THE TOMATO GROWING THREAD 2018

Remind us again what the dried tomatoes are good for please John?

 

Its been a funny year, I didn't grow many toms this year, just a few sweet100s and a couple of plants of this tasteless, Magic mountain, ok so the flavour was not probably the best, but I picked another dozen ripe fruit last week.
The odd thing, to me, is it went down with blight about two months ago, but I left it, since then it's grown new shoots, not that they will produce fruit this year.
Just find it strange that a tomato plant has recovered from blight.

 

You might have just uncovered a new strain there, ‘Pete’s Magic’?

 

No dont think so, its sold as blight resistant, but I never expected regrowth after it struck.

 

Nice harvest there John, plenty for salads, chutneys and sauces. I know growing toms is a big thing with many gardeners, each to their own. Me being on my own and having a bit of a sensitive tummy, I have to be careful of toms. Mind you. IMO nothing can beat the taste etc of a freshly picked tom, lick the surface add a sprinking of salt and...............................enjoy.

 

I seem to remember once reading about tomato culture. It was about the time when Ring culture hit the headlines. Basically two plants growing close to each other would be fed and encouraged to grow a bit faster than the norm. Then, of memory serves me right, just at a point below the first truss, the two stems would be gently tied together. Soon a natural graft would be affected. At this stage one stem would be severed thus leaving a double headed plant. Never tried it myself, has any member had a go?

 

Sounds interesting Mike, kind of thing I might have played around with years ago, mainly just to see if I could do it.
I must admit, I struggle to see the point though, I mean two plants growing on one root system hardly seem a bonus to me.
Plus you could always let a side shoot develop a second main stem at that point.

 

Don't know how but my tumbling Tom's still trying hard.

 

If I grew more tomatoes, I’d most likely invest in one of those. With tomatoes, how long does it take to get them de-hydrated?

 

Pete this was from a book by whoever. One of the world books offers. Thanks for your comment.

 

I took my last tomato plants down today as I plan to redesign the veg garden.

We haven't had a frost yet, though it's forecast to go down to 1C tonight. No blight here this year and just about everything will ripen. Got lots of 'cherry baby' variety toms to ripen indoors (sweet and good tomato flavour, but many are very small), also holding on til the end here chereola (distinctive flavour but lots crack unless you keep an eye on the soil), orange paruche (solid performance from this variety), svart (good 'black' flavour, but again can split), Dagestanskiy (heart shaped and pink until fully ripe), green zebra (got a good line this year, slightly elongated and pointed), raisin (sold for drying, slightly too thick a skin but good flavour), dark galaxy (v good flavour and appearance, though the flecks are a bit woody) and some roma-ish ones (I've not good with paste tomatoes, they don't like me!)

For next year I'm going to put in a couple of north-south raised beds, with stout poles at either end with wires between them and soil derived from the back lawn with added topsoil, as I've been using the same plot for tomatoes for 4 yrs now.

 

Oh maybe I miss read your post @Mike Allen , sorry.
I just got the impression that it was two stems on the one root system, but I'm now guessing it's the other way round??
@JWK Mike says "a double headed plant"?
Which suggested to me cutting off one root, rather than one stem?