Top Toms!

Adrienne Wild recommends the best tomatoes to grow at home and how to care for them

- Adrienne Wild

Whether you decide to grow tomatoes outdoors or indoors, it’s well worth taking the trouble because the average plant will give you up to 8kg of fruit, depending on variety.

You’ll be able to enjoy your own tasty crop this summer, either from plants you’ve raised yourself from seed on the windowsill indoors or bought as young plants from the garden centre. It doesn’t matter which start you give them, because you’ll get a good crop from both!

If you’re already a keen GYO-er, though, you may have noticed that seed catalogues are now also offering ‘potready’ plants and ones that are grafted and sold as ‘turbocharged’ tomatoes.

This claim isn’t exaggerated, as they’re much stronger plants. It’s a result of having been given the best roots from a disease-resistant variety along with the size and flavour of a highperforming-yet-vulnerable ‘top’ variety, giving the grafted plant better stamina.

Obviously there’s a lot to consider when choosing, not least which variety to grow. The choice of tomatoes is immense. It’s often quoted that there are more than 15,000 known varieties in the world!

A quick browse of the seed catalogues, however, will no doubt inspire the foodie within you, as you’ll find everything from the tiny currant, cocktail and cherry types, which are popular with children, to full-flavoured big beefsteaks that are perfect for burgers. You’ll also be amazed at the expansive range of colours, which not only make salads look more interesting but have been proven to have more health benefits, too.