There are two basic shapes of tomato plant, and you grow them differently.
| Bush Tomatoes | Vine Tomatoes |
| Bushy plants to 3 or 4 feet high Side-shoots bear flowers & fruit quickly (so don’t grow very long) May still need a stake or two Don’t need ‘pinching -out’ | Very lanky plants to 6 or 8 feet high Side-shoots don’t flower soon (thus grow long) Need tall stake or string Side-shoots must be ‘pinched-out’ to concentrate growth into one upright fruiting stalk. |
 bush plants go ‘leaf – flower – leaf – flower – stop’ |  vine plants go ‘leaf – sideshoot – flower – leaf -sideshoot – flower’ indefinitely, and all those sideshoots do the same! |
Of course, there are in-between types that need some support but not side-shoot removal.
Bear in mind that all tomato plants grow taller and thinner indoors. Outside, the wind makes them grow shorter and bushier.
But don’t despair. Its simpler than it sounds – you just need an experienced gardener to show you how!
Which tomatoes are for growing outdoors?
The answer is, ‘it depends on where you are’. Tomatoes need much warmth and sun to ripen, so in a cooler area you either need a greenhouse or unusually early varieties bred to ripen quickly with less sun.
Burt actually the main problem for outdoors tomatoes is blight. This is a fungal infection that takes hold in warm & damp conditions. So in
milder warmer but wetter parts of the UK, early varieties are also the best choice to get a crop ripe before it strikes.
In the south east of England, East Anglia, and warmer parts of the English midlands, most of our small and medium sized tomatoes
will do just fine outdoors if you have a sunny sheltered spot.
Elsewhere, we recommend the bush varieties, or any of the smaller vine types marked as EARLY.
And just a note, ‘early’ tomatoes are ones that fruit more quickly – you don’t need to sow them earlier. Some people misunderstand this and sow them far too early and then plant them out when the weather is horribly cold – and are then sad when their tomato plants die.
For tomatoes to grow on outside, we’d recommend starting in late March or early April.
