Yet Another Cycling Forum

Random Musings => Miscellany => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: andyoxon on 13 June, 2011, 01:06:08 pm

Title: Tomatoes?
Post by: andyoxon on 13 June, 2011, 01:06:08 pm
How are your's growing...

We trying them for the first time - have 6 or so mixed variey plants in one largish pot with cane supports.  Probably too dense - will see how it goes.  Have pinched out side shoots, and now started supplementing with fertilizer.  Some plants now have second flower stem (truss?)...
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: longers on 13 June, 2011, 02:30:08 pm
Growing black ones this year (black brandywine and black russian). Raised fourteen from seed and gave ten away.
Will be repotting them this afternoon into their final pots but won't feed them until they've got four sets of flowers as that's the advice I was given.

I usually end up with lots of green tomatoes at the end of the season. Wonder what colour unripe black ones will be?
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: pcolbeck on 13 June, 2011, 02:49:40 pm
Grey ?
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Bledlow on 13 June, 2011, 02:51:40 pm
Sounds far too dense to me. I've never managed more than one plant per bloody big pot, & even so, they've usually ended up packed with roots. I usually stick 'em straight in the ground, a few feet apart.

I'm currently wondering whether to throw away a few plants, sacrifice something else in the garden to make room, or give them away. I have a total of 7 plants, of which 4 are planted out & 3 in pots which they're rapidly outgrowing.

Advice I've had is to be heavy on potassium, mean on nitrogen in the feed. Just throwing random fertiliser at 'em has always worked well in the past, though.

Advice on pot sizes
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/vegging-out/pot-sizes-tomatoes_14393.html (http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/vegging-out/pot-sizes-tomatoes_14393.html)
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: andyoxon on 13 June, 2011, 04:51:26 pm
Sounds far too dense to me. I've never managed more than one plant per bloody big pot, & even so, they've usually ended up packed with roots. I usually stick 'em straight in the ground, a few feet apart.

I'm currently wondering whether to throw away a few plants, sacrifice something else in the garden to make room, or give them away. I have a total of 7 plants, of which 4 are planted out & 3 in pots which they're rapidly outgrowing.

Advice I've had is to be heavy on potassium, mean on nitrogen in the feed. Just throwing random fertiliser at 'em has always worked well in the past, though.

Advice on pot sizes
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/vegging-out/pot-sizes-tomatoes_14393.html (http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/vegging-out/pot-sizes-tomatoes_14393.html)

I think so...  See what happens, either we'll be surprised with the yield, or get four weedy tomaotes...
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Regulator on 13 June, 2011, 05:34:11 pm
I've got 8 different types on the go this year.  Six are heritage types and in the polytunnel.. The two outdoor ones are bog standard Moneymaker and Golden Globe.

I want to see which will grow besst on the allotment.  At the moment all of them are ahead, with 4 of the 8 already having fruit on them.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: spokenword on 13 June, 2011, 06:01:45 pm
First two ripe ones picked yesterday, they are Sungold, a cherry tomato that crops well and are always early. The other varieties have a long way to go yet, especially the Brandywine heritage variety which produce huge (1-1.5 lbs) fruit with thin skins. I think we have two other varieties, San Marzan? and Shirley.
Have yoy tried rooting sides hoots for a late crop? I always seem to miss a few that I don't find until they are 6-8in long. Just dib a hole in the border with a pencil and pop the shoot in and they almost all will root providing a few late trusses of fruit.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: andyoxon on 13 June, 2011, 07:22:07 pm
(http://inlinethumb34.webshots.com/46817/2793490060101458909S600x600Q85.jpg)

Behold the pot of many plants...  ;D

In there somewhere are Gardeners delight, Italian plum, and moneymaker...
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: LindaG on 11 July, 2011, 11:33:47 am
I seem to have some yellow tomato plants, about a foot high.  Is it worth planting them on, do you think, or is it too late in the season?

My own tomato plants are only just starting to fruit, they've been in grobags for simply ages.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Bledlow on 26 July, 2011, 03:00:56 pm
I think it's too late, but (1) I'm not an expert & (2) maybe we'll have a good autumn. I eventually got reasonable  crops off a couple of plants which were trampled almost to nothing in July 2008, but very late.

I have loads of green tomatoes, but none of 'em ripe yet. Gardener's Delight, Sweet Million, & one unknown, which sprang up on its own. Self-sown from a previous year, I presume.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: clarion on 26 July, 2011, 03:20:18 pm
Loads of little green squash balls.  Nothing apparently ripening yet :(
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Marj on 26 July, 2011, 04:56:57 pm
Mine are starting to ripen, I have also started to strip some of the lower leaves, up to the first truss at the moment. The cucumbers are doing marvelously well, I have to keep giving them away, but granddaughter has guinea pigs and they get the leftsovers.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: hellymedic on 28 July, 2011, 06:14:32 pm
I have many green marbles but no sign of ripening. Since previous toms ripened as late as November, I'm in no rush.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Bledlow on 02 August, 2011, 09:49:29 pm
First signs of ripening - at last.

Loads 'n loads of green ones.

Eaten some of my potatoes, with my green beans. Tasty.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Regulator on 02 August, 2011, 11:41:00 pm
We had the first of our tomatoes last week.  Funnily enough, they were from the 'outdoor, just water them a bit and don;t do much else' plants.  The 'cosseted' polytunnel plants have lots of fruit but none are ripe yet.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: longers on 23 August, 2011, 09:45:06 am
I've had to put masking tape on one of my toms. It's almost the size of a tennis ball and something was using it as a late night salad bar while it takes bloody ages to ripen. Whatever (snail?) is doing it has moved onto a more sacrificial one, so that's ok.

Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: corshamjim on 23 August, 2011, 07:06:04 pm
I half-heartedly put a dozen or so donated tomato plants in the ground on the allotment.  I haven't paid them a great amount of attention but we're getting just a few very nice little sweet tomatoes from them.  I can see how it's important to keep them watered, as some of them have rather rough skin in places where presumably they haven't grown evenly.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Bledlow on 23 August, 2011, 07:42:05 pm
They're all taking bloody ages to ripen. Sun, we need sun!
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: nicknack on 23 August, 2011, 09:43:19 pm
Mine are nowhere near ripe but I went round brother's last week to water his crop while he was away and managed to pinch a good number of excellent marmande and some plum toms. He must get more sun than me.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: andyoxon on 27 August, 2011, 05:58:56 pm
We've never grown our own before and have just had the first few ripe tomatoes.  I never knew that tomatoes could be this sweet... loads of flavour   :thumbsup:

How do the likes of Tescos manage to get hold of of offerings that are pale reflections in taste terms..?
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Bledlow on 29 August, 2011, 07:24:48 pm
By selling varieties selected for yield, keeping, ease of handling, appearance & low production cost.

Flavour? What's that?
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: andyoxon on 06 September, 2011, 01:58:14 pm
People's rough estimate of ripe to unripe as a %?

Our's ~ 2%.  Hopefully won't run out of warmth and ripening conditions...
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: corshamjim on 06 September, 2011, 06:35:09 pm
People's rough estimate of ripe to unripe as a %?

Oh gosh, I don't know.  Including the few I've picked already about 20%  I guess.  Some of mine have badly cracked skins though as I've not bothered to water them regularly.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: LindaG on 06 September, 2011, 06:39:50 pm
Not one red tomato. Dozens of green ones tho. Need to get them fried at the Whistle Stop Cafe praps. The sun has now gorn by looks of things :-(
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Domestique on 11 September, 2011, 03:11:05 pm
All green here as well, apart from the odd rogue red one.
Green tomatoe and apple chutney this year I thinks.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: hellymedic on 11 September, 2011, 03:31:56 pm
Our toms are ripening but seem in no rush; They have sizable points. Anyone else have pointy toms?
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: interzen on 11 September, 2011, 03:53:36 pm
Not one red tomato. Dozens of green ones tho. Need to get them fried at the Whistle Stop Cafe praps. The sun has now gorn by looks of things :-(
Ditto.
My tomato crop this year was an epic fail, and the chillis didn't fare much better either :( Ironically, I did fare rather better in the raspberry/strawberry stakes.

On the other hand my mother, who lives in the wilds of County Durham, has a greenhouse that is full to bursting (quite literally) with ripe tomatoes. Last time I was up there I had some of the cherry tomatoes and they were unspeakably gorgeous.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: andyoxon on 12 September, 2011, 01:47:10 pm
Our toms are ripening but seem in no rush; They have sizable points. Anyone else have pointy toms?

We're all of a sudden getting more red uns.  The Italian plums seem to be pointy...
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: hellymedic on 12 September, 2011, 02:14:46 pm
David has brought in about two kilograms of red toms in the last day. We can't eat so many!
Our pointy toms are round, not plum.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: corshamjim on 12 September, 2011, 07:25:54 pm
Mine have all been blown about by the wind so a lot of them have ended up rotting on the ground.  There are still lots of green ones clear of the ground though so I'm optimistic there will still be a fair few to harvest if we get a little sunshine.

I had the first of our plum tomatoes today - just the one is red while all the rest are still very green.  And two or three yellow ones too.  I must try one before Claire snaffles the lot.

I confess I wasn't very methodical with tomatoes on the allotment.  I was given a couple of dozen plants so I pretty much just plonked them in the ground with some compost and hoped for the best.  I can see I would have probably done better with a bit of care.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: hellymedic on 14 September, 2011, 09:50:19 am
Does anyone want some of our excess? Very red, quite sweet, can you collect?
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Bledlow on 26 September, 2011, 05:59:43 pm
Too far away, & we (at last!) have enough now.

But not for much longer. B****t.  >:(
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: hellymedic on 30 September, 2011, 08:06:17 pm
We're still getting about 1kg/day. Can't eat or give them away fast enough!
Fridge is full. Freezer is full.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Welsh Man on 23 October, 2011, 07:41:13 pm
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b346/Brevet/036.jpg)

Bet you havn't got one like this?

 ;D
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: cuddy duck on 23 October, 2011, 07:59:39 pm
It took a couple of years, but finally the forum becomes indistinguishable from "That's Life!"
Cyril?
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: hellymedic on 23 October, 2011, 08:08:26 pm
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b346/Brevet/036.jpg)

Bet you havn't got one like this?

 ;D

We  had a similar one which resembled a pair of boobs, with a voluptuous cleavage.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: cuddy duck on 23 October, 2011, 08:20:45 pm
Esther?
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Regulator on 24 October, 2011, 03:36:42 pm
Last of the outdoor tomatoes harvested yesterday - 2kg this time round, making a total of 20+kg from the 8 plants.

Several of the plants had smaller harvests - but they were heritage types that were being grown as an experiment, more than for large harvests.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: arry_b on 24 October, 2011, 04:06:01 pm
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b346/Brevet/036.jpg)

Bet you havn't got one like this?

 ;D
Marmande? I can't kill the buggers, they keep cropping.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: hellymedic on 24 September, 2017, 02:46:03 pm
This year's tomatoes are really very nice.
David bought some 'fun to grow' tomato seeds from B&Q.

They're supposed to be the 'Tanya' variety, which, according to my interwebs reading are small, red and round. About 80% of the plentiful crop are like this and tasty they are too.

The other 20% are yellow, pear-shaped plum tomatoes. They are just GORGEOUS! They are very sweet but still taste of tomato.

It seems yellow plum tomatoes are usually a little more exclusive.

But these 'interlopers' are VERY good!
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Bledlow on 26 September, 2017, 08:51:52 pm
We've had a good crop of blight this year. A few tomatoes managed to ripen first.

There are two plants in the front garden, where the blight hasn't reached, but they're very late ripening. Only a couple ripe so far.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: ElyDave on 26 September, 2017, 09:19:41 pm
I don't bother with outdoor anymore.

I had a few good years of them in a courtyard garden in growbags, plenty of sun bouncing around.

Soil here is too heavy and damp, clayey, stays cold and they always end up blighted.

I have space for 5 plants in the greenhouse, a cucumber or two at the end and some chillis in the soil as well.  They always do well in there, this year we've had a great crop.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: hellymedic on 26 September, 2017, 10:02:37 pm
Most of our toms are in compost in pots. Some are sheltered under the patio canopy and have outgrown the mini-greenhouse where they started. Some are in the back, in the clay, by the observatory. All are cropping well though those sheltering on our sunny, southwest-facing wall are ripening sooner.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: Bledlow on 27 September, 2017, 01:24:38 pm
Cucumbers usually do well on our allotment, but this year they started well, cropping heavily (we were giving the surplus to neighbours, as usual), then suddenly started wilting. Disease? Dunno, but I won't plant any in that patch next year, & the wilted plants didn't go in the compost.
Title: Re: Tomatoes?
Post by: ElyDave on 30 September, 2017, 10:02:26 pm
tom's still cropping but reaching their end.  Cucumbers still have half a dozen or so small fruit on them.

Chard tends to go on through the winter in the sheltered veg plot.  Beans, courgettes etc need diging up and composting. Maybe tomorrow