The Beechgrove Garden 2022 episode 10: Carole Baxter and Brian Cunningham are at Beechgrove to provide some great garden advice. Carole is back in the 6×8 greenhouse to review the season’s growing so far, including an update on the cordon tomatoes. Brian and Carole then continue with the revamp that began with the removal of a conifer from the top of the garden, finishing the job by planting between the branches of the alder banking they created earlier in the series.
Meanwhile, at his allotment in Joppa, George Anderson gets stuck into thinning out his seedlings, and there are updates from keen gardeners around the country, with the latest from the Beechgrowers.
The Beechgrove Garden 2022 episode 10
How to grow cordon tomatoes
For growing purposes, tomato plants are divided two distinct categories according to their growth habit. ‘Bush’ (determinate) types are left unpinched and need only to be loosely tied to canes to prevent them sagging. ‘Cordon’ varieties (indeterminate), also known as vine tomatoes, need pinching out and training during the growing season to get the best results.
Left to their own devices in the British climate, cordon tomatoes will produce masses of leafy growth with some flowers and little useable fruit, but with regular care your plants will keep producing tomatoes until early autumn.
The cordon growing method refers to training the plant on a single stem, tying this into a cane, and removing all the side shoots that start to form between the stem and leaves. With plenty of light and regular dressings of tomato feed, plants will start to flower soon after the 10th true leaf has formed and will continue to produce flower trusses right up the stem. Under glass – in a porch, greenhouse or conservatory – expect to get up to six trusses of fruit for each cordon-trained plant by mid-September.
