Tomato Growing Thread 2023

Will do. I got it as a freebie from vertiloom I think

 

Four cherries from the bagged trusses, ripening for seed collection: Mango Lassi, Santiam Sunrise, Kraft's Purple Sugar and Lost Marbles. I have reservations about the true identity of Lost Marbles as it's supposed to be cocktail sized, weighing up to 25g.

 

They're good with their freebies. They sent me Haley's Purple Comet free this year. Hopefully more up to expectations than Cappuccino.

 

Harzfeuer. Early, productive and tough. Unfortunately the taste is still mediocre. I read the other day that one parent is Moneymaker, which could explain a lot re taste. It must have picked up potato leaves somewhere along the selection/stabilisation route.

 

I still have only green Toms at the moment. I did sow later to avoid have lots of leggy plants.

 

Barring getting blight, I think we should still have a few months to go.

 

My toms are looking good at this time - some of the plants have flowers while other have buds, though at least 1 plant is not making much progress at all. That may change during the next week or two. The one I accidentally broke, though I still went ahead & planted it, has shown no signs of growth at all & the cutting I took of it has died. So now I have a gap - fortunately it's alongside the balcony door & will no longer bother me going in & out. Still that means I'm down to 8 growing plants.The plants are still way behind where they normally should be by this time of the year being small toms won't make much difference. The self-sown one is the tallest & the only one with fruit at present.
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This last photo is from the self-sown plant that has only ever lived on the balcony. Though I've put "Gardeners Delight" on the photo as the caption I can't be sure till the fruit begins to ripen. If they stay small then I'm probably right but if they get much bigger than it will mean they're not!
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Now, here's an odd thing; my friend loves Maskotka and is growing one in a tub on her drive. Thing is, a single truss is producing fruit much bigger than the other trusses on the bush. So, Kate being Kate, I've snaffled a fruit to save the seeds. Maybe my pet project next year will be Massivekotka?

 

After how my tomato seeds grew (well, didn't grow, really!) this year I'm thinking of starting them in April next year instead of in March which is what I've done most years. Though they are growing very nicely now they are at least a month behind this year! The self-sown plant is still miles ahead of any of the plants I grew from seed in a heated propagator & then kept growing on in the flat. This plant has set fruit on 2 trusses & has a third truss with buds! The best of the other plants so far have only just these last few days opened their first flowers! A few of the plants haven't got further than forming buds in the growing tip! Still they all look nice & healthy! I'm growing them really as a hobby otherwise they would be EXTREMELY expensive toms!
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I usually start mine the last week in February, after last seasons disaster I sowed the last week in March.
I always think it's a lucky dip when to sow. This year I didn't have any leggy plants, but ha, what do I know.

 

I grew MASKOTKAa few years ago. A good doer that yields well and they tasted good. Please tell us. how you get on @eatenbyweasels ,
Jenny namaste

 

Will do.

 

One of the stems on my pride of Siberia appears to be rotten. I noticed that it was getting rather yellow and so gave it a bigger feed, but that didn't help. Only noticed this just now. Annoying but at least there's another stem, assuming it can recover once I've lopped that diseased one off.

 

Yeah. At the moment the truss immediately below where I cut it off is fine so hopefully those toms will ripen. I think I need to do a bit more pruning to get some better airflow around the other plants too