Grow Your Own Magazine

My greenhouse tomatos were very late this year, but we've been harvesting a few over the last couple of months. Trouble is, all the varieties I've grown are not very flavourful and the texture is quite mealy. This goes for Yellow Perfection, Aunty Madge (cherry plum type) and Orange Banana. I don't remember the Yellow Perfection being poor before, and it's my first year of growing the other two so can't compare them.

Anyone else had this problem?

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Bonnie Rait

Maybe its underwatering, most tom woes are to do with watering. I'm not familiar with any of these varieties, so can't vouch for fruit quality but are the plants healthy?

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Paul

Hi Paulotti. The plants look very healthy, and the tomatos also 'look' wonderful, but it's just the taste is..... disappointing.

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All at once I hear your voice
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Bonnie Rait

I think we can blame the weather, my tomatoes have been rubbish this year - last year I was making loads of pasta and curry sauces with the surplus. This year nothing. The ones that have grown have been tasteless, and as you say "mealy". Try again next year I suppose.

I am growing one of the three you mention, Orange Banana and have found if you harvest them before they are fully ripe (yellow banana stage!) they aren't as 'mealy'!

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The tomatoes I grew which lingered longest in small pots in the greenhouse were mealy too.

Sungold, for example, I planted out very late and the first few trusses were not very good, but latterly (they're still in production) much better.

A couple of pots of gardener's delight were left in tiny pots in the greenhouse and produced several trusses, but they weren't ideal either.

No problem with flavour, incidentally, just texture. All outdoor ones, planted in good time, were fresh and juicy.

Oh, if you have a problem with mealy tomatoes, don't, whatever you do, try "green sausage". They make lovely sauce, but are not for salads.