INCLUDING…
TOMATOES
Cordon-grown tomatoes, trained to canes, are a summer labour of love and something of a summer obsession but, if time is tight, grow bush types in pots, which need no pruning or training.
AUBERGINES
An essential ingredient if you eat a lot of Mediterranean food. Growing your own gives you the chance to cook with aubergines of all different colours and sizes, at the peak of their freshness.
CHILLIES
Unsurprisingly lovers of warmth, chillies need an early start in a cosy propagator or toasty room indoors at the end of winter if grown from seed, and a greenhouse is best if you want a super-hot harvest.
USING UP GLUTS
A handy chutney recipe to use up all those green tomatoes that don’t have enough time to ripen at the end of the season. There can be a lot of these if you grow tomatoes outdoors.
Tomatoes
Growing tomatoes is rewarding and easy, resulting in masses of fruits that taste infinitely better than shop-bought. There are many varieties you can try
PLANT May-Jun
HARVEST Jul-Oct
STORE For a week or make chutney
To grow tomatoes successfully, you need rich, fertile soil or peat-free potting compost, and a good sunny, sheltered spot. Water regularly and feed weekly with a high-potash fertiliser once plants start to flower.
Tomatoes are split into two main growing types: determinate (bush) and indeterminate (cordon). Bush types are usually planted in pots or hanging baskets and their stems trail around
