why isn't my tomato plant flowering?

[expatinscotland]

it was bought in a nursery. doing well on the windowsill - growing and has a BBQ skewer for a stake.

it's in a small pot just now.

so we'd thought to put it in a growbag in one of those cheapo greenhouses outside.

but the instructions on the growbag said not to put the tomato in there till it flowers.

should i move it to a bigger pot then?

can you tell i'm new to this?

Bit early for flowers... don't need to put them out till end of May usually.

thanks! dead chuffed to have a garden for the first time!

woohoo expat, thank you for asking this, i am also a tomato virgin as we recently moved to a place with a little greenhoose. have been wondering exactly the same thing.

are you growing anything else?

greenhouse

eek, the accent!

yes! we're growing King Edward potatoes, peas, courgettes, strawberries - in a hanging basket, and lots of herbs.

blimey o'reilly woman, you're keen - mine are just teeny widdly seedlings

smashing. we got some pink fir apples (mmmmmmm) which are currently sitting about to grow sprouts (i hope), and chives, coriander, parsley, thyme and basil. i want bushy herbs but dp keeps bloody ravaging them

we've been desperate for a garden for years.

it's such a change for us.

we never realised how awesome it is to have one.

there's a MASSIVE rosemary bush outside - it belongs to the house.

it's getting pretty flowers on it just now.

Sounds fab expat

It could be angry with you. Or shy. Have you tried talking to it a la Prince Charles?

you are sooooo lucky.

this is our first garden too. it's v exciting.

sadly the only thing the last owners (only had the place for a couple of months to sell it on) did was monoblock the front garden (noooooooo) and pebble all the flower beds and veg patch in the back.

so we are planning on merrily undoing all their good work.

inheriting a greenhouse is honestly beyond my wildest dreams

when we've got rid of the pebbles i want a lovely flowering rosemary bush too. what a treat!!

just wait till next year.....

how big is the pot? unless it is really tiny you can leave your tomato in it till buds come / weather becomes hot enough to send it outside. a 3"/10cm pot should be fine. you could consider getting another one too, perhaps with cherry toms? i put 3 tom plants to one growbag, but with some added compost.

tomatoes are one of the few things i think it is really worth growing yourself, they are pretty easy, don't get eaten by pests and are utterly delicious. ages till you get to eat any though, esp in scotland i should think. how are your daylight hours? some sun is needed.

loads of daylight atm fishie --too much actually, it's only mid-blue outside just now and is daylight well before we get up at 6.

my folks are terrific tomato growers so i have fingers x'd for a good crop at our house too. we have 6 plants as i'm not sure if i'm the most green fingered person around so i'm thinking, law of averages........

it's a rental house, but we'll be taking a cutting from that rosemary bush when we go .

yes, the plant is in a really tiny pot - like the kinds you buy in nurseries.

our sun is, well, Scottish.

the plants are in the sunniest bit, however.

they're against a wall of the house facing west.

i hope they're okay.

i see them daily. we opened the greenhouse today - it's a cheapo with a plastic cover - because it rained. it's quite warm for this time of year.

we have a water butt, too, so they'll be getting rain water.

the berries are in hanging planters.

mine are on a west facing wall too (or they will be when they go out), it is a good spot because lots of sun but not dreadfully hot.

your pots sound like 3", that is the width of the top. should be ok.

i am going to experiment with restricting water this year, think i've been giving them too much and diluting flavour. little and often apparently. it really is difficult to judge though, if too little water then the toms split when you do give them some.

my strawberries have gone mad in flower beds and don't produce any fruit. have given up and got alpine/wild strawbs instead, they self-seed in shade and seem quite happy. most of my garden is awfully shady and it isn't very big.

ooh we've got wild strawbs too. i love them. we are going garden crazy this month, it's all v exciting.

i could never understand my mother's obsession with scrabbling around in the dirt but i honestly think it might be catching!

where are you expat (roughly)?

Argyll. Cowal Penninsula.

we have wild garlic! it's FAB!

sigh..

we just moved out of edinburgh. v nice place but that sounds lovely.

love the smell of wild garlic, reminds me of the lovely borders.