Tomato Growing
at
Ewell
Monastery

Welcome to Ewell Monastery Tomato Growers web site!

We began growing tomatoes in 1970 in this 3 bay, eighth of an acre, glasshouse. Having levelled the site we planted direct into the soil. It was a cold house. Next year we installed oil-fired air heating. Then the fuel crisis came and took away a great deal of our profitable margin. But by 1978 we had installed a hydroponics system. We were ahead of the time and had to learn how to manage this brilliant new system. Since then we have become ever more efficient, installing a computerized system of heating, ventilation and CO2 control. We have our own software, connected integrally into the house PC, where we can view the status of the glasshouse and change any parameter we wish. As a result we now have a system which enables us to nurture the plants under the best possible conditions and to provide us with 98% First Class fruit that is tasty and acceptable to stringent marketing conditions.
In the following pages you will be able to see how we manage the crop from sowing to grading, together with some explanation of what the hydroponics method of growing means. You can also get into touch with us by e-mail and with our monastery web site.

Happy surfing!

Planting