Tomato plant, what next?

[AleisterCrowley]

I randomly bought a single tomato plant from outside someone's cottage yesterday

It's about 10" tall and is in a 4" diameter pot

I have no idea what variety it is, as I didn't pay much attention to the sign beyond 'leave £1 in the letterbox'...

I have a front lawn, but no veg garden (rented accommodation)

What do I need to do to keep it alive? I know they need lots of water.
Repot or transfer to growbag? Stakes? Trellis? Food?

[bungeejumper]

If it's 10 inches tall, it's probably filling a 4 inch pot with roots, or close. It'll probably be ready for a six-inch pot. Stake it, but not too tightly because that stem is going to get thicker in time. A bit of fertiliser wouldn't go amiss, but it doesn't need proper tomato feed until the second truss has set.

You would normally be recommended to side-shoot a tomato, although in practice I often let a second stem develop. The main exception would be if it's a trailing tomato, which goes its own sweet way and doesn't need sideshooting. My guess is that yours is the normal type and will be better for having sideshoots removed.

BJ

[Breelander]

If it's 10 inches tall, it's probably filling a 4 inch pot with roots, or close. It'll probably be ready for a six-inch pot....

...or larger. I usually put mine straight into their final pot or growbag at that stage.

You can plant it deeper than it is in the current pot. I bury mine at least up to the seed leaves. The tomato plant is remarkably good at sprouting roots from anywhere. You'll get a bigger root system by planting it deeper than it currently is in the 4" pot.

[AleisterCrowley]

It's going to have to be a pot I think, due to space
My upstairs neighbor has a spare one. I will have to ask her nicely.
So, need soil/peat/something. John Innes pops into my head.
I have a horrible feeling i could end up spending about £5 per tomato on this enterprise

[jackdaww]

ive been growing gardeners delight over 40 years (still happy to learn!)

I use standard black buckets which are over 10inches - the roots fill them easily - say seven inches minimum .

i have found cheap compost , or out of cheap growbags to be ok .

plant deeper - bury to where the lowest main leaves were - more roots will form .

best in a greenhouse but windowsill can still give good results.

use bamboo canes to support up to 6ft .

tap the stems / canes to assist pollination when flowers open .

feed when trusses form small tomatoes.

pinch out sideshoots in nodes - otherwise they go out of control.

outdoors they will ripen two years out of five - so for three years , its a lot of effort to finish up with chutney ! - there also risk of blight if any potatoes about .

if you take it up seriously , choose a suitable variety , many of the big and popular ones have poor flavour.

[bungeejumper]

Buckets, old plastic boxes, large tubs from emulsion paint (cleaned up) - just about any container that will hold 5 to 10 litres will do. Better if you punch a couple of drainage holes in the bottom, but not too many.

Compost all the way down is good, but actually a few inches of topsoil at the bottom of your bucket won't hurt. Particularly if you're using a fertiliser.

Poundland fertiliser is perfectly good - it's basically just the old-fashioned NPK formula. (https://www.poundland.co.uk/gardening/feed-and-compost/)

Keep your costs down, keep it simple. Don't forget to water. Enjoy your tomatoes.

BJ

[AleisterCrowley]

Is it going to survive and thrive outside, bearing in mind I'm in the sub-tropical Thames Valley (well Kennet valley )?

[jackdaww]

Is it going to survive and thrive outside, bearing in mind I'm in the sub-tropical Thames Valley (well Kennet valley )?

======================

if we have another summer like 1976 , YES!!

[malkymoo]

You have had some good advice from previous replies. I would say that you need at least a 9 inch pot, preferably bigger. I would add that conventional wisdom says that it is good to keep it in a small pot until the first flowers are showing colour. You get less vegetation and more fruit that way. Don't worry if the plant starts looking a bit peaky, it will rapidly take off once it is potted up.

If you can, get someone who grows tomatoes to demonstrate removing side shoots, not always obvious what is needed.

Best of luck, I would say you have an excellent chance of getting ripe fruit. Remember if it has not ripened by the end of September, you can cut off the trusses and ripen the fruit indoors. I was eating mine until November last year, not quite as nice as picked from the plant but still worth having.

MM (been growing tomatoes for 50 years, still learning!)

[AleisterCrowley]

I'm just about to water the blessed thing, from a jar brought to room temperature so I don't shock the roots. Or something.
Buying pot, erm a pot, is difficult -likewise compost -as I haven't been into Reading (Wilko/PondLand) since this virus nonsense commenced
I may try NextDoor , see if neighbours have any spare

[Watis]

If you can, get someone who grows tomatoes to demonstrate removing side shoots, not always obvious what is needed.

MM (been growing tomatoes for 50 years, still learning!)

Many years ago, a colleague was growing their first tomatoes and, even though they had taken advice from more experienced colleagues, reported that the plants were bereft of actual tomatoes. On being questioned further, the newbie gardener said: "I did what you recommended and pinched out the yellow bits as soon as they appeared..."

Watis

[malkymoo]

I'm just about to water the blessed thing, from a jar brought to room temperature so I don't shock the roots. Or something.
Buying pot, erm a pot, is difficult -likewise compost -as I haven't been into Reading (Wilko/PondLand) since this virus nonsense commenced
I may try NextDoor , see if neighbours have any spare

Don't coddle it, water straight from the tap is fine! You don't need a fancy pot, any sort of container will do, just needs to be a decent size.

[Mike4]

It's going to have to be a pot I think, due to space
My upstairs neighbor has a spare one. I will have to ask her nicely.
So, need soil/peat/something. John Innes pops into my head.
I have a horrible feeling i could end up spending about £5 per tomato on this enterprise

You seem to be at about the same level of knowledge as me in this veggy growing lark. I settled on growing spuds after stumbling on some youtube videos about it, and like you I suspect my spuds will have cost me about £5 each too. Buckets to grow them in, compost for the buckets, fertiliser for the compost, new hose pipe and reel to water them, a bunch of seed potatoes from ebay, I'm well into a three figure sum to date I reckon.

I grew tomatoes for a couple of summers about 30 years ago, in growbags. My memory is that firstly they consume a stunning amount of water (ISTR two gallons per growbag per day) and secondly, they tasted great but the skins were really tough, not thin like shop-bought tomatoes.

There is something deeply pleasing about growing stuff though, I'm discovering. It's all so very BASIC!

I'm currently growing pea shoots. Dead easy and taste fantastic. The best bit is the 'seeds', a 50p packet of dried peas intended for cooking and eating turn out to be highly fertile and sprout like good-uns. Here is the video I copied, couldn't be easier, except I'm growing them in a 3ft length of old guttering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g0nPefaMhQ

2 1/2 minute video. I find this guy highly inspiring to watch.

The spuds videos are by youtuber "HGV Home Grown Vegetables" e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdfQw1CGEnY

[Alaric]

Buying pot, erm a pot, is difficult -likewise compost -as I haven't been into Reading (Wilko/PondLand) since this virus nonsense commenced

Garden Centres have reopened and most are spacious.

[AleisterCrowley]

..and most are not accessible on foot /by public transport. I'm a weirdo non-driver type

[AleisterCrowley]

...
The spuds videos are by youtuber "HGV Home Grown Vegetables" e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdfQw1CGEnY

I love Molly the dog in that video!
Reminds me of my old border collie

[Alaric]

..and most are not accessible on foot /by public transport

During their recent period of shut down, many enhanced their web presence and services. Their delivery costs might be excessive for just a pot and a bag of compost.

[Mike4]

..and most are not accessible on foot /by public transport

During their recent period of shut down, many enhanced their web presence and services. Their delivery costs might be excessive for just a pot and a bag of compost.

I'd beware of making too much effort to get to a garden centre to buy anything specific. A couple of weeks ago I could not find compost for love nor money. Then suddenly they all have plenty. Similarly last weekend wanting a wheelbarrow. The spods staffing the places kept saying yes we have wheelbarrows, then pointing me to the empty space where there used to be some...

And the garden centre/country store type place in Marlborough where I eventually found a wheelbarrow, had no pots. Well, maybe two or three but honestly, that was it! Like you I could do with some large pots but not found any for sale yet post-lockdown.

Another problem thing to find is those concrete repair spurs for fixing broken fence posts. I have several fence posts snapped at ground level but Wickes, B&Q etc have stopped selling them post-CV.