Ripe tomatoes!!!

[deltz]

Ripe tomatoes are in full flow now, getting a nice harvest every couple of days! Hows everyone else's doing and post pictures please!



Purple Cherokee:


Alicante (I think)

[Florence Fennel]

I haven't got any yet Deltz! Well done you, they look lovely.

[RobNew]

Hi there, my greenhouse F1 toms are ripening nicely, and I've had a handful of cheery toms from outside as well. Unfortunately I can't post pictures, as I keep eating them before they reach the house :-)

I'm in the Isle of Man, so we're quite far north, and a VERY VERY windy site, so I have moved some of my cherry toms in pots in to the greenhouse today as they were looking a bit wind burnt!

Rob

[VirginVegGrower]

Picked FOUR bowls of tomatoes tonight. Making up passata as we speak...eeks! Loads of Gardeners Delight, Marmande, Roma and Shirley. Will post pics when I have time to stand still. It's a never ending spiral of feeding, watering, picking, cooking, straining, blitzing, bagging and freezing...that's just the toms. Picked courgettes, peppers, cukes, carrots, plums and raspberries today too. About to make plum jam too as there must be 3-4 kilo in the jam pan waiting. Masses more on the tree. I feel like I'm drowning :-0

[VirginVegGrower]

Forgot to say lovely looking pics of your toms...bye!

[gojiberry]

Yes the toms are starting to flow now, though many of the bigger varieties are no where near ready. Ruby were so poor a taste that I chopped them down, sungold and garden pearl are fab and the alicante just starting to ripen. Have some yellow currant but will not grow them again as they have tried to take over the greenhouse.

Ian

[veg man]

Hi Folks yes i have quite a few toms none ready just yet but have a slight problem the the leaves on the plant are all curled up as if they are dieing but the plant is doing fine quite a few toms on it they have been like this for about 4/5 weeks now, none of the leaves have fallen off.. if i have posted this in the wrong place please move, new to site

[NovaStar]

I've been picking our indoor Gardener's Delight and Sungold for about a month now and they're still going strong - although some toms split after I neglected to water one day when it was really hot and then watered the next day...

My outdoor toms are sizing up nicely and I'm hoping should start to 'red up' within a couple of weeks

[chris]

I've been picking a plate full each day for a while now, from the greenhouse - but my outside ones now are covered in blight.

[VirginVegGrower]

Oh Chris so sorry to hear this.

[deltz]

Seems like for most people tomatoes are coming in platefuls. Sorry to hear about the blight, I thought I had it but luckily was only some sort of bacterial infection!

Here are 2 Brandywines I harvested today! A fair size

[chris]

I'm not too bothered to be honest, I've been receiving F.S period alerts for a couple of weeks now, but they've been ok - just noticed them yesterday.

The greenhouse ones are fine and producing loads. I've been shutting up early to be honest, it's not that warm here so trying to keep the heat up to ripen them faster + for the aubs in there too!

I still don't have it down to a 'T' to get them to produce enough, and ripen fast enough to make things like sauces etc - how do the rest of you do it? Make a small batch, then make another small batch freezing separately? That said they are in morrison flower buckets, perhaps next year I'll try the proper tomato pots (or so they're labelled) and then the B&Q bucket jobbies too to compare.

I'm growing 18 odd plants in the greenhouse, and 9 outdoors (they outdoor ones were sideshoots just potted up - I'd given loads away too - so it was just stick them in some compost and let them get on with it!). There's a load of green toms on them that I'll pick tomorrow and either keep indoors to ripen or make chutney depending on how many I harvest.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Chris with that many plants you should be inundated with toms. I have 6 Sungold, 4 Tumbler and a plum from Asda seed (in Morrisons buckets & hanging baskets) and am harvesting about 2lb plus a day.

Try feeding more often, I feed tomorite every other day, but AP (MOM) recommends half strength tomorite every day. This will bring the fruits to full size quicker and speed up the ripening process.

Colin

[chris]

Ah, I'm feeding twice a week - a capful to a watering can full - which is either just over, or twice the rate mentioned on the label (I can't remember which watering can is which size..)

I'll up the feed rate. There are LOADS, over 200 on my last count of toms ripening up.. I assumed heat + light was what ripened them.

Here's a plate picked yesterday, washed and ready to be munched on (have to admit the water on them makes them look extra juicy, may have copied you there deltz - I didn't get my camera out though, just my phone )



and similar last week:



They're red cherry, sungold, golden sunrise (very mild tomato taste, im really growing to like them), and the dreaded moneymaker that are just foul.

[chris]

... have you noticed any side effects from feeding so often, Colin? the label states not to exceed the dose (no idea why).. I've been doing it slightly, but am interested to hear if you've started to grow horns out of your head, or are turning red?