Polytunnel/ greenhouse for Tomatoes - costly and difficult?

kweeveen86

Hi everybody,

I currently buy about 24-30 tomatoes per week doing my weekly shopping and I would love to be able to save this cost over time and to have the added bonuses of knowing the Tomatoes were organic and having the satisfaction of growing them myself.

I'm just wondering if it would be possible to grow them myself year-round(ish!) in a polytunnel or greenhouse and what it might take to reach this stage - how many plants would be needed and what the investment costs and workload might be...?

Any help or advice from an experienced grower would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :-)

SouthWesterly

It would need to be heated for year round and costly

CelticRambler

To have whole, fresh tomatoes out of season would be prohibitively expensive for a domestic grower. The way to make it a more reasonable proposition would be to grow (a lot) more than your weekly requirements during the summer and preserve them in ways that match your eating/cooking habits - dried, frozen, puréed, incorporated into soups and sauces, etc.

kweeveen86

Thanks for the replies so far. I was guessing that year-round might not be possible but would 6 months be achievable? I'd be happy with that - as mentioned, I could freeze or preserve extra. Once I knew what I was at, I could find out good crops to grow during the non-productive times of the year then too.

Andrea B.

kweeveen86 wrote: »

Hi everybody,

I currently buy about 24-30 tomatoes per week doing my weekly shopping and I would love to be able to save this cost over time and to have the added bonuses of knowing the Tomatoes were organic and having the satisfaction of growing them myself.

I'm just wondering if it would be possible to grow them myself year-round(ish!) in a polytunnel or greenhouse and what it might take to reach this stage - how many plants would be needed and what the investment costs and workload might be...?

Any help or advice from an experienced grower would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :-)

Hi, approximately how much do you spend per year on tomatoes?
Also, you would want to enjoy the gardening.
Like homebrew beer. A saving, but forget it if you do not enjoy it.

CelticRambler

kweeveen86 wrote: »

would 6 months be achievable?

With the right mix of varieties, and the right structure in the right place, it would certainly be "achievable" ... but the more you try to extend the growing season (especially in a country where tomatoes don't willingly grow!) the more time and money you'll have to invest.

Here in France, I get "free" heat from the sun, and out-door grown tomatoes from July to October. Although I'm currently in the process of re-configuring the garden to try to add a few weeks to each end of the season, I wouldn't consider it worth the investment to try to have them fresh any earlier than mid-June or later than Halloween. It's e-n-o-r-m-o-u-s-l-y easier to get several multiples of your usual crop in season than a fraction of the usual out of season.

Markcheese

With a bit of work a, decent location and a bit of heat you might get 5 or 6 months , ( I've been picking late fruit in my dad's basic tunnel in November)
You won't save any money doing it though .. good project though ...

blackbox

Even growing them outdoors will cost more than you pay on the supermarket.

Grow them for the enjoyment and satisfaction.


.

kweeveen86

I really enjoy gardening anyway and would enjoy the project. Was just wondering if it would, in fact, also save me some money long-term. I probably spend around €12 to €15 a week on tomatoes in shops at the moment. So, around €700 a year!

How much might it cost to start up myself and how long before I'd have any lovely little tomatoes to show for it?!

kweeveen86

CelticRambler wrote: »

With the right mix of varieties, and the right structure in the right place, it would certainly be "achievable" ... but the more you try to extend the growing season (especially in a country where tomatoes don't willingly grow!) the more time and money you'll have to invest.

Here in France, I get "free" heat from the sun, and out-door grown tomatoes from July to October. Although I'm currently in the process of re-configuring the garden to try to add a few weeks to each end of the season, I wouldn't consider it worth the investment to try to have them fresh any earlier than mid-June or later than Halloween. It's e-n-o-r-m-o-u-s-l-y easier to get several multiples of your usual crop in season than a fraction of the usual out of season.

Very helpful, thanks. So, 4-5 months would probably be my tomato limit. Gives me a huge window to get other things growing too once I know what I'm at so. I only really grow herbs and leafy greens at the moment. My parents have apple trees and strawberries too. Really looking forward to branching out soon!

CelticRambler

blackbox wrote: »

Even growing them outdoors will cost more than you pay on the supermarket.

Not sure I agree with that. Pack of seeds: 29ct. Steel spiral support, assuming 20 year life-span, one support per plant: 5ct. Water - free; sun - free; total financial investment per year for 34 plants 2€ Total yield per year ... say a relatively poor 30kg - 6ct/kg. Even the cheapest Spanish imports don't come in at that price.

Deub

kweeveen86 wrote: »

Very helpful, thanks. So, 4-5 months would probably be my tomato limit. Gives me a huge window to get other things growing too once I know what I'm at so. I only really grow herbs and leafy greens at the moment. My parents have apple trees and strawberries too. Really looking forward to branching out soon!

After mid September, the quality drops.
One thing to keep in mind is rotating your crops. You shouldn’t grow tomatoes in the place every year. Something to consider for tour greenhouse size.
I don’t know the quantity you need but another important factor is how you eat them. For instance, if you like ratatouille, you could grow courgettes and do big batches in summer that you keep in jars for the rest of the year.