Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: AlaninCarlisle on August 27, 2017, 19:33
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Up here in Cumbria, growing tomatoes outdoor is largely a waste of time. In fact in years past, I've even struggled to get the greenhouse and polytunnel crop ripened before the end of August. Not this year! A fantastic crop ripening from the end of June onwards. In fact, unless we have a freak cold spell, I reckon all my plants will have finished ripening next month. I've grown a real mix of plants too including Roma, Alicante, Shirley, Sweet Millions, Moneymaker, Tigrella and some beef steaks
Anyone else chuffed with their crop of toms?
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I have absolutely tons of tomatoes of different types, some of the beefsteak ones that I have tried for the first time are really big.
The only problem I have is that every single one of them is green :(
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Could of course be that I started mine off in the propagator in late March and planted them out into the greenhouse in April, far earlier than the old sages up here recommend. I wasn't taking too much chance with late frosts as I had a heater set to switch on at about 6C
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Had. Great crop last year, don't think this year will be as good. But I am growing different varieties. Plenty of tomatoes but have been slow ripening due to the cool weather.
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Really huge crop of tomatoes this year all out doors as is the norm down here. I have to say though that flavour this year is not brilliant but the san marzano's always give a great crop for bottling more f which will be done tomorrow 20 litres so far but at the end I expect about forty litres od lovely whole plum toms. I make pasatta and then bottle the skinned tom's in that it gives you the option of having a chunky tomato sauce if you want.
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Mine have been pretty slow this year and are just getting into their stride now.
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My outdoor ones are about finished now. The 3 Latah and 3 Maskotka have just a few small green toms on. My 2 plants of The Amateur have about 3-4 medium sized fruit each, but that is ripening fast. I have 2 large jars of dried tomato slices from the ones that we just couldn't eat up fast enough.
In the greenhouse, we have had some monster Chocolate Cherokee. I picked another 3 today that filled a colander to overflowing by themselves. The Black Sea Man are smaller, but still a good size. 4 plants - 2 of each and they are great for sauce as they are low on pulp and seeds. There are 13 or 14 tubs of sauce in the freezer already and we've eaten quite a lot over the summer.
I'm pretty happy with that :)
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Best crop ever for me this year. Just picked the last of the Cherokee purple and that one plant has given me over 4kg of fruit. Golden Sunrise and Tigerella are still producing new fruit with trusses of 12 or more. I haven't done anything different this year except add more topsoil to the compost mix but it's the first year I've had not one case of BER.
Bottled up a big pan of chutney this afternoon but there's likely to be plenty more to come. Trouble is I still have pickles from two years ago!!
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My outdoor tomatoes have done much better than the polytunnel ones this year.
I am getting tomatoes from the polytunnel but yields are lower as the plants were nearly fried in the June heat, despite the tunnel having plenty of ventilation (no door and two windows at the other end). Early fruits had a fair bit of blossom end rot that I don't normally experience. They have perked up a bit of late.
The outdoor tomatoes are laden with crops - they are just ripening now. The leaves are looking rather the worse for wear though and I have had 2 blighted tomatoes on 1 plant. However, once I knew blight was in the area at 2 nearby allotment sites, I have given them a spray with soluble aspirin as recommended by James Wong. I have given them 3 sprays at 10 day intervals now. Aside from the 2 blighted fruit all of the plants are battling on and ripening without succumbing any more.
I must say I was sceptical about the aspirin claims, but in the absence of anything else I thought it worth a try, especially as I haven't grown any Crimson Crush. I don't like spraying my crops with chemicals, but as I am quite happy to take an aspirin if I have a headache I didn't mind experimenting with this. I will do this again in future.
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Blight!!!!!! :mad:
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Ours were hit by blight, both in the polytunnel and outside. Took out the infected plants outside and used lots of the toms green.. some ripened in the kitchen though. Huge crop from Ox Heart
Took off all the leaves inside which slowed things and have masses of toms now for sauce and passatas`.
Crimson Crush plants are thriving
Interesting information Anne about the use of aspirin as a preventative......
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Interesting, the aspirin issue.
We tried it last year and the year before, and there is a post somewhere back about it.
I thought it did work, as it's based on salicylic acid, which is found in willow. An old remedy, was to chop up a willow branch, and spread it around the base of the toms.
Must try and find the original post!
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It's here!
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=114501.msg1315415#msg1315415
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Very few fruits for me this year, my Dads crop however is fantastic!
Cheers
Aled
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Been a great year for tomatoes here.
All has cropped and still producing very well with no issues.
My usual Tigrella, San Marzano and Marmande in pots outside.
My usual Gardener's Delight outside but in chopped down potato bags.
My saved Nectar Rose seed (first year of saved seed) is producing a great crop, also in pots outside. Such delicious tasting tomatoes.
Never ending picking crop from the Garden Pearl and Red Cherry in hanging baskets around the plot.
Red/Yellow sweet 'n Neet F1 in little 6 inch pots on the patio, another staple of mine.
In the greenhouse I am growing my usual Gardener's Delight and Golden Sunrise and as always they never fail to perform.
From this years Pass the Parcel, thanks to whoever saved the seed, I grew;
In the greenhouse -
Amateur was very much like Gardener's Delight taste-wise and cropped ok, but looks to have finished cropping now, so a very short cropping time. Not for me.
German Lunchbox is cropping very well as small egg shaped tomatoes and nicely sweet. Will grow them again, so will be saving some seed.
Yellow perfection was a very large plant with large 'potato' leaf foliage. It produced a very vigorous crop and is still going strong. Tasty too. It needs serious staking. Will definitely grow this again from some saved seed. Think it might be better outside than in the greenhouse.
Blaby Special was a good cropper, good tasting. Might consider it.
Outside -
Yellow Pear had a very small pear shape, but very sweet indeed. It was like taking a tablespoon of sugar in your mouth. Not for me. The fruit dropped off the plant very easily in the wind, so a lot wasted. Ditched the plants and fruit half way through their growing season.
Rambling Red Stripe grown in pots, but had to raise the pot up as it trailed. Its a very dark stripe, similarly striped to a Tigrella. Its cherry size, prolific cropper and had an acidic taste. Loved it, growing again.
Ace, a large ' beefsteak type' tomato weighing in around 140 -170g and producing very well. The plants need a lot of support as it cropped very quickly with a lot of fruit at once. Once picked, more fruit has appeared very quickly again. A definite one to grow again.
The Purple Ukraine has produced a lot of leaf and just starting to flower, so cannot say yet.
Here is a pic, just picked of the new varieties alongside a few of my staples.
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Great to hear of our successes all.
Well done.
Aled
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Pride comes before a fall...had a great crop of outdoor Black Russian and Ferline. Have eaten toms every day for the last 4 weeks. Absolute beauties especially the BRs. Had lined up a few on the windowsill and noticed an ooze coming out. Moped up, chucked the affected tom away. Did this 3 times before it occurred to me - it's the dreaded blight.
My plan's to hot foot it o the allotment tomorrow, pick as much as poss, make a huge bath of sauce and preserve.
Still, even the return of the blight hasn't spoiled the enjoyment- I've got my memories! There's something unique about a tomato patch.
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Its my forst summer with a greenhouse,so toms are in and have grown well and produced over 25lbs of fruit,i grew 5 different types,but we only liked gardeners delight and tumbling tom,so the rest have been given to friends.
Much better results than than growing outside,last year i got 3 toms total off 2 plants a big waste of time :(.
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Another vote for aspirin here. I sprayed mine twice earlier in the year. All the outdoor plants have succumbed, but whereas in previous years they've gone from blight to nothing in 48 hours, they have soldiered on regardless and produced fruit that's absolutely fine.
The only problem was when I bought the aspirin in the chemist and he asked me who it was for - got a very strange look when I told him it was for my tomato plants!
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We've grown several Country Taste beefy toms this year, and they're not bad, but some have quite a lot of white kernel.
Can anyone recommend a beef tom which doesn't have this?
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I grow Chocolate Cherokee most years and they have a slightly firmer centre to them, but its still edible. Not too many seeds and lots of usable flesh for eating fresh or turning into sauce. This is the latest giant I've staggered in with. That's 1lb 6oz in old money :ohmy:
I save seeds of these so pm me if you want some Mr G ;)
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News, pming you as we speak...
;0)
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Great crops! Lovely St Pierre, Marmande, Roma, San Marzano, tigerella and Costoluto F. Dead chuffed with them
My husband came back with some bits from the shop and yep he bought a punnet of tomatoes :wacko: :wacko: :mad: :mad: :( :nowink: He does my head in