THE TOMATO GROWING THREAD 2018

That's a good idea; what does the dehydrator look like and how does it work?

 

What a great idea! Are they expensive? You could use them in pasta dishes.

 

In other words.....'dehydrator dried tomatoes'.....but it doesn't quite have the ring of 'sun-dried tomatoes'.

 

Wow that dehydrator looks fantastic. How long do they keep for when done this way?

 

Does it take much electricity does it use ?

 

I think that it could be used for doing fruit leathers.

 

I freeze my tomatoes whole. I find that it’s easy to take out as many tomatoes as you need and the skins slip off really easily too! Still using last years crop in this way and I’ve just given my daughter in law a kilo so she can make ketchup. I have an extra freezer just for freezing home produce because there’s also loads of soft fruit too.

I quite like the idea of a dehydrator too! Going to have a look on amazon!

 

Yes i had to have a extra freezer for the fruit. Then i had to get another because of the fruit.

 

I’ll put some photos up later. Off to the GC to buy some corn seedlings because I came back from Chelsea to find the slugs had munched every single one of mine :-(

 

me too! We now have three freezers, and a dehydrator, and enough jam jars to see us through a zombie apocalypse!

 

Yes got 3 freezers,i've got jam jars as well. Hubby picks the wild plums from up the road, but there isn't any this year.

 

Have you ever calculated how much your toms cost per kilogram? Assuming that you pay yourself a minimum wage (£7.85) for the time you work with them.

I'm asking just out of curiosity, years ago I finally convinced my dear Nana not to grow potatoes in her far away summer cottage for storing over winter. Totally not worth the work and effort as winter potatoes were perfectly decent in the local store.

Here's my initial calculation before I know how much toms we get (I'd suppose around 2-3 kg, we have two containers of baby plum tomatoes):

• Seeds- £0 (from baby plum tomatoes from Tesco- price from taking nutrition out from the mouths of my babies not included )
• Compost- 70l/£5 so about £1
• Fertiliser £3
• Pots- went wild and bought very impressive pots as the plants will have to double perform as decoratives... £10 (that's all I'll admit to )
• Labour- 1 hrs sowing and early care, then 1 hrs weekly for 4 months, plus after season clearing... roughly 20 hours= £157
• Heating and lighting- £0 (happy go lucky plants)
• Energy used for storing fruit (freezing, drying, preserving)- £0 (from plant to mouth crops only in this tiny suburbian back garden)

So nearly £200 for my presumably modest but delightful crops... Then again, minus the following costs:

• Gym membership
• Holiday to get a flattering tan (not mentioning rather un- bikinifriendly gardener tanlines here)

And add the bonuses:

• Mental wellbeing from physical work with plants and soil
• Good parenting points for engaging The Teenager in growing things
• Really nice toms picked warm and fresh

So far I think I'm definitely on the plus side. But if I got more serious in growing food, it might be worthwhile to actually check all related costs.