variety, perhaps Alicante.

Any advice would be welcomed, I can't stand the lack of taste in supermarket tomatoes.

Hello AdrianR,

Years ago had a flat in converted house with back garden and what I suspect was an old greenhouse with very heavy Ali frames. Think it helped the sale of the flat for 'top dollar'. Young couple buyers probably financed by a father who took a liking to the greenhouse which was later removed.

To get to the point, I left roof light open before I went to work and closed it when I got home. Also whitewashed interior to reflect some of the heat. Cucumbers liked it!

John

I never had a greenhouse so used to grow outside. I grew these and found the sweet taste to my liking.

Tomato Outdoor Girl AGM Seeds | Quality Seeds from Sow Seeds Ltd

Rik

Edited By Rik Shaw on 07/03/2022 14:47:27

Soil exhaustion? Try fertilizer.

I only grow yellow standard size Tom's now – find they're sweeter. Golden something or other..sunrise? 6 plants in the greenhouse is more than enough for us with extras given away to visitors. Protocol is to top dress the border with chicken poo pellets then use tomato fertilizer but every few years I scrape out some old compost and put down new. A packet of Tom seeds usually keeps 3-4 years despite the packet statements. I often find a few self setters pop up from fallen Tom's that I missed and split before the end of year clean out.

Taste is always a personal thing, but we like Orange Paruche F1 from Fothergill's. Also PGk's Golden 'something' are OK.

We had some self setters appear on the compost heap last year, some of which got potted up for a laugh. The results were two different Cherry type, one fruiting on fans over a foot wide plus a couple that went to Blossom End Rot so I'm pretty certain they were Elsa Craig that were dumped the year before for the same reason.

We hose the greenhouse down with Jeyes to give the Botrytis a hard time, plant in pots and use a £30 thermal window opener to keep the heat down.

Final picking in 2nd week of October last year due to the lateness of the self setters.

PS keeping seed does work on some, but you need to ferment the seed jelly coat off by soaking them in water for 2 or 3 days till the water gets all mouldy and nasty, then dry them for storage.

Edited By Dave Halford on 07/03/2022 16:50:43

I learned at sea from the huge USA tomatoes that there's only so much taste in a tomato, so the smaller ones are the tastiest while the big cricket ball jobs are almost no taste

Botyritis also hits mine end of season and usually the reason it all gets ripped out as cooler weather comes in. We managed to keep harvesting through November with the way the seasons seem to be changing.
At the end of season I smoke the greenhouse out by burning sulphur chips.. just make darned sure you take a deep breath before you light it up and leave before another breath is needed.

pgk

Tomato yield depends on 'Heat Summation': in order for the fruit to develop and ripen satisfactorily, they need a certain number of hours above a certain temperature (the exact figures depend on the variety). I can't have a greenhouse (shared garden) so my toms (and chillies) are at the mercy of the elements. Last year, after a good start, was terrible in the south east with weeks of cold weather and consequent almost complete failure of the tomato crop, and the ones that did ripen were tasteless. The year before was great, and I was giving the things away.

If you're limited to outdoor growing, I've tried and recommend the first three varieties on this page (unfortunately sold out now):

https://www.realseeds.co.uk/tomatoes_bush.html

Being early, you have a better chance of sufficient heat summation, and they seem pretty blight resistant. They also don't require pinching out or anything elaborate in the way of training.

There's no problem saving seed from these, use the method described by Dave Halford above, and save at least two separate batches, just in case.

First question should be: indoor or outdoor?

My favourite has been Gardener’s Delight.

But it depends on priorities – taste, size, cropping period, amount of produce, et .

One thing to not do is grow tomatoes in the same soil every year, better to use grow bags. Buy quality ones, not from supermarkets.