The sweetest tomato you’ll ever taste – or your money back
Tomato Sweet Aperitif
‘I’m so confident you won’t be disappointed, that I’ll give you your money back if you don’t think this is the best tomato you’ve ever tasted’.
This is the strong pronouncement from Paul Hansord, managing director of Thompson & Morgan which sells the amazingly sweet-tasting tomato, Sweet Aperitif. He states categorically that this variety produces the very best-tasting tomatoes available.
‘It’s 20 years since I discovered the now hugely popular orange-skinned tomato variety, Sungold, which at the time took tomato flavour to a new level. Since then I’ve tried 100’s of new tomato varieties and none have beaten Sungold on taste. That is, until I tasted Sweet Aperitif. It has a wonderfully sweet flavour and a remarkably thin skin. Everyone should try it – I’m convinced it’s going to be the next best-selling red-skinned tomato’.
Sweet Aperitif has already topped taste tests; a fact which usually preempts a variety becoming the one that everyone wants to grow at home. Gardeners and allotmenteers can grow Sweet Aperitif indoors or outside. When grown in a greenhouse, growers can expect to harvest 500+ bite-sized and flavourful tomatoes over a 6 month cropping period, even enjoying fresh, home-grown tomatoes at Christmas! Outdoor yields will also be higher than most families can eat, saving £’s on supermarket shopping bills as a result.
Tomato waterer – easier watering & no run-off!
For even better results when growing tomatoes, Paul Hansord recommends these handy waterers. ‘If, like me, you grow your tomatoes in a grow bag, they can be a nightmare to water. These waterers mean there’s no run-off as the one gallon reservoir allows the water to ‘percolate’ into the compost. I have less split tomatoes now and the waterers last for a good 3 seasons, making them very cost effective’.
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
Grew Sweet Apertif plants and planted in a Quadgrow self watering system. Fed regularly with the feed which came with the pots. The plants had plenty of sunlight and were side shooted regularly. I had plenty of flower but very little in the way of tomatoes, in my opinion they haven’t tasted that sweet.
I grew these tomatoes from plants, I’m not that please with the results. But as with most gardening when your’e trying out new techniques something will go different to the way you like it to. Wondering where I went wrong.
I grew a tomato some time ago called harlequin, they were brilliant, plenty of fruits and so sweet. why Thompson and Morgan did away with such an apertising tomato one will never know. Any light as to they will sell them again. Thanks.
Can you buy these tomatoes ready grown. I live in bushey herts
Regards MB
Hi Melvyn,
try here….
https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/tomato-sweet-aperitif/t17053TM
Can I buy sweet sweet aperitif and sun gold tomato plants from yourselves
I am new to gadening. Any advice as when to plant tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic would be appreciated. I appreciate the advice
Hi Zebeulin,
I would definitely go to our main website and check out all our gardening guides … https://www.thompson-morgan.com/gardening-information
I hope this helps
Graham
moneymaker tomato grown from seed-first truss ok but centre of plant is forming a yellow flower,never had this happen before ,can you tell me what the problem is .thank you
Hi Terence, thank you for your comment. This is an unusual phenomenon which I have seen on Moneymaker,Alicante, Ailsa Craig and is a ‘genetic blip’ which can be caused by a variety of individual influences or a combination of them – poor light levels, intermittent sunshine levels, variability in temperatures, cold nights, draughts, erratic watering, too high a nitrogen level are all possibilities. In many cases just pruning out the affected truss will suufice and further trusses are usually OK. If the yellow flower ( does it resemble a dandelion type flower) has formed as a terminal flower in a way that has prevented further plant development then it is likely the plant will now be ‘blind’. I would suggest removing the flower, mounding up some moist compost around the base of the stem to encourage adventitious root development which will encourage the plant to continue to grow and (hopefully) produce further growth and trusses. I would leave a couple of sideshoots to develop to grow on to flower if the main stem does not continue to grow. I hope that helps, very best. Terri
Could you please tell me if I have to take the yellow flower off,I’m growing them on my windowsill
Hi Kim, thank you for your comment. No, I would leave all the flowers to set a fruit, some may abort anyway. If plants are on a very sunny windowsill then mist spray the flowers or tap the plant container to loosen pollen, to ensure some fruis set. Feed regularly with tomato fertiliser once the first fruits have set. Hope that helps, Terri
Hello,
Planted Sweet aperitif outside in growbags at the end of May. Plants look very good with lots of little green tomatoes. When will they start to ripen for eating? this is my first attempt at growing tomatoes .
Hi Mel,
It has been a slowish start to the tomato season this year but small fruited varieties such as Sweet Aperitif should have ripened several trusses by now. With the recent heatwave and good light quality these should not all be green fruited by now. I suggest cutting off the top of the plant above a fruit truss, possibly limit the plants to 4 or 5 trusses now. If the plants have been kept very well watered and given regular high nitrogen fertiliser ( is the foliage still very green and the plants looking very healthy ?), then this could be a sign that you have. Fruits need potash ( your garden centre will offer you a high potash feed for tomatoes) to assist ripening and keep the compost a bit drier to encourage fruits to ripen up. Shame customer didn’t ask this question a month ago as it would have given more time to diagnose the slow ripening and take necessary action.
I hope that helps,
Terri
Very pleased with my sweet apertif tomatoes- grown last year from plants supplied by T and M and this year from one of the seed packet specials. Slightly odd thing is that last year’s plants produced alternate flowers and shoot, this years ( grown from seed)have two shoots alternating with one lot of flowers- is this just by chance?.
I love tomatoes! I grow them inside and out. All for personal consumption. About 60 plants in total this year. A mix of beefsteak, plum and cherry types. Plus a basket type too. This gives a good variety for salads, sauces, ratatouilles plus freezing as sauces and soup.
Top Tip: Cannot recommend this enough to everyone out there. Make your own homemade tomato soup and simply freeze it. I put individual soup portions in bags. Amazing reheated on a cold winter’s night. I am even looking forward to it now!
Back to toms….
My classic favourite is Sungold. It wins hands down ever year for flavour and cropping. In the greenhouse when grown in the ground it is still cropping in late November until a heavy frost gets it. I also never stop my plants at 6 or 7 trusses – just let ’em grow away…. However Sweet Aperitif is now amongst my mix.
Classic favourite vs the new comer of the crop…
Outside Sungold is still a stronger growing plant whose fruit ripened a good few weeks earlier than Sweet Aperitif. But has it been worth the wait? YES! Sweet Aperitif is the perfect red companion. Slightly smaller fruits but delicious and moreish with an ideal balance of sweetness and acidity.
Sweet Aperitif joins my yearly list of T&M tomatoes as must haves to grow. Also cannot fault Losetto. A T&M hanging basket variety – prolific cropper, easy to grow, blight resistant which is always a bonus, plus for a basket variety good fruits. perfect for salads and a quick grab from the kitchen door. A nice morning treat on the way to the car before work too. Tomatoes are never just for salads!
I’ve ordered these today using my £5 gift voucher!
Hi I have ordered sweet aperitif do you leave side shoot on or take off?
Hi Kim, we do advise removing the side shoots of tomato Sweet Aperitif and, once the plant has developed 6 or 7 trusses, pinch out the top of the plant. Sideshooting and ‘stopping’ (pinching out the tops) allows more light and air to get to the developing fruits. I hope this helps. Kind regards, Rebecca.
Had tomato plants from you last year, they were superb, think that they were Sweet Aperitif, but according to information they appear to not be bush type, am I wrong or could you advise.
Many thanks
Sweet Aperitif. seemed the ideal tom of my life!
Despite a full refund, months later, I am still miffed that two packs of plugs failed to mature at all.
To see toms develop what looked like ‘club foot’ in all their growing tips’ was a great disappointment. Worse still was that an experienced local commercial grower was fobbed off with what he bought called ‘Cerise’ [NOT from Thompson Morgan] which turned out to be a heavy cropping tasteless oval red cherry, with, I believe, S. African origins….
This is for me, a prodigious tomato eater since the age of 6-8, the worst year ever!
I no longer believe in fabulous cropping and taste claims…. but will stick to proven long term varieties… shirley (thirst quenchers) etc! – and then tour France for the real thing!
I grew from seed, Tomatoe Sweet Apperitif and have been most disappointed with the results, so much so that I have now cut them down and discarded them! They were grown in a greenhouse in compost that was this years “Which”Best Buy, 3 plants to a growbag, supported on lines from roof, sideshoots pinched out, automatic watering system and fed Tomorite twice a week after trusses were set.By early August fruits still very small and only a few have ripened, certainly a high number of fruits on each truss but that is no good if they remain small and don’t ripen. Will never buy again! Back to Sweet One Million next year!
I ordered lots of tiny plug plants, which I planted straight out into containers on the patio in April, expecting to lose a few, or for them not to thrive. I had nothing to worry about, however, as they have grown brilliantly and are laden with fruit. I am now very excited, as the first are beginning to turn red, so with the anticipated hot weather over the next couple of weeks, I am eagerly anticipating harvesting the first of them. I will definitely buy these again next year. Thank you.
That’s great news Caroline, I’m really pleased to hear you’ve had a good tomato season!
I have a copy of the page I used to order these tomato plugs dated 23rd April 2013 in front of me now. I phoned through to T & M and ordered them over the phone using my card for payment and quoting the order code for the special £3.99 price. This was the most straightforward order I have ever done and I received the plants sometime later. They were so tiny that I was amazed to get the pack through my standard letter box.
However, I followed instructions and planted them immediately into small pots and later into my greenhouse. They are now wonderful strong healthy plants,over five feet tall, and laden with small green tomatoes. They are vigorous, green, strong and gorgeous, I am dying to taste them as I have never grown anything other than Gardeners Delight in the past and was only persuaded to try these on reading your article.
Thank you for your feedback, we’re delighted to hear that you’re enjoying a bumper crop of tomatoes!
Ordered 3 aperitif plants as per advert in tv times that was on 25th april this year after much contact with your customer service dept they have still not arrived. w ont be ordering again
i have received the 5 s a tomatoes 4 of them are doing well unfortunately the fifth plant is way behind it gives the appearance of a young chrysanthemum it will be interesting to see the outcome
Hi Ted, glad to hear that most of your tomatoes are doing well. I hope the other one picks up and does well. Keep us posted. Thanks, Rebecca
I would love to say my plants are growing nicely BUT they have not arrived yet.
I ordered these tomato plants on 7/4/2013 , order no. W4354098, and have been told various dates for expected delivery.
Can you please tell me IF or WHEN they will ever arrive.
The service has been atrocious so far with no communication unless I have contacted you first.
I look forward to a reply ASAP.
Dear Shirley, I’m so sorry to hear that you haven’t had your tomato plants yet. I’ve passed your message on to customer care and an agent will be in touch with you soon.
Still awaiting tomato plants ordered in April through the Mail on Sunday.
When are these plants to be dispatched. If not recieved within the next week (date06/06). I will claim the monies paid back through the paper.
Hi John, do you have your T&M order number to hand and I will pass this to customer care for you and get someone to come back to you asap. regards Craig (web team)
Hello, no order nubber. filled in your application form in the Mail and forwarded a cheque which has been cashed. Could you simply supply your customer email address and I will forward full details.
Very difficult to get through on your phone line.
I ordered some Sweet apperitif tomatoes and waterers from you on 3 May. Please can you tell me when I will be receiving them. Thank you
Hello, the Sweet Aperitif plants are starting to go out to customers now, so yours should be with you very soon.
Hi, Thanks for the Aperitif tomato plants, they will grow on so can’t wait to taste them.. you quote them as corden so do they require side shoot removal? Thank CJ
Hello, if you’re growing them as cordon tomatoes it would be best to pinch out the side shoots, so as to concentrate the growth on the main stem.
hi
I ordered 10 plugs of sweet aperitif in march when do you send them out ?.
regards
Forked out
Hello, thanks for your order. You’ll receive your Sweet Aperitif plug plants by the end of June.
Superb initomaofrn here, ol’e chap; keep burning the midnight oil.
I created an account and wanted to order the 10 sweet aperitif as in todays paper. Went through the link and ended up with a prospective bill of nearly £20( 14.99 +p&p) I phoned on your 0844 number and hung on for nearly 5 minutes , the message said order on line which I tried to do so I hung up and tried with the same results.Not a very good first impression???
Hi Derrick, thank you for your message. The best thing to do would be to empty the tomato plants from your shopping basket. And then close the website in your browser. Then come back to the website on the specific URL advertised in the advert. The discount is only valid on the plant products that you land on when entering through the special link. Many customers have tried adding the normal tomato plant products off the main website to their order first, which wouldn’t work. Hope this helps.
They sound like just what I am looking for will be purting an order in.
Hi Customers, following on from some queries related to delivery, it is possible that if you ordered the tomatos, with chempak and some tomato auto-waterers, that you will receive 3 different deliveries.
And importantly, we won’t have shipped many, if any, of the tomato plants as yet. Our plants are despatched at a suitable time for you to plant them up – its a little too early to send these delicate plants to you now. But don’t worry, you’ll still have plenty of time to grow a good crop this year. If you haven’t grown tomato plants before, they will soon grow very quicky. Regards Rebecca.
recieved chempack tomato food today (thank you) but when do you ship the tomato plants
for the food is lonely without them.
I placed an order on Sunday 24th March for sweet aperitif tomato plants,chempak and waterers. I did not expect the plants to arrive until April/May but the chempak has arrived and no waterers. Should the waterers have been sent with the chempak?
I do not seem to beable to place an aoder as told in the advert in Peoples Friend this week and where on this page is “add to basket”? h.price
We are trying to work out why some of our customers don’t seem to be able to access the newspaper and magazine offers. You should be able to get to the offer by clicking this link: http://www.thompson-morgan.com/tmsop34. My colleagues and I have checked it and it appears to be working. I hope this helps, sorry for any inconvenience caused.
This is rediculous after hours of trying to get the page up as the numer 36 which you quote above is not 34 published in Peoples Friend I now cannot see the way to order the item into the basket.
This site is the worst site I have come across. I have tried everything suggested in the above replies and always get back to a price of £10.99 for 5 postiplugs and £14.99 for 10. I shall email customer care. I expect there will not be any available. This has put me right off any further dealings with T & M. Even your request for thoughts and comments is so careless you cannot spell ‘your’ correctly. Hope you are prepared to publicise this comment.
Dear Sheila, I’m really sorry to hear that you’ve had problems ordering the special offer tomatoes. Could I ask you to try clicking this link: https://www.thompson-morgan.com/tmsop36 – Sweet Aperitif is still available at the offer price of £3.99 for 5 postiplugs. My colleagues and I have checked the link and it appears to be working correctly, but if you do still have problems please let us know. And thank you for pointing out the ‘your’ misspelling in the comments section – it is part of the blog template, so I will contact the blog provider and ask them to change it. Kind regards, Rebecca
i agree, I have emailed twice and am not prepared to hang on for ages on an 0844 number trying to get through to sort out what is a small special offer order!
I’m very sorry that you’ve had to wait for replies. We’ve been far busier than we expected at this time of year, but please rest assured that our customer care team is doing its best to answer emails as quickly as possible.
try to oder sweat aperitif tomarto ddaily mirror with code t.j.17053, 5 plants, £3.99. how dose it work??.
Hello, you’ll need to use the website URL to get to the offer page – please click here and it should take you straight to the offer: https://www.thompson-morgan.com/tmsop29
Hi,
I have been trying to order your offer of Sweet Aperitif Tomato plants but the code at the end of your website address TMSOP36 is not being recognised. Please advise me how to order this offer.
Thanks.
Dear Robert, I’m sorry to hear you’ve had trouble ordering the special offer tomato plants. Please try this link: https://www.thompson-morgan.com/tmsop36 – I have tried it myself and it works, but if you still have problems please contact customer care at ccare@thompson-morgan.com. I hope this help. Kind regards, Rebecca
Looking for your offer as described in the mail on sunday March 21st, cann’t find the 5 plants of sweet aperitif for £3.99 and google does not recognize to the http://www.thompson-morgan.com/tmsop31 ordering site. with regards roger bray.
Dear Roger, sorry to hear that you’ve had trouble ordering the tomato plants. Please click https://www.thompson-morgan.com/tmsop31 and this should take you straight to the offer page. You’ll find the special offer listed as ‘5 Tomato Postiplugs’. I hope this helps. Kind regards, Rebecca.
Answering your ad. in the press, I have tried to order some Sweet Aperitif tomato plants (5 for £3.99). You do not seem to recognise your order code on line of TMSOP31. Please tell me how I can order these plants on line.
B. Goddard
Dear Brian, please click https://www.thompson-morgan.com/tmsop31 to order the special offer tomato plants. You won’t need to enter the order code, as using this link will register it automatically. The special offer plants are listed as ‘5 Tomato Postiplugs’. I hope this helps. Best wishes, Rebecca.
you say the the new tomatoes are sweet aperitif are you suppling the plants for distrabution to home growers.
Hi tony, we are selling Aperitif as plants, and they are currently on offer: https://www.thompson-morgan.com/vegetables/vegetable-plants/tomato-sweet-aperitif/t17053TM
I am game to try Sweet Aperitif, and will place an order for plants when I discover how to do so. in the interim, please note that this morning I inadvertantly hit the wrong bit, and ‘un subscribed myself from your e-mail information. Would you please be so kind as to reinstate me?
Hi Captain, It’s probably best if you re-subscribe yourself and then you will be automatically opted back in to receive our emails. This can very simply be done here: https://www.thompson-morgan.com/mailinglist