June 18, 2020 - Garden and Allotment Tips and Advice

Moneymaker Tomato – how to grow successfully

March 13, 2024June 18, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

Moneymaker Tomato

There are actually hundreds of varieties of tomatoes to try growing at the allotment or the garden. You have all your popular varieties including Alicante, Shirley, Marmande, Roma, Sungold. One of the most popular varieties of tomato to grow in the Uk and abroad is the Moneymaker tomato. Moneymaker tomato is a great variety of tomato to grow in a polytunnel or a greenhouse if you have one. Did you actually know you can grow Moneymaker tomato outdoors in the UK climate? However, you will probably have more success growing Moneymaker tomato in a greenhouse or polytunnel as the climate and the temperature will be better for them to establish and get better crops

One of the reasons Money Maker tomatoes are popular to grow is the size of the tomato. Moneymaker tomato is a small cherry-sized tomato. These are ideal for snacks, children’s pack-ups. Moneymaker tomato plants will produce 100’s of tomatoes probably inundating you with too many to handle so you will end up giving your tomatoes away to friends, family, and neighbors. Making you one very popular person.

In this article, we will be explaining all about how to grow moneymaker tomatoes, the history of them, and the benefits of growing moneymaker tomatoes in a greenhouse, polytunnel, and the garden to help produce a successful tomato crop every year.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-

Click to see book on Amazon

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

If you are looking for a guide to read on growing tomatoes that you can refer to at any time. The below tomato book is available on Amazon to read.

Money Maker Tomato History

Moneymaker tomatoes have been around since around 1913. They have always been a popular variety to grow as it always produces great crops, it does not get affected by diseases and can cope with the UK climate so can be grown outdoors or indoors.

What are the health benefits of MoneyMaker Tomatoes?

Tomatoes are a healthy option for meals and drinks. Tomatoes have many great nutrients in them. They are a great source of Vitamin C and other antioxidants. They help reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

How to grow Moneymaker Tomato

When choosing a variety of tomato to try growing it’s always good to know where you will be growing it first as some varieties will not grow outdoors. You will gain better crops of tomatoes by growing them in the greenhouse or the polytunnel. In this guide we will give you a step-by-step process of growing moneymaker tomato plants from sowing the seeds, potting on the plants, and harvesting the tomatoes.

When to Sow, Plant and Harvest Moneymaker Tomato

Here is an easy table to show you the dates you need for your tomatoes. This chart is for the UK – remember that this is a guide and will all depend on the weather and how warm it is.

Sow	February to April
Plant	May – June
Harvest	July to October

Best place to grow Moneymaker tomato

The best place to grow your tomatoes is always inside a greenhouse or a polytunnel. The temperature in them is a lot warmer than outside making it ideal for great crops and fantastic produce. You will certainly be picking hundreds of tomatoes off your plants with just 5-6 plants.

The best place to grow tomatoes outside is against a wall in a sunny position.

Best soil to grow moneymaker tomato in

The best soil you can grow your tomatoes in is compost. This will provide the best crops. You can either grow your tomatoes in grow bags or you can grow them in tubs. Just make sure the tubs have drainage holes in them. If you are growing Moneymaker tomato in the ground make sure you have improved the soil by adding well-rotted organic matter to it.

How to sow moneymaker tomato seeds

Sowing moneymaker seeds could not be any easier. We include a video below to help.

First, you need a seed tray with a layer of compost in. Sprinkle the tomato seeds evenly across the top of the compost then cover with another layer of compost. Sprinkle the compost with water – do not overwater them. If it is still cold in your greenhouse you can cover the seed tray with a layer of cling film. This will keep the soil warm and moist and help germination.

Planting your Moneymaker Tomato

It will take around 14 days for your tomato seeds to germinate. Leave the plants until they get quite big in the seed tray – around 8cm tall. Once they are big enough to handle you can pot them on into plant pots to grow and develop further – you only need plant pots that are around 8cm. Keep watering the tomatoes on a regular basis and keep them in a sunny position in the greenhouse. Always pot up more tomatoes than you actually need just in case any die – you can always give friends and family spare ones.

When the Moneymaker tomato plants reach around 15cm tall you can now plant them in their final destination. Either transplant them into grow bags – usually, you can get three in a grow bag. The other option is to grow them in a big container and add your own compost or a flower bucket. Just make sure there is drainage holes in the bottom or you could waterlog your Moneymaker tomatoes.

Looking after your Moneymaker tomato

When growing any variety of tomato plants they require a lot of love and attention to get great crops.

One of the main jobs in looking after your moneymaker tomato is to keep them watered they are extremely thirsty plants. They often require a drink of water every day. In extremely hot weather, they might want a drink in the morning and at night.

Make sure that you support your moneymaker tomato plant by placing a cane in the ground at the side to fasten it too as they are top-heavy and can snap. You would not want to lose all your produce from the plant if it snaps and breaks.

As the moneymaker tomato plant is growing keep snapping off any side shoots that grow this then lets the plant put in all the energy into growing the tomatoes on the main stem.

If you notice any yellow leaves growing on the plant these can be cut off just in case they are diseased.

How to feed Moneymaker Tomatoes

Moneymaker tomatoes will need feeding to encourage great crops from your plants. The best thing you can feed your tomatoes is Tomato Feed including Tomorite – this is a liquid tomato feed that can be added to your watering can. The best time to start feeding your moneymaker tomatoes is when they start to flower. Feed them once a week then when the tomatoes start to appear on the plants feed them twice a week.

Here you can find Tomorite available to purchase on Amazon:-

Harvesting Moneymaker Tomato

The best part of growing moneymaker tomatoes is harvesting them. These tomatoes taste absolutely delicious. You won’t just end up eating one but lots. When one turns red they will all start turning red. Pick the tomato off when it is fully ripe do not leave too long or it will go soft and split. If it is at the end of the season and they are not ripening hang some banana skins in the greenhouse or pick them and put them and place them in a draw with a banana.

Money Maker Pests and Diseases

As with most tomatoes Moneymaker tomatoes are still prone to be affected by pests and diseases. These include:-

Moneymaker Tomato Pests:-

The pests which are common to affecting Moneymaker tomatoes are:-

Aphids
Leaf Beatles
Slugs
Snails

All bugs can be prevented from attacking your crops.

Moneymaker Tomato Diseases:-

Moneymaker tomatoes can be affected by late blight this is when the disease is spread by soil that has been hit by the water and splashed onto the plants. When watering make sure you are careful and don’t have too much pressure on the hose or watering can. If you were to spot any plants that have been affected by blight remove them immediately as it can kill crops overnight if not controlled.

The best way to protect your moneymaker tomato plants from disease is to make sure that there is good airflow in the greenhouse and polytunnel, and great drainage the best way to water your moneymaker tomatoes is to use drip irrigation.

Purchase Moneymaker Tomato Plants and Seeds

Here you can purchase your Moneymaker tomato seeds and plants through our website. The links will take you to Amazon so you know it is safe to purchase.

Seeds:- The link below you can purchase moneymaker seeds these are the best ones worth growing where you will have great success.

Plants:- Here you can purchase Moneymaker tomato plants that are already growing so it saves you the hassle of sowing the seeds:-

We hope you have found this information useful on how to grow tomato plants in the garden, greenhouse, and polytunnel. You can find out more tips and advice here.

Moneymaker Tomatoes Questions

Here we answer some of those Money Maker questions that you may have.

What type of Tomatoes are Moneymaker

Moneymaker tomato plants are a cordon variety of tomatoes. This means you should keep pinching off the side shoots to help them grow tall and less bushy. However, if you do let them grow bushy they will produce fruit still just not as much and they will ripen later.

What size are Moneymaker Tomatoes?

The size of money maker tomatoes is 9cm. These make them perfect for snacks or to have as a side with your meal.

How tall are Moneymaker Tomato plants

Moneymaker tomato plants can reach a total height of around 5ft. Make sure you support them with a cane to stop them from falling over and snapping.

Gardening With Ben Podcasts

Did you know that I am an award-winning podcaster winning the award for best Gardening Podcast in the Grow your Own Magazine Awards 2021? You can listen to our regular gardening podcasts on any platform Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Alexa plus lots more – search Gardening with Ben and you will find my podcasts. You can listen to my latest podcast below:-

Click the subscribe button on my podcasts to stay updated with new episodes.

Allotment Book

Are you thinking of starting an allotment? The best book on the market that you can purchase is Allotment Month By Month: Grow your Own Fruit and Vegetables. In this book, it will give you all the tips to start growing your own fruit and vegetables. You can click the link below where it will take you to Amazon to purchase it.

Wild Rocket – How to grow for amazing salads

February 19, 2024June 18, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

Wild Rocket

Wild Rocket is great to grow in the garden or herb patch on the allotment. It is perennial so will grow every year producing crops to use in your salads. Wild rocket is more peppery and fiery than the average rocket that you purchase in shops. To purchase wild rocket in shops is a lot more expensive but so easy to grow. So why not try growing your own? Wild Rocket is also known as a wall rocket.

There are many differences between the salad rocket and the wild rocket the leaves are a lot finer on the wild rocket than on the salad version. They are also a lot stronger in taste.

When using a wild rocket to eat you can use it in exactly the same way as the salad version but be warned it is a lot hotter in taste.

When planting a wild rocket (Wall rocket) plant it in a dry shady spot – ideally near a wall – hence the name it gets.

Keep picking the wild rocket often and it will soon grow new leaves on it to eat. Trim it back in autumn for another great harvest the year after. Find out how to grow a wild rocket below.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

How to grow Wild Rocket and Salad Rocket

Rocket is an extremely hardy leaf that can be added to your favorite salad bowls to add that extra peppery taste to it. This will certainly make a salad bowl tastier. You can grow this in pots or straight in the ground – the choice is yours. If you grow salad rocket in bowls you can move it into the greenhouse as it gets cooler to keep it growing for longer.

Sowing Rocket

To sow rocket you can grow it in soil that is well drained. It needs to be either in full sun or partial sun to help it grow. When you decide to sow rocket you are best starting it off in a greenhouse as it is warmer and it will germinate faster.

You can sow rocket from the end of February as long as it is in a greenhouse and warm to help it germinate. If you are sowing outdoors sow from June when the chance of frost has passed. You can sow rocket up until September for late crops.

Growing Rocket

Once your seeds have germinated and are big enough for transplanting you can now look at potting them up if you are growing in seed trays. If you have sown the rocket seeds outdoors space the plants at around 10-15cm so they have room to grow and keep them weed-free.

Looking after Rocket

As the rocket is growing keep the plants moist and well-watered when the weather is hot and dry. If you see any flower buds appearing on the rocket pinch them out to stop them from setting to seed. If you do want them to set to seed leave a couple of plants so that the seeds spread and more plants grow. If you are growing them in the ground be careful they don’t all set to seed and take over your garden.

Harvesting Rocket

The best part of growing something is harvesting it. To harvest rocket, all you need to do is just pinch off the leaves as and when you require some for your salad. You will be picking it up for weeks over the summer. If you pick the rocket leaves while they are young the leaves have a much milder taste.

Pests that affect rocket

The only pest which likes to attack rocket is the flea beetle. The way you can prevent this is by growing the rocket under fleece. This will protect them from the flea beetle.

Problems that affect Rocket

Rocket can be affected if you grow it too close together. Make sure that you thin it out and have the right spacing between them ideally 10-15cm. If you leave them to close together they will often go to seed and flower.

Rocket can also bolt. Make sure you keep it watered in dry and hot weather. If you don’t keep it watered your rocket can often taste bitter.

Purchase Rocket

Rocket can be purchased here on our site. We recommend some good varieties to try and grow.

Wild Rocket:- The one below is wild rocket – this one is the stronger tasting leaves. This one is a great one to try and grow.

Salad Rocket:– If you are wanting to purchase the salad rocket seeds which you often see in supermarkets this is the variety that you are wanting to grow.

We hope you have found this useful for growing Wild Rocket and Salad Rocket. You can find more hints and tips on growing herbs, fruit, and vegetables here.

Rhubarb Forcer -How To Grow Massive Rhubarb

February 19, 2024June 18, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

Rhubarb Forcer

Rhubarb is fantastic to grow in the garden. It is one of the easiest fruit that you can grow in the garden and allotment. You can grow so much that you have to store your rhubarb by freezing it and give your friends bundles to make crumbles and pies with. Here we will be giving you the benefits of using a rhubarb forcer to grow your it with.

A Rhubarb forcer is usually a bell shaped pot which has a lid on top of it. The forcer is usually a terracotta pot but some people improvise using a bucket or an old metal bin.

The job of a rhubarb forcer is to limit photosynthesis when it just starts growing at the beginning of the year. It will encourage it to start growing early at the start of the year.

As well as helping the rhubarb grow in the garden a it looks attractive and extreamly artistic in the garden and allotment.

A forcer can also be used on chicory and asparagus to help you get great crops in the garden and allotment.

These are extremely popular with gardeners and they will last you many years in the garden. Helping you to get a great harvest of rhubarb to pick

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

How to use a rhubarb forcer

To use a forcer you need to cover the 3 year old plant at the start of the year when the plant is not growing so that no light can get to the plant – make sure the lid is left on the terracotta pot. When you start to see the shoots coming on the plant you can take the lid off the terracotta rhubarb forcer. This will then encourage the rhubarb to grow towards the light causing it to grow upwards. The rhubarb will be ready in just around 8 weeks.

Rhubarb Forcer For Sale

Here you can purchase one for the garden to help get the great harvests and early crops in the garden.

Overview:-

Get a great crop and a head start in picking crops in the garden.
Speeds up rhubarb harvests
Plastic terracotta rhubarb forcer – will last years
Replica of the old Victorian style – light to move and will not damage as easy
Helps you rhubarb become more juicy, tender and sweeter.
Comes with a lid and a handle

Purchase a rhubarb forcer

Here you can purchase the it directly from Amazon. To purchase you are looking at around £70 but it is well worth the money for great harvests. Click the amazon link and picture below to purchase or find out more information.

You can find out more hints and tips for growing fruit and vegetables here on our website.

We hope you have found these tips useful. You can find out where to purchase rhubarb crowns here if you need any. Find out how to grow rhubarb in pots here. If you want to know about how to force rhubarb you can find out our tips here.

Butterhead lettuce – how to grow some delicious varieties

February 19, 2024June 18, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

Butterhead Lettuce

Butterhead lettuce are great to grow especially in the UK. Butterhead lettuce are known for how easy they are to grow. Anyone should be able to grow them, whether it be in an allotment or in the garden in pots. Butterhead lettuce can withstand cold weather is it is ideal to grow in the UK with it’s fluctuating temperatures. When picking butterhead lettuce start from the outer leaves and work your way inside.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

Butterhead Lettuce Varieties

There are many different varieties of butterhead lettuce that you can try growing in the garden and allotment. These are the varieties that you can try growing:-

All Year Round

As the name of this lettuce suggests you can actually grow it most of the year. If you have a polytunnel and its warm inside you can extend the gardening season by growing it inside. All year round lettuce is the main variety of butterhead lettuce.

Arctic King

Arctic King lettuce is one of the toughest lettuces that you can grow. For this lettuce sow the seeds in autumn and start picking the leaves from the arctic king lettuce in spring.

Clarion

Clarion lettuce can be sown in Spring all the way through to Summer. This lettuce is extremely tasty and its resistant to most diseases which is great. The leaves on the clarion lettuce is a light green colour.

Diana

Diana lettuce is a lettuce that is resistant to bolting, there is nothing worse than loosing all your lettuce to bolting. This is a great choice for that summer crop.

Marvel of four seasons

This variety of lettuce will grow for quite a few months providing you with lots of tasty leaves. Marvel of four seasons lettuce originally came from France and dates back to over 1885.

Roxy

This lettuce has attractive leaves with reddish ends. Creating a bit of colour to the vegetable patch and also to the salad bowl rather than it just all being green.

Sangria

Sangria Lettuce has great texture and taste and is resistant to bolting. It changes colour when growing from green to a purple colour.

Tom Thumb

Tom Thumb lettuce is a variety that everyone should grow as it is hardy to the cold. You can either grow it for the full heads or pick off a few leaves at a time. You can plant this variety in early spring under clotches or indoors ready to transplant outdoors.

Click to find lettuce seeds for sale here

How to grow butterhead lettuce

Butterhead lettuce is a great variety of lettuce to grow providing great crops in the garden. You can pick the leaves as and when you require them. When growing lettuce it needs to be grown in full sun. You have to keep your eyes on the lettuce though as to much heat can cause the leaves on the lettuce to wilt or the plants to bolt and start seeding.

Lettuce is not that fussy when growing it in soil. It does however like to be grown in loose soil that is well drained. Keep the soil weed free when growing lettuce as it will not like competing with the weeds.

How to sow butterhead lettuce seeds

When sowing the butterhead lettuce seeds either sow them in seed trays in the greenhouse where it is warmer for a better germination or once it has warmed up outdoors you can sow the seeds directly outdoors in rows in the garden or allotment.

Transplanting butterhead lettuce

When your lettuce seeds have started germinating in the seed trays or in your rows in the allotment and garden you can transplant them when they are big enough to handle and survive the transplant.

If you have started your seeds in seed trays first when they have got big enough transplant your lettuce to plant pots so that the lettuce can grow bigger and stronger before planting outdoors. Once the butterhead lettuce are big enough plant outdoors in rows. Plant the lettuce in spaces of around 18 inches so that it has plenty of space to grow. Lettuce can take up quite a bit of room.

If you are growing your lettuce in rows outdoors when the lettuce is big enough to handle you will need to transplant you lettuce to the final growing positions. Plant the lettuce in rows at round 18 inches apart so that it gives them enough room to grow in the garden. If it is cold outside cover your butterhead lettuce with clotches to help it grow and to keep it warm – you don’t want the frost killing it off.

Looking after your butterhead lettuce

To look after your lettuce you will need to keep the soil moist as it has shallow roots on the lettuce. Keep sowing lettuce every few weeks so that you have a succession of leaves regularly.

We hope that you have found these tips useful for growing butterhead lettuce. You can find lots more tips and advice for growing fruit and vegetables here

Click to find lettuce seeds for sale here