The flavour of summer

When you get into the swing of growing tomatoes, it becomes a seasonal addiction that’s hard to shake.  

I remember our first serious haul of Roma tomatoes, some 30 years ago. The flavour blew our minds, and so did the potential. We had bucketloads of the beauties to fill the freezer, ready to use in our cooking. Ever since, tomatoes have taken centre stage in our spring patch. Every year the obsession grows a little more, the haul a little bigger, and these days we’re busy bottling our excess in batches. Once you’re hooked, you’re hooked for life! 

Part of the joy of growing tomatoes is their sheer diversity. There are plump beefsteaks built for slicing onto a sandwich, meaty plum- and paste-type fruit for sauces and bottling, sweet little cherries for snacking straight off the vine and all-rounder salad tomatoes that sit somewhere in between. Then there’s the variety of colours, from deep red to sunshine yellow, green-when-ripe types, stripes and even black fruits. 

Each variety brings something different to the plate, and growing a mix means you’ve got options – one week you’re enjoying sliced tomatoes with olive oil, basil and balsamic, the next you’re boiling up a batch of passata for the pantry. Grow a few different types and you’ll never look at a tomato the same way again. 

There’s a nutritional bonus to growing a colourful mix, too. Red varieties are particularly rich in lycopene, the antioxidant tomatoes are famous for. Orange and yellow types contain higher amounts of beta-carotene, while black and purple varieties bring anthocyanins to the table. Eat the rainbow!

When you read up on tomatoes, you’ll also come across the terms determinate and indeterminate. Determinate, or bush, varieties grow to a fixed size, fruit over a shorter period and need minimal staking. They’re a good choice if you’re growing in pots or planning a big one-off harvest for preserving. Indeterminate, or vine, varieties are the most widely grown. They need a solid trellis or frame for training, and keep growing and fruiting until frost, heat or something else stops them. 

Whichever you grow, close attention to watering can make all the difference to flavour and fruit quality. Water too little and fruit can split when there’s a sudden surge of moisture, while too much moisture from watering every day can dilute the sugars and acids that give tomatoes their punch. The best approach is to water deeply, not daily. After you give plants a good drink, let the top 5–10cm of soil dry out before rewatering, and keep that rhythm steady. Get this right and I promise you, you’ll taste the difference.