Here are some tips, tricks and knowledge for growing and planning your garden.

GROWING TOMATOES: when it comes to tomatoes there are 2 types to consider: BUSH types and VINE types. Each group has a selection of cherries, beefsteaks, romas, grape types, in all the colours. Both kinds are found in garden centres and you’ve probably grown both kinds and not even realized it because their foliage and fruit looks the same. The only difference is growth habit.

Determinate tomatoes (BUSH types) - a good choice for container growing or when staking is difficult. Determinate types are commonly used by commercial growers who wish to harvest a whole field at one time, or home growers interested in canning. They aren’t going to ripen all in one week, but once they start to ripen they usually last 3-5 weeks. BUSH types will be the first to ripen in the garden, so it’s nice to have a mix of both to have the longest tomato season possible! They require little or no staking because of their stout and bushy nature. So to re-cap, DETERMINATE tomatoes:

• bear a large crop all at once

• only grow to a specific height

• mature earlier than Indeterminate types

Indeterminate tomatoes (VINE type) continue producing indefinitely (indeterminately) or until killed by frost/disease. They are technically perennials! That means they can grow for YEARS! They are preferred by growers who want to pick ripe fruit throughout the season, such as having fresh cherry tomatoes to go in your salad every night or slices of beefsteak for your sandwich. INDETERMINATE tomatoes:

• require staking/trellising but…

• can fit more plants in one space because they grow UP!

• produce tomatoes continuously throughout the season

OP = Open Pollinated. Tomatoes are self-pollinating which means their flowers contain both male and female parts. More than one plant is not needed for reproduction. That doesn't mean insects and wind aren't important, though! For example, when bees land on the flowers, the buzzing of their wings helps to shake the pollen into the flower. If growing in a greenhouse it is recommended to shake the tomato branches while they are flowering to encourage fruit production. Growing open pollinated tomatoes means you can save the seed, and expect the same tomato as the one you started with (provided they don’t cross pollinate with something else). Heirlooms are open pollinated strains that have been self-pollinated for many years.

“An heirloom tomato is an open-pollinated, heirloom cultivar of tomato. They are classified as family heirlooms, commercial heirlooms, mystery heirlooms, or created heirlooms. They usually have a shorter shelf life and are less disease resistant than hybrids. They are grown for various reasons: for food, historical interest, access to wider varieties, and by people who wish to save seeds from year to year, as well as for their taste.” - wikipedia

Hybrids or “FI” Hybrids are created when plant breeders cross-pollinate two different varieties. The purpose is to create an offspring that contains the best traits of the parents. Traits such as: bigger size fruit, extra sweetness, more yield, or better disease resistance. Cross-pollination is a natural process and can happen when plants are spaced close together. Saving the seeds from a Hybrid tomato, while they may sprout and grow, will revert to one of the genetic parent plants, which will probably be much different fruit than the hybrid. Hybrids are not the same as GMOs. We find it’s beneficial to grow a variety of hybrids and open pollinated types. Sungolds are a famous Hybrid variety.