Potatoes, tomatoes, pomatoes, tomtatoes

It looks as though spring might be on its way in the northern hemisphere, and gardeners’ thoughts are turning towards tomatoes and potatoes. You may have already sown your first tomato seeds; your seed potatoes may be chitting on the windowsill. But what if you could get both potatoes and tomatoes from the same plant – a TomTato?

Last autumn, the T&M seed company here in the UK announced, with great fanfare, a world exclusive. Their new “TomTato” plants grow both cherry tomatoes and white potatoes – happy in a large pot, the idea is that gardeners who are short on room can get two crops from the same space. It’s not even GM technology; TomTato plants are chimeras, two plants grafted together so that they grow as one. It’s no more high tech than than the grafting used to produce fruit tree varieties on different root stocks.

But it’s not a cheap option – a TomTato plant will set you back £15, although that does include a pack of tomato fertiliser. It sounds like an intriguing plant to grow, but before you open your wallets and splash the cash let me tell you that the Tom Tato is really nothing new, that similar plants are available at cheaper prices, and that if you’re handy you could splice one together yourself.

The pomato was first developed in the 1930s. Because potatoes and tomatoes are so closely related, it’s a simple matter to graft them together. They have been mostly thought of as novelties, although they are now being seriously considered as a way to increase the yields of subsistence farmers in developing nations like Kenya and Vietnam.

Stephen Shirley of Victoriana Nursery Gardens says that they have been growing and selling tomtato plants since 1975. You can order online from him with a single plant costing just