[EzLou]

Hi -  We live in a small village in Norfolk and have just take on a virgin garden! It was basically a paddock of grass/docks and nettles but we have sectioned an area for a cottage garden/border and started digging the veg patch - no doubt I will have lots of questions to bother you with in the future.

My first problem is all the tomatoes we brought to our new house in pots - I'm beginning to think my labelling system has gone a bit haywire! I'm sure I had an even mixture of Sungold/Tumbling Tom/Black Cherry. However, as we don't have a greenhouse yet they are all outside and taking ages to ripen and I'm not sure if I've got it all wrong or just being impatient!

The Sungolds are relatively easy to ID as we have tried a couple and as they taste gloriously sweet! But I can't remember if I bought red or yellow tumbling tom's - I have an abundance of slowly ripening yellow coloured fruits that don't taste ripe but I don't know if they will go on to become red or just a darker yellow? And will the Black Cherry tomatoes go yellow first - or straight from green to black LOL?

Sorry to sound so stupid - I guess we can just wait and see what happens but I'm worried that if we leave them too long [waiting for them to go black or red] we may miss them altogether.

Also - as they are outdoors and it's getting colder - should I think about picking the green ones? Will they ripen ok on a windowsill? Or should I just leave them.

Many thanks for your help.
Louise

[DD.]

TBH, I have no experience of these varieties, but if you have some that have been yellow for a while, it sounds indeed that they are the yellow variety and just need a bit more time.

Regarding the black cherry one this picture I found on t'interweb...



Would indicate that they go from green to purple to dark purple.

Let us know how you go on.

DD

[muntjac]

make sure tey face south and put some bacofoil behind em to reflect the light and heat   old cadrboard packing cases will do sellotape n scissors jobbie  

[digital_biscuit]

I have bought some of the dark purple toms for next year. They look lurvley!

[EzLou]

Thanks all for trying to help - the moral of this story is label them all properly in the first place. I have learned my lesson.

I'll let you know how it all turns out - especially the Black Cherry's which do look so delicious - I hope I get some ripe ones to try!

Do you think outdoor toms will be allright with the cold weather/rain - should they be covered at nights or just left? Will alll my unripened fruit go rotten and/or die?

[muntjac]

it was cold here last nigh i am just down the coast from you and i found my toms a little bit frazzled on the leaves i reckon they wil be cut on vine and brough into the greenhouses

[EzLou]

Yes was cold and wet last nighht and this morning.

So you just cut the green ones? What about the little underdeveloped toms? Will they grow - or is it all over for them? We don't have a greenhouse yet so they'll have to come indoors.

[muntjac]

the little ones will turn red when they ripen just not so tasty .take them off the vine at the stem joint and then tie some string up in a conveniant place and hang the vines on the string to ripen.. use the red ones up

[EzLou]

How long will they take to ripen?

[muntjac]

week or 2