Tomato Growing Thread 2021

thank you.. Ill wait and see. They are very vigourous - biggest plants so far. But also very branching, without obvious leader shoots. Trouble is they are in the middle of tall varieties, so totally wrong place if they dont get tall themselves. Im not going to move things about though so it will be what it will be..

 

hmmm. I think it is on just a couple of the plants. Perhaps they lost their main meristems somehow. Perhaps if I let one of the side shoots take over they will come right again.

Thanks for prompting a closer inspection!

 

I dehydrate loads! Just (sadly) used up the last of them. Gorgeous in home made bread! I also freeze them whole and just make up a load of tomato passata which I then refreeze (I’ve got 2 freezers). I’ve got 36 plants in total and growing 14 non blight resistant in the greenhouse and the rest of the blight resistant outside in open beds and some pots, most of them just coming into flower now!

 

I have, in the past boiled up toms, after skinning , with onions and reduced it all down, and at the last added some chopped basil.
I then freeze it in small containers for use in casseroles etc.

But I'm not well up on how to store toms after the season is over.

 

How far apart do you space your outdoorsies @Susieshoe ?

 

Any thoughts on mulching greenhouse and/or outdoor toms with fresh woodchip ?

Keeps soil off lower leaves when watering, reduces evaporation.

Woodchip takes nitrogen from soil surface but feeding will negate this and toms now on tomorite and seaweed anyway.

Im still thinking im missing something obvious thats bad for the toms?

 

I did something similar in the past, mulching with woodchips around my vegetable beds.
The garden was quite awesome that year (it was the big heat summer) and the tomatoes tasted excellent. This said, I grow all the plants I care about, including the tomatoes, in bottomless pots. So they enjoy quite a bit of potting soil before they can sink roots into the soil proper. This might limit any detrimental effect from the woodchips, if there is any.

Plants seemed to be less affected by pests that year, but then it was a very warm year, and generally quite happy.
Also, I could grow some mushrooms, the soil quality improved considerably after and for a few months we enjoyed a lovely scent (I guess I got lucky with the type of woodchips, not sure what it was but it smelled very nice).

 

That's a very good point! Since February I turned our living room into a growing area pretty much, with lights on 24/7. Sometimes I wonder how my family manage to put up with me

 

Jealous @JWK my Sungold have not even set yet despite hot temperatures. Another few days and you will be enjoying that first Sungold of the season, yum

 

I'm only just getting my first flowers! But loads of lovely green growth coming in too.

For storage, I waterbath can tomatoes with citric acid. They last like this for up to 5 years, though within a year is better.

This year I'm purchasing a pressure canner which means I'll be able to do low acid veg too, like chopped tomatoes with peppers and such.

We use a jar or two a week so if I can get a good amount of jars to last me the year through that will be great!

I'm going to be popping open my green tomato relish, made with last years late unripened lot, for a BBQ at the weekend. Hopefully it'll have developed nicely.