by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Harvest potatoes AND tomatoes from the same plant
Michael Perry, Thompson & Morgan's new product development manager, with TomTatoTM
Thompson & Morgan announces another major horticultural breakthrough. Specially hand-grafted plants producing potatoes AND tomatoes will soon be available to UK home gardeners for the first time.
Above the ground – gardeners can pick more than 500 cherry tomatoes with a Brix level of 10.2 – that's sweeter than supermarket varieties. The fruits also have just the right level of acidity that only the very tastiest tomatoes can boast. They really are delicious.
And that's not all!
Below the ground – gardeners will find a nice big crop of delicious white potatoes which are incredibly versatile. They can be boiled, mashed, roasted or made into chips.
It sounds incredible, but it's true. Home gardeners really can grow tomatoes and potatoes on one plant. This concept has been worked on for over 15 years, but this is the first time that plants have been successfully produced commercially. Tomatoes are members of the potato family (Solanaceae) and are therefore naturally compatible with potatoes. Each plant is hand-grafted to create this unique double-cropping feature. There's no genetic modification - it's an all-natural and completely safe process.
As is the case with all of Thompson & Morgan's plants, TomTatoTM is dispatched with full growing instructions. However the company says that these are hardly necessary as the plants are so easy to grow. TomTatoTM can be grown inside or outside, in a large patio pot or 40 litre bag, on the allotment or in the vegetable patch. Thompson & Morgan is expecting huge interest in its innovative new 'veg plot in a pot' and customers are being urged to order early to be sure to get their hands on these unique plants.
Paul Hansord, T&M's horticultural director, is understandably excited about bringing TomTatoTM to UK gardeners: “When I first saw this plant, I was amazed! Potatoes and tomatoes on the same plant? You really have to grow TomTatoTM to believe it”.
We have, obviously, seen tomatoes and potatoes been grown in the same pot before but that was never from one plant. It was always two plants with two different sets of leaves. TomTatoTM, on the other hand, is a hand-grafted plant and thus has only the leaves of the tomato from which both grow.
As this is hand-grafted stock saving the seeds from either the tomato or the potato will not bring back the TomTatoTM next year. It will not work.
TomTatoTM is available from Thompson & Morgan via its website www.thompson-morgan.com or by phoning 0844 573 1818
T47176 (1 x 9cm potted plants) £14.99
T47177 (2 x 9cm potted plants + 1 FREE) £29.98
Thompson & Morgan, based in Ipswich, Suffolk since 1855, is the UK's most successful horticultural mail order company. Its product range includes an award-winning choice of seeds, young plants, bulbs, seed potatoes, onion and garlic sets, soft fruit and fruit trees, as well as an extensive range of gardening supplies.
© 2013
