Tomato Growing Thread 2021

I'm pleased with my Sweet Olives, the first fruit is now ripening and that's very early up here. Normally I wouldn't expect anything until August.

This is a baby plum variety so I was expecting a bit less growth- who would have thought the plants grow 2m tall? (OK, anyone reading the description on the seed packet)


Soon it's time to start my favourite job, removing extra leaves. I love the scent.

 

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But sometimes only just

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But sometimes only just

 

First 'proper' ripe outdoor tomato today, a Red Alert.

I've been picking Tumbler tomatoes (brought on in polytunnels until starting to fruit before planting against a sheltered South facing corner of our house) for a while, but don't class that the same as growing on an exposed rural plot 1/8 mile beyound the edge of the village, like this one was.

 

Been poking around at my plants, seen a lot of the earlies come in, but had completely missed this nice truss of San Marzano! The plant has such thick and meaty foliage I'd missed it completely.

 

And a check-in on all the other varieties.

Dattero, 5 trusses on both plants so far and they have so many fruits per truss. I just hope these are sweet and delicious like the supermarket bought ones that are similarly named.



Funny how the two trusses of Purple Ukraine are so different. The lower truss is more oblong like a plum tom shape vs the higher truss.



Costoluto Fiorentino are definitely the highest producer at the moment, though I've lost two to rot (you can see one in this pic). So I hope that they don't end up getting half thrown away. They are meant to be pretty large tomatoes, and I've got 9 trusses set already with fruit!



Ailsa Craig, a good producer for me last year that hasn't done much yet but I have high hopes for it.



Mucha Miel was a late addition I was given and so far is about half the size of my other plants, and only one truss starting to set so far.



And finally Amish Paste! Which is setting with good size fruits though not huge in numbers.



Bonus shot, the windowbox where last year I chucked a bunch of split tomatoes. I was heading out the house (tomatoes are in my front garden) and pulled the split ones off and didn't want to just leave them in the hot sun on my white window ledge so I put them in the window box. I planted violas this Spring (yes yes, they need to come out but I haven't found a nice replacement for summer yet). Lo and behold we now have toms growing. There was also another one growing up through the gravel!

 

So impressive @FrancescaH .. borderline envy .. what's your secret?? Very sunny spot? Lots of tomato food? Plants not too close together like mine are???? Or what's your top tip? Keep posting lovely pics please and tasting notes when you can!!

 

The opposite of all these things haha! I have not fed them yet. They are very close together. I think my spot is quite sunny and a bit sheltered, but nothing special.

Half my selection are in growbags (three per growbag) and half are in the ground. No difference noted.

I water using plant halos, but I didn't use them last year and everything was fine except later in the season when they started splitting (but I still got many kilos of tomatoes anyway).

I am thinking it's time for a feed actually soon. I've got some Tomorite so it'll probably be first feed today and then weekly from now on.

I think starting my plants indoors early, plus choosing a few early varieties has really helped. I'll be taste testing* everything and reporting back on what was worth it!

* Time to admit, I actually raw hate tomatoes myself except for cherries. I love them cooked/sauces/pasta etc but I do not eat salad tomatoes generally. So my OH will be taste testing all the salad tomatoes and I'll also taste test some yummy sauces!

 

Here's a pic of my setup, all on the front drive. I get a lot of passersby stop and take pictures of them when they start to ripen and people also bring their kids to see them which is quite lovely!