Tomato Growing 2024

It's the long, cool, wet and very grey spring that did for them I reckon @pete. I normally have bumper crops, in the polytunnel and in the ground. This year they were just too slow to get going and some were so weak they never got planted out. No outside toms this year then.

 

Comparing forecasts Kent has probably had better weather in the last few months.

 

Well spring here was rubbish, and thinking back its only the last three weeks or so that temperatures have reliably got out of the teens with night temperatures hovering around the 10c mark.
I do remember a warm week in June, but we have been under the jet stream most of the time even now we are only just south of it.

 

@pete yes growing my usual, I will keep my fingers crossed for the better weather to continue for the next few weeks. It looks as if some of them are beginning to get blight now.

 

I've just fed my Tomatoes with double Strength feed, kill or cure........I've told
them all you will go in the compost bin if you don't buck up.

 

Got to admit I dont have many plants this year inside or out, but the outside ones which are just cherry types are doing ok, but not ripe yet, apart from one plant I kept potted and put outside later in June.

The thing I have taken on board this year is, just because its normal planting out time it doesn't mean its best to do it.
I think in this spring a pot on into a bigger pot and planting out a bit later was probably the way to go.

 

My outdoor ones (nagina, fantasio)are doing as well as they have done for me in the past, although I've not grown these varieties before. They are comparable to crimson crush in terms of production and no signs of blight so far
Plenty of rain and warm weather now though so it's only a matter of time.

 

Also is anyone aware of an outdoor blight resistant determinate plum variety? Thinking ahead to next year already

 

Getting to pick a few Outdoor Girl every day now. Fruits have all been perfect so far, no blemishes or split skins.

 

First sevryuga of the year, a pink oxheart. 11 days later than last year

 

Well here's where my toms are so far:
House tomato in pots was the first to ripen but I started it early under lights. They are looking tatty now so I have planted them out in the garden.
Sungold was second to ripen both inside and out, it's one I never regret growing. Likewise Rosella which was only a day or so later. The taste is very similar between these two, if you don't like growing F1 varieties Rosella is the one to go for. I might save some of my own seed off this one this year. Toddler is also doing OK but nothing like as good a flavour. It is supposed to be blight resistant so I might just keep it for growing outside. For bigger ones I have Honeymoon and Skykomish. Eaten one Honeymoon and it was really nice. I think I may have got my outside plants of these two mixed up so will have to wait till they ripen before making a judgement.
No blight yet surprisingly, so I can't work out which are the most resistant. Not that I want it!
The Rosella I put in the garden and didn't remove sideshoots has put on a lot of growth and not many fruits so it looks like the advice is correct. My daughter who said she would be too busy to sideshoot might not get a good crop but they are away in Greece for a fortnight now. Her plants have to be tough!

 

Extra food won't help them - it's more likely to be detrimental rather than helpful, and at best - it's waste of food.

I have plenty of fruits, but they're only ripening slowly, even though they're undercover. The one that's outside, and quite sheltered isn't much further behind, but it's a random supermarket seed so I don't know if it's earlier or later than it could be. Late July is probably the earliest I have fruits in a standard year, but my plants were further behind when planted out. Ironically, the mild weather in late winter/early spring meant less heating on in the house, so they didn't get as much warmth as they had in previous years.
Not particularly unusual for this area in terms of timing. I don't grow lots of different types though, so that makes a difference, and I only grow enough for ourselves to eat, with maybe a few extra.
I often think it isn't worth it though. By the time they're ripe, and plentiful enough, it's warm food we normally need rather than salad!

 

Our couple of Tomato plants in our Greenhouse have not been performing the best this year my OH planting a bit later than usual . Two of them ‘outdoor girl’ gave us our first few fruits yesterday ready for a salad later I reckon , no cues quite ready today but did get a bag of ‘Norfolk Potatoes’ when we’re on hols just right to go with a salad .

 

Probably a how long is a piece of string question but here goes.
When do you decide that's it, no more tomatoes will have time to ripen?
Because of the cool weather this year there were not many trusses for a long time. Now it's going sillydaft. Blossom all over the shop getting pollinated. But are they wasting their time?
Nothing at all has ripened yet.
No idea of the variety but it was a sweet orange cherry supermarket tomato that I squished.