Tomato Growing 2024

I checked my newly potted up tomatoes and they are still alive, not chewed into oblivion and already grown a couple of centimeters. I even had to give them their first tie in to their canes. Last week was so dark and miserable I was contemplating removing the shading tarpaulin but have changed my mind as I think the baby plants would get scorched, very hot yesterday with more to come.
Butterfly6 your post gives me hope. I have never been so late sowing or had such slow growth, fingers crossed it works.

 

I have also used a little cornflour mixed with water or cream to thicken soups.With a veg. I don't think I have ever used bread, only because I haven't thought of it. It is a Spanish or Italian method I believe.With a veg. soup a good way to thicken it is to liquidise half the veg. and leave the rest as is.

 

I use potato granules for thickening soups and sauces.

I've just picked my 1st 3 tomatoes. Lemon Boy is the plant that looks best. Haven't tried tasting the tomato yet. The other 2 are red but the labels have gone. Roma is starting to ripen.

 

My Sungold are also starting to ripen so maybe they are secretly accessing this forum. I agree that once they get going, they don't hang about - well, they do hang about I suppose but not for long. I've been growing them for years and they are usually well worth it.
A Choc cherry is also on the turn but the Krims need a lot longer yet.

 

I love Sungold. Wish they sold them in France.

My first 3 tomatoes.

 

@Busy-Lizzie Several companies sell the Sungold seeds here - perhaps when you are in the UK, you could buy a packet for next year ? Unless the French regs have a good reason for not allowing that particular variety, I'd imagine they would be a lot less likely to be of concern to the Customs than some of the other things which "slip thru ". It's a few years since I moved back here from France so I don't know the Ins and Outs.
The toms in your pic look good tho - hope they're nice and tasty

 

Thank you @Philippa. Since Brexit you aren't allowed to take seeds to France, though I know people do. My problem is I don't have a GH or window sills in France and also I travel quite a bit to OH's house in the UK. I buy tomato plants from a nursery.

 

I'm on the same sort of timescale as you @Butterfly6 . No greenhouse so I sow my seed on the spare bedroom windowsill, late enough so that it's late May by the time they're big enough to go outside. I usually get my first ripe tomatoes around mid-August (they've a bit of catching up to do this year), peak tomato picking through September, often still picking through much of October and then pick whatever's still green to ripen indoors on the windowsill when the first frost is forecast.

 

Help please! I have found a self-sown tomato plant in my herbaceous border. It has just started to flower and it would be amazing if there were any tomatoes produced. What do I do now? I have read of flowers being tickled (?) in order to produce fruit. But I don't know how to deal with this as I have not grown tomatoes before. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Hi @daisym
Tomato flowers are self-pollinating, so they don't need extra help on outdoor plants, as a gentle breeze will do the trick (as well as any insects.)
You can gently shake the plants by tapping their supports when growing in a greenhouse, which will do the same job.

 

Did you use home made compost that had tomato seeds in it @daisym? That has happened to me before. I weeded them out as I already had tomatoes in the veggie garden. If you want it then just let it grow. Provide a support for it and you could pinch out the side shoots.

 

If there are flowers on it, you can either wait until they're producing fruits, or you can start now, with some extra food. If the soil they're growing in is quite rich already, you may not need to bother, so it depends what's already there, and how much food has been goven to other plants.
You may not need to bother nipping out the sideshoots either, unless there are lots, because if it has enough support, it won't matter too much at this stage in the season. Normally, sideshoots are removed though, if it's an indeterminate variety, so that the energy goes into the main stem, and the ones which will carry the flowers/fruit. It's hard to see from the pic though.
Usually the top gets nipped out at a certain height, to allow fruit already present to develop and ripen while there's enough time for that to happen, so it's a 'play it by ear' situation with a freeloader

 

@BobTG @Busy-Lizzie @fairygirl
Many thanks for the replies.They have given me a bit more understanding.
None of the plants nearby have been fed but I did dig in compost (not homemade) and bagged farmyard manure last year. The whole border is growing well. It is interesting re self-pollination. I have put in a bamboo cane for support and there are at least two strong growing side shoots. I will watch it and probably nip out the top as it is getting to be quite a big plant. It is surrounded by self sown antirhinums!

 

Checked my newly potted on tomatoes again, all looking better in their new big grown up pots if weedy and smaller than usual. I can see some more "peas" so the truss is setting. Removed quite a few side shoots. I gave them a dusting of FB&B when I potted them up which is beginning to show in their growth so hopefully they will be strong enough to carry some kind of crop.
I put a few more slug pellets around the kale I planted out as it looked as if the cat had been scratching around and a lot of the pellets were buried.