Last year I grew 6 tomato plants - various varieties but no F1 hybrids
- in 2 growbags which cropped well but needed massive watering
attention throughout the summer. So over the winter I rotavated a bed
and now have 18 thriving plants rooted in the ground.
During our recent very hot and dry spell, healthy tomato seedlings
have sprouted all over the garden, among my runner beans, cabbages and
not least my new tomato bed. Now I haven't sown them and I certainly
haven't used any sewage sludge around the garden. I did compost last
year's vines which inevitably included small unripe tomatoes. I think
they can only have somehow come from last year's planting, so will
seeds from unripe tomatoes survive composting or might it be bird
activity?

Whatever, as they seem likely to be true to type I'm going to grow
them on. I'm looking forward to tomatoes in the middle of the runner
bean wigwam!

"Jupiter" wrote ...
> Last year I grew 6 tomato plants - various varieties but no F1 hybrids
> - in 2 growbags which cropped well but needed massive watering
> attention throughout the summer. So over the winter I rotavated a bed
> and now have 18 thriving plants rooted in the ground.
> During our recent very hot and dry spell, healthy tomato seedlings
> have sprouted all over the garden, among my runner beans, cabbages and
> not least my new tomato bed. Now I haven't sown them and I certainly
> haven't used any sewage sludge around the garden. I did compost last
> year's vines which inevitably included small unripe tomatoes. I think
> they can only have somehow come from last year's planting, so will
> seeds from unripe tomatoes survive composting or might it be bird
> activity?
>
> Whatever, as they seem likely to be true to type I'm going to grow
> them on. I'm looking forward to tomatoes in the middle of the runner
> bean wigwam!
>
On our last allotment site we had the compost/dung heap from the Swan
Sanctuary and every year large numbers of Tomato plants germinated. (and
some other plants last seen in the West Indies!)
One of the older gardeners never grew his own tomato plants just used those
off the dung heap, got some excellent crops.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK

In article <fb9u82tcgjil4s2mmkukma66t552iekhe9 [at] 4ax.com>,
Jupiter [at] shotmail.com (Jupiter) wrote:

> I did compost last
> year's vines which inevitably included small unripe tomatoes. I think
> they can only have somehow come from last year's planting, so will
> seeds from unripe tomatoes survive composting

A caution: These volunteers might harbour blight. Extract from
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0803/tomato_blight.asp

"The fungus can be seed borne, so do not save seed from infected fruit.
Destroy infected plants - do not compost them."

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

On Sat, 17 Jun 2006 11:41 +0100 (BST), root [at] netservs.com (Steve
Harris) wrote:

>In article <fb9u82tcgjil4s2mmkukma66t552iekhe9 [at] 4ax.com>,
>Jupiter [at] shotmail.com (Jupiter) wrote:
>
>> I did compost last
>> year's vines which inevitably included small unripe tomatoes. I think
>> they can only have somehow come from last year's planting, so will
>> seeds from unripe tomatoes survive composting
>
>A caution: These volunteers might harbour blight. Extract from
>http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0803/tomato_blight.asp
>
>"The fungus can be seed borne, so do not save seed from infected fruit.
>Destroy infected plants - do not compost them."
>
>Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
>A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

Thanks. I'm certain that last year's plants weren't blighted so I'm
trusting that the volunteer plants are OK. They certainly look
healthy enough at present.