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Minibel Tomato - Cherry Tomato
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Dispatch by letter from €3.90.
Delivery charge from €5.90 Oversize package delivery charge from €6.90.
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This plant carries a 6 months recovery warranty
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We guarantee the quality of our plants for a full growing cycle, and will replace at our expense any plant that fails to recover under normal climatic and planting conditions.
Seed-only orders are dispatched by sealed envelope. The delivery charge for seed-only orders is €3.90.
'Minibel' is a dwarf cherry variety with clusters of 10 to 12 very small, red, marble-shaped, fruits (1.5 cm). This very productive, compact bush is only 40 cm tall and wide, perfect for growing in a pot on a balcony or window ledge. The crisp, juicy candy-like tomatoes will be loved by kids and adults alike. Great for picnics and salads. Sow this early-season variety from March to May and harvest from July to October.
Tomatoes are native to South and Central America. Several varieties were already cultivated by the Incas long before the arrival of the Conquistadors, and nowadays the sheer abundance of tomato varieties is quite astounding. The name "tomato" is derived from the Inca word "Tomatl" and refers to both the plant and its fruit. Tomatoes come in all shapes and sizes, and a fabulous array of colours is available (red of course, but also green, yellow and - for a few very rare varieties - blue). Older varieties are plants with indeterminate growth that can live up to two years. The more recent varieties are of so-called determinate growth (also known as "bush" tomatoes) meaning that they remain compact, thus limiting the need to stake or train them.
Tomatoes are among the many foods that were first discovered in the New World, such as beans, corn, squash, potatoes and chillies. However, tomatoes took considerably longer to reach our taste buds... and for good reason! For a long time, they were cultivated for their aesthetic and medicinal qualities. The similarity of their fruit to that of the Mandrake plant (also in the Solanaceae family) led people to believe they were toxic and unfit for human consumption. Only at the beginning of the 20th century did Europeans start to appreciate tomatoes for their unique taste, and the rest is history!
Its undeniably pretty fruit bring joy and colour to the vegetable garden. They also boast many nutritional benefits. Like most vegetables, tomatoes are low in calories and have a high-water content, but they also contain a very interesting molecule: lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. The longer the tomatoes are cooked, the more lycopene is released. Tomatoes also are remarkably rich in vitamin C, provitamin A and trace elements.
Nowadays, their gustatory and nutritional qualities are well established. For the gardener, tomatoes are one of the summer garden's highlights. Simply determine how your tomatoes are going to be used (in a salad? in a soup? eaten directly off the plant?), when you would like to harvest them, and then choose your varieties accordingly. Depending on where you live and how much sunshine the plants are going to get, some varieties might be more suitable than others. Rest assured, there are many varieties to choose from. While tomato plants unavoidably require lots of sun, they don't necessarily require lots of space to grow. A container or a bin full of good soil is an ideal home for a cherry tomato plant, meaning that even with a small balcony or greenhouse, you can still grow these wonderful vegetables. Just make sure you don't pick any stems, leaves or unripe fruit as they contain solanine and should not be consumed.
Harvesting: depending on whether you are growing an early or late season variety, there can be 50 to 100 days from the date you transplant the seedlings to the date you harvest the fruit. As a rule, tomatoes are ready to be picked when they have completely taken on the colour shown on the packet, and when their texture - though firm - has a slight give to it. Fruit picked with its stem will keep for longer.
Preservation: Tomatoes with a low water content keep for longer. They will be fine for a few days in the vegetable compartment in the fridge or spread out on a newspaper in a cool room. To keep them for longer, they can be dried, frozen, canned or made into delicious chutneys, tomato sauce or juice. We recommend saving a few for a tomato confit – it’s easy to make, and very tasty. Simply cut your tomatoes in half and set aside the juice. Place your tomato halves face up in a large baking pan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, a bit of sugar and bake in the oven for at least an hour on a low setting. Remove the tomatoes and eat them immediately, otherwise put in them a glass jar and cover with olive oil, to be eaten later.
Good to know: sowing several different varieties of tomato each year will prevent you from losing your whole crop to bad weather or disease.
Blossom-end rot is a common problem encountered when growing tomatoes, caused by a lack of calcium: prevent this by spraying your plants regularly with comfrey liquid fertilizer.
When transplanting, make sure you bury the stem up to the first set of leaves. This will stimulate root growth and guarantee bigger and better fruit.
Plants that grow well together in the garden often taste great together too – tomato and basil are a perfect example.
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Soil preparation: tomato plants are very easy to grow and, providing they have enough sun and warmth, will give good results. They do well in most types of soil even if they prefer it to be well-drained and rich. If your soil is too compact you can amend it with a little sharp sand.
Sowing indoors: from mid-February to May, sow indoors or in trays in a greenhouse heated to about 20°C. Cover the seeds with 5 to 7 mm of special sowing mix (they need full darkness to germinate). Don't be tempted to add compost yet as this could burn the young roots. Tomato plants grow quickly: by about two weeks you will see the first seedlings appear. If they haven't appeared by the end of the second week, don't worry, some varieties take longer to germinate. When the seedlings have reached about 15 cm in height, they are ready to be transplanted.
Transplanting straight into the garden: once frosts are no longer to be feared (usually by mid-May), transplant the seedlings straight into the garden. Choose the sunniest and warmest spot in the garden, the foot of a south-facing wall is perfect. Loosen the soil and then dig a hole at least 3 to 4 times the size of your plant's root ball. Add a small amount of well-decomposed compost to the bottom of the hole and mix it in with the garden soil. Place the seedling in the hole and cover it with soil up to the first set of leaves. Gently firm the soil around the roots with your hands and form a shallow soil basin around the base of the seedling. Water copiously at first, making sure you don't wet the leaves in order to protect your plants from fungal diseases.
Maintenance: covering the base of your plants with mulch helps to maintain moisture in the soil whilst keeping the weeds under control. Tomato plants do not need much watering as they send their roots deep into the soil to find moisture. Only in a case of prolonged drought should they be watered copiously.
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Hardiness is the lowest winter temperature a plant can endure without suffering serious damage or even dying. However, hardiness is affected by location (a sheltered area, such as a patio), protection (winter cover) and soil type (hardiness is improved by well-drained soil).
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The flowering period indicated on our website applies to countries and regions located in USDA zone 8 (France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, etc.)
It will vary according to where you live:
In temperate climates, pruning of spring-flowering shrubs (forsythia, spireas, etc.) should be done just after flowering.
Pruning of summer-flowering shrubs (Indian Lilac, Perovskia, etc.) can be done in winter or spring.
In cold regions as well as with frost-sensitive plants, avoid pruning too early when severe frosts may still occur.
The planting period indicated on our website applies to countries and regions located in USDA zone 8 (France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands).
It will vary according to where you live:
The harvesting period indicated on our website applies to countries and regions in USDA zone 8 (France, England, Ireland, the Netherlands).
In colder areas (Scandinavia, Poland, Austria...) fruit and vegetable harvests are likely to be delayed by 3-4 weeks.
In warmer areas (Italy, Spain, Greece, etc.), harvesting will probably take place earlier, depending on weather conditions.
The sowing periods indicated on our website apply to countries and regions within USDA Zone 8 (France, UK, Ireland, Netherlands).
In colder areas (Scandinavia, Poland, Austria...), delay any outdoor sowing by 3-4 weeks, or sow under glass.
In warmer climes (Italy, Spain, Greece, etc.), bring outdoor sowing forward by a few weeks.