Hi Rhys and Charles
I grew them in the open on a raised bed on my allotment with no protection at all – using the no dig method of course.
We did have a very dry, hot, sunny period for a long time until recently. We couldn’t push canes in the ground as it was so hard! Why not give them a go next year and hopefully you will get a lovely crop too.
They are still coming and I am making more passata! I am now bringing the under ripe tomatoes home to finish on the window sill, it only takes 2-3 days. As I had such full bunches of tomatoes and each tomato is quite large, they are all touching each other and some are a bit buried so thought it best to finish ripening this way giving the others a chance to see the sun – when it comes out now!!
But who knows, next year will probably be different again!
I started the harvesting earlier this year with losing all my broad beans to a sudden appearance of a swarm of black fly then I lost my garlic and onions to white rot so not a good beginning. But, since then everything has gone well. It seems each year the weather favours certain crops and not others and it is a surprise or challenge every year.
This is the first year I have had the allotment fully cultivated and managed to get a Commendation for it!
Give it a try Rhys next year and I hope you get lucky with the weather. It is worth trying but I always had in the back of my mind that I would probably get blight so it was a bit unexpected that it never happened.
Good luck and let us know how you fare.