2015 Tomato Growing

An update to my outdoor ones. These are the ones I got free from gardeners world giveaway so no idea what they are.
I cut off most of the leaves today as they are pretty much done, just need to ripen in the little sun we have.
They look tasty so far but only time will tell when I actually get to give them a try.

I know some people never cut the leaves off and say its bad but I did the same to the ones in the conservatory the other week and most of the green ones rapidly turn red (and they taste amazingly sweet)

 

Lower leaves removed from polytunnel cherry toms to above second truss, and being left to grow as tall as they will grow. The French Marigolds below seem to appreciate seeing the sun again.

Beeksteak toms cut off at 6 feet high (I let them grow taller then cut back)and leaves removed beneath first truss as I want as much leaf as possible to try getting them to a decent size .....

 

@Carllennon I've also 'mutalated' my tom plants, both in the garden & at the allotment. We had our first batch of the cherry toms from the garden yesterday - the rest are huge (money maker i think) so will take a while to turn - they have started already though.
Ive always trimmed them right down at this point to avoid losing any.

 

That is good advice which I may take onboard for the next crop.

However, for the tomatoes, I have a secondary objective.

I wanted to show that you could grow stuff in sharp sand, specifically Wickes Sharp Sand (sold in bulk 1 ton bags, classed as for building materials), and to grow stuff well - most people have concerns about "salts", you see.

The sand mix does not actually touch the ground soil beneath - there is a gap of about a pallet's height between sand and soil. This was deliberate as I did not want to add any extra variables into the sand mix.

As regards moisture retention, I would have liked atleast a 1 part compost and/or vermiculite to 3 parts sand mix but the budget did not stretch to it.

The low moisture retention aspect is proving to be quite labour intensive, at first watering 24Lt per week, then increased to 32Lt, then increased in frequency to every 3 or 4 days in response to observed plant health. If there is heavy rainfall then I wait 3 days before watering again.





I use these two fertilisers: Miracle-Gro Fruit & Vegetable Plant Food (NPK 5-6-10) slow release granules and B&Q's own Verve Tomato Plant Food Concentrate (NPK 3-3-6) liquid feed.

Why these two? Limited budget - the former because I had a third of a packet left over from last year and the latter because it was/is cheap.

Six handfuls of Miracle-Gro was lightly mixed in just prior to planting the seedlings.

Liquid feed (2 inner capfuls per 8Lt watering can) was started on 21st May and then applied fortnightly thereafter. It was then changed to half strength and alternated between watering and fertilising when the increase in frequency of watering came into effect.

 

It's not something that I have observed either.

If I can get hold of or devise some cheap temperature sensors and camera equipment, I will get back to you on this one.

 

29th June 2015
Growth spurt commences...


The Pot Marigolds have gone mad.






The Tumbling Toms that were first to set fruit actually ripened!

 

9th August 2015
The Legends have caught up to the Tumbling Toms











Notice the missing Pot Marigolds? Well, they probably could have produced 3 more weeks worth of eye-candy blooms but proved to be just too vigorous and had to be pulled.

This improved air flow through the tomato bushes.

Now, awaiting ripening.

 

Sorry, I've not been reporting on my tomato progress...

All our tomatoes are growing outside, planted out early May. The tumbling toms are against the side of the house, the veg bed is at the top of the garden, exposed to wind, but relatively mild frost-wise.

I'm Growing 6 tumbling toms in a raised trough, 4 harbinger and 4 gardeners delight in the raised veg bed (doing much better with the digging double-spade depth down into the sand-soil, and topping with compost.

The veg bed tomatoes are growing so intermingled, it's hard to say which one is which.

So far, we have picked 2.5 kg of tumbling toms, and 5.5kg of harbinger/gardeners delight.

Still loads more to crop - will be looking up chutney and chilli sauce recipes like crazy this week!

 

26th August 2015
During the afternoon lull between periods of heavy rainfall.




Formation of the elusive red orbs.










The onset of a long spell of bad weather has begun. Will it be more heavenly red orbs on a plate or raw ingredients for The Whistle Stop Café?

Only time will tell.

 

2nd September 2015
Time tells of the recent blustery, wet weather.










Yellowing, dead and dying leaves: cold weather damage and, possibly, low in nitrogen.


But, ripening well.


Season of the garden spider.


And, more heavenly red orbs.



Dipped in a little salt is how I like them.

Not that these tomatoes need it as they have that juicey ripened sweat tomato-ey flavour which is more intense than the shop-bought ones. It's just that I am accustomed to eating them that way - a trick to ward off bellyache, learned from a happy childhood of eating sour and unripe scrumped booty.

 

The best of what I would call a non ugly Beefsteak. This one comes in at 1lb 8oz or about 680 grams.

 

Not had a great year for toms - I finally got some decent fruit from German Green:

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but most of the fruit just split & are only good for sauce.. of which I have a lot :-)

An honourable mention to sun-stripe, which has been quite productive & has pretty fruit:


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692g 1lb 8 3/8 ozs, bigger ones to follow ....