2015 Tomato Growing

First 2 pounder this year!

2lbs 0.25ozs despite a split truss stem. At least one more that's heavier still to come and it might get to 1Kg as it's a got a greater girth and more depth, it appears to have stopped growing and I'm just waiting for it to show a bit of colour before cutting it to ensure the seeds will be OK for saving.

The seeds were sown early March, so it's taken 6 months to get my first tomato from that plant, and even then it's not red.

 

Today's biggest, Omar's Lebanese 778g/1lb 11 3/8ozs

 

I picked this this one today because it had stopped increasing in girth, started colouring up and I thought it was certain be over 1Kg, but no, it was 'only' 990g, the weight of a small cherry tomato off a Kilo.




Loads more toms ripening in the big tunnel. Time for a big pasta sauce session.

 

Despite the blight getting the outside toms, the greenhouse is still going strong

 

12th September 2015

Expending the last of its vigour to ripen the remaining fruits.


The taste of which the kids on the estate give their hearty approval!

 

14th September 2015

The Legend tomatoes show some colour at last.




Pre-emptive measure against the forthcoming bad weather and strong winds.





Picked about three days earlier than I would have liked, these tomatoes have a fleshy, velvety texture - almost to the point of mushiness. The taste is not as good as the Tumbling Toms when compared at a similar stage of ripeness.

Two other disappointments of Legend are that it appears to be prone to splitting and the fruits are not aesthetically pleasing enough.

However, if you add fish, a bit of garlic, a bit of onion, a touch of salt, a touch of sugar and a dash of soy sauce, they taste great (fried fish in tomato sauce, that is).

 

Today's pick from my biggest tomato polytunnel

19 Kg/41lbs 14ozs

 

Might dehydrate some, but will turn most into pasta sauce and pasteurise

 

When should I pick all of my outdoor toms? There's no sign of blight here and the temp at the moment at 9.45am is 15.1C. The overnight temp fell to 8.3C. I've had plenty of red ones but there are lots of green now and I'm not sure if they will ripen. Should I just pick the very green ones for chutney and try to ripen others indoors or leave them all on the plants for now? Any advice welcome.

 

Thanks I was thinking that is was probably best to pick them all.

 

I'd better pick all of my outdoor tomatoes now too, I've picked all the tomatoes from the greenhouse, some are ready but I have a lot of green tomatoes in the kitchen window ledge! My outdoor tomatoes haven't turned red but they are the biggest tomatoes I've ever grown green tomato chutney could be an option! It's lovely in a cheese roll!

 

Out of my 30 outdoor grown Ferline tomato plants (which haven't been sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture) only 1 has succumbed to Late Blight, living up to the claim of being 'blight resistant'. I'm giving them just one more week before removing fruits to bring indoors/greenhouse and ripen off.

 

A few bigguns from yesterday's picking (labels are put on ones to be used for seed saving).