2015 Tomato Growing

@potlings

The space I have for growing fruit & veg in my garden is around 9ft x 8ft. In that space I have no soil - only pots. I currently have in that space..

14 tomato plants
3 sacks of potato plants
8 bean plants (now down to 3 as the dog decided to do a giraffe impression & ate the tops off the rest )
3 tubs of carrots
1 tub of spring onions
1 tub of radishes
2 growbags of lettuce
2 melon plants
3 pumpkin plants (that are currently going for world domination)
15 strawberry plants
& a partridge in a pear tree - ok maybe I'm joking on this one

When I was watering the tomato
plants - they were withering by the following morning. I don't always have time to water every day. They are now in much better form that they have been cut back (thanks @JWK ) & the fruits are indeed growing at a much better rate. So much so, that they may even ripen this year!

I'm not blessed with a greenhouse yet (@Beckie76 )so everything is open to our amazing British weather.

I garden because I find it fun - I won't lose sleep if I lose a few tomatoes due to me pruning them too much - but it has worked & I even still have room (just) to be able to hang the washing out. BONUS!

 

can I ask how much of the tomato leaves you guys are removing, I have a lot of green tomatoes but I also have a greenhouse which looks like an overgrown mess! I've not nipped off the tops of the plants yet, should I do this now?
In previous years I've had some tomatoes which haven't all ripened, (I've made green tomato chutney) is this happening because I've not removed the leaves etc? . The greenhouse gets a lot of sun, I've put up some shading around the greenhouse but left the roof.

 

Thanks @JWK, think I will remove some of the lower leaves, a few are turning yellow.
I open up the greenhouse door during the day & the automatic window in the roof has been open a lot recently, the nights have been quite cool down to 13oC some nights so I guess I'm not keeping an even temperature In there.
My outside timatoes are looking healthy & are on flower, I don't have any tomatoes on those yet, this is my first year of doing outside tomatoes seriously, Im hoping for a good crop.
If all else fails I can look forward to cheese & green tomato chutney sarnies!
I've been told in the past that hanging over ripe bananas in the greenhouse helps to ripen tomatoes? Not sure I fancy this!

 

@Beckie76 don't worry about temperatures to much. I'm having the opposite issue to John, it's not warm enough here. I can count on one hand how many days we've had above 20C this summer and it's not much better in a good summer. Overnight temperatures have been around 13C and seem to be dropping here already. 11C tonight and 10C tomorrow. I believe an early autumn is already setting in here in the north.

I strip the lower leaves up to the first truss and most of the others later in the season.

 

Funny you should say this @Sheal . I was wandering around the garden last night and noticed a couple of my Azaleas which colour very well in the Autumn as already turning. Hell's teeth it isn't even August.

 

Here is my two pennoth about removing leaves. In nearly 50 years of growing tomatoes in a greenhouse I have never once removed a healthy leaf. As has already been said they only need warmth to ripen, so there is no point removing leaves to give them more light. The other old wife's tale (in my opinion) is that removing leaves allows more energy to go to the fruit. The leaves are what produce the energy in the first place, so if you remove them there will be no energy to go to the fruit anyhow.
In my experience its a case of less e quells more. A few less plants with more space will result in less problems and bigger crops.

 

Just think, if you suffer from insomnia its only about another four sleeps to Christmas

 

I do Billybell! But I don't do Christmas so it's not a problem.

 

Just hang on a cotton picking minute @Sheal are you sure we aren't related? Like gardening, passion for Iris, have daughters who are class 1 lorry drivers, like big motor bikes AND hate Christmas. Come September or nowadays even August when the 1st tins of Christmas sweets and nauseating Christmas cards hit the supermarkets I only have 1 thing on my mind.....Boxing Day swiftly followed by January 2nd!

 

Well I don't mind telling you my toms are annoying the hell out of me.......I love growing them and over the years the only problems I've had is that maybe they've been slow to ripen on occasion ...
I'm still blaming, as I seem to be doing all the time the massive fluctuating temperatures ...of late, I'm talking mid 20's to 30 degrees during the day...both doors on GH front and back open daily,two roof windows and louvre vents...never found myself closing up shop in summer before on an evening as the temperature drops to 10 or below...what happened to sultry summer nights...and now for the first time ever something is nipping the tops off...
I'm telling you now if I don't get get a good crop of Beefmasters there's going to be hell to pay

Apologies ...I thought I was over it...

 

Sorry about this folks!

Twins perhaps @silu but could GC cope with that! Slight correction, my daughter failed her 4 hour air brake exam more than once and moved jobs before she took it again, so no HGV licence. She's now working for Mercedes-Benz and loving it. She's just bought a brand new motor bike too.

The whole of December should be abandoned in my opinion. Your birthday wouldn't be in June by any chance would it?

 

No need to apologise Loli, I think tomatoes have got to be the most frustrating plants to grow although cucumbers come a close second! And I won't start on the weather again.