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Gardening

Painted my shed on the allotment , Then home and cained up the tomato plants in the grow bags
Yes I have some early stage toms :)
 
AudioAl said:
Painted my shed on the allotment , Then home and cained up the tomato plants in the grow bags
Yes I have some early stage toms :)
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Never succeeded with tomatoes, tried grow bag inside one of those cheap plastic greenhouses, but only managed chutney grade so far. An tips on getting them up to salad grade?
 
You essentially can't over-water or over-feed tom's (please - not absolutely literally).
A good deal will depend on variety.

Small, light-weight secateurs? I doubt decent ones exist, but VERY capable small and light kitchen scissors do - or the lab' ones with finely serated edges that will cut wire with ease.
 
[QUOTE="
DE10-D3-BD-DD01-4-E83-AA7-D-A247-D6292775.jpg


Two questions.

1. What can I do to encourage the water lilies to flower? Should I feed them? Root prune them? Replace them?[/QUOTE]

I’ve never had a problem getting my water lily’s to flower since the plants have reached a reasonable size. The last time I cleaned out my pond was about 3 years ago and it’s just gravel over a rubber liner. The lilies were in a basket but the fish tipped that over so now the plant sits on the gravel. There is the fertiliser from the fish and the rainwater from my (and my neighbours) roofs drain into the pond (with the overflow going to the drain) which carries lots of silt into the pond. Some of which gets stuck into the pond’s pump but some must end up in the gravel. Until about two years ago I had a problem with algae but maybe the plants have gotten to the size where they can absorb the excess nutrients and currently have clear water all year. Come autumn I am thinking of splitting the root ball as it’s getting a bit too vigorous, so if you would like some, let me know, sorry I have no idea what variety it is but it seems to grow well. My ponds depth is about 3 feet.

About a month ago:
Pond1a by Mark Edwards, on Flickr

Today:
Pond1b by Mark Edwards, on Flickr
 
ks.234 said:
Believe me, I am, as in so many things, a total amateur.
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We all were once.

To be honest, I don't eat enough tom's to make growing them worth the hassle beyond once in a blue moon.
My understanding is that gardener's delight is still a favourite outdoor tom'.
That said, I haven't, but take a look on the GQT website as this question comes up very regularly. Information from past shows is available but having never visited the website, I have no idea how easy it is to search.

Not every year will see a decent outdoor crop - weather and also blight are the major and variable problems.
 
ks.234 said:
Never succeeded with tomatoes, tried grow bag inside one of those cheap plastic greenhouses, but only managed chutney grade so far. An tips on getting them up to salad grade?
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I live on the SE coast so grow my toms outdoors. If you live in a cooler climate try an F1 hybrid from seed for example https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/tomato-cherrola-f1-hybrid/909TM

If you have a South facing wall thats ideal. Feed with seaweed fertilizer (cheap) and don't let them dry out! Toms need a lot of water and I'm watering mine 2-3 times a day in small quantities. I don't like grow bags any more so use a minimum 10L pot per plant. At the end of season pick all your green toms and place them in a dark warm place I use a drawer. Look often and take out the ripe ones. This way I can get toms ripening up until xmas.

Home grown stuff is far far far better tasting than supermarket crap. That why I also grow figs, grapes, apples, pears, yadda yadda so my kids can taste fruit like it was when I were a kid.

DV
 
Darth Vader said:
Home grown stuff is far far far better tasting than supermarket crap. That why I also grow figs, grapes, apples, pears, yadda yadda so my kids can taste fruit like it was when I were a kid.
DV
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It is all down to variety, nothing else.

For many years, commercial varieties were all about yield, which gave everyone very cheap food. Carrots are a great example - for me, commercial stuff only had any taste again a handful of years ago. Now taste/flavour counts again.

Tom's - try piccolo - not available to anyone but commercial growers - for me just about the best tasting tom'' ever.
Also try rosanna onions - pink, not red - similar problem, or there was - not available outside of commercial growers - fabulous onion, mild but flavoursome in a medium-sized bulb.
 
Vinny said:
To be honest, I don't eat enough tom's to make growing them worth the hassle beyond once in a blue moon.
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I've majored in tomatoes since I got my first greenhouse. The height was about a decade ago when I managed 15 varieties (and >130 plants after giving away almost as many. I love F1s because they're a bit different from your common or garden Alicante, Moneymaker and Gardeners' Delight etc. Vinny's right in that outdoor tomatoes are a bit hit and miss (but not this year)

We skin and freeze them for a variety of meals in the off-season, or simply make and freeze ratatouille with our courgettes ,spring onions, peppers and basil but use SM onions. I've cut down on varieties (Covid reduced my buying options) but have 50 plants in the g/houses and half a dozen outside. Outside tom's taste better than the same grown inside if ripe.

The ones I've mentioned are outside ones but there are many others, including the more expensive F1s (Sungold, Crimson Crush + others for out or in). Sungold is amazing; earliest variety and longest cropping. My tom's (and everything else) grown straight into the soil. Growbags are a tricky, high maintenance compromise and must be fed. There are hundreds of tom. varieties and they're all different
 
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Mike Reed said:
.............. Outside tom's taste better than the same grown inside if ripe.
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SUPPOSEDLY, UV enhances some of the flavour compounds and the amount of UV in a greenhouse is low.

Through former work colleagues, I have contact with a company called Ceravision - long story short - their future is now pinned on selling their products into high-end glasshouse products because of the SUPPOSED link. There is published experimental data on the link, but when judging something as subjective as the taste of crops such as tomatoes...............................

If growing in the soil isn't a convenient option, LARGE pots are easier than grobags, or scrounge some reject plastic drums or such like. Use grobag compost for cheapness - you will be horrified at what is in most bags, but they do grow tom's if you put the effort in to the bags.
 
I love the smell of tomato plants, it reminds me of my dad’s greenhouse as a kid, being sent to harvest some and battling the spiders webs (they seemed to love the conditions too). I never water enough though if I grow them, so I get thick, split skins. And the variable conditions here in the north west mean that a decent crop, grown outdoors, is a bit of a lottery. So I’ve abandoned the effort. We do grow Padron peppers in pots on a south facing bench against a wall, though. Half a dozen pots yields enough for a tasty pre-dinner snack at the weekend in high season.
 
Some varieties I've grown within the past decade might give some direction to those thinking of propagation (for next year). Some are inside only, some are versatile (they say) but I've yet to find a tom. which is guaranteed outside or which doesn't grown inside a (glass )greenhouse. I've no experience of plastic or poly tunnels.

BIG TOM'S: Favoryt (cheap & cheerful; not much flavour) Country Taste F1 and Big League F1 both okay, but 'beefsteak' type tom's never have the flavour of the small & medium ones; great for cooking though.

MEDIUM TOM'S: Cossack F1 (good); Shirley F1 (one of the best but pricey and takes a long time to germinate and grow); Ferline F1 (okay)

SMALL TOM'S: Sweet Million F1 (prolific 7 good). Ildi (yellow) ( can be good but variable), Sungold F1 (orange)(total winner but skins a bit chewy for some who are dentally challenged); Golden Sunrise (yellow) (a bit insipid).

Others, mainly not F1, are Alicante (good), Moneymaker (okay), Matina (bit tasteless), Ailsa Craig (quite good)

Losetto, Harbinger, Sweet Aperitf, Harlequin F1 (quite good if I remember; tiny), Ruby F1 (okay) Cherrola, golden nugget,Crystal,Fantasio,Legend, Sweet olive. Sungella (poor), Tamina, Tigerella. Cuore di Bue and Roma were too long ago to remember.

I still do Gard. Delight, Alicante or Ailsa Craig plus anything else which is in or out and cheap non f1. Despite growing in excess of 40 varieties over 18 years, I've hardly touched the surface, it seems, looking on eBay at what is being offered (though I usually but mine in shop-bought packets). Heritage varieties are yet another diversion.

There could easily be a separate thread on tomatoes but I think it'd give most people the pip (though Liz Truss may be interested).:)
 
ks.234 said:
Never succeeded with tomatoes, tried grow bag inside one of those cheap plastic greenhouses, but only managed chutney grade so far. An tips on getting them up to salad grade?
Click to expand...
It's my first year of having a go , I am of no help sorry
 
Vinny said:
It is all down to variety, nothing else.

For many years, commercial varieties were all about yield, which gave everyone very cheap food. Carrots are a great example - for me, commercial stuff only had any taste again a handful of years ago. Now taste/flavour counts again.

Tom's - try piccolo - not available to anyone but commercial growers - for me just about the best tasting tom'' ever.
Also try rosanna onions - pink, not red - similar problem, or there was - not available outside of commercial growers - fabulous onion, mild but flavoursome in a medium-sized bulb.
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I really don't agree. I know we are discussing tomatoes but the growing environment effects the final result and no bearing on variety.

You can see this with wine grapes growing in France. Same variety but a vineyard across the road has better grapes/wine from the same plants. A good wine grape plot of land sends its price soaring. In the past I only met Golden Deilcious apples in supermarkets years ago and they were to me utterly foul. Years later I grew Golden Delicious to cross pollinate my Coxs Orange Pippin. To my surprise and everyone else they are absolutely delicious.

The best fruit and veg around here is from local farms. I really would like to see supermarkets gone as they sell utter crap to people and are ruining their health. Cheap crap food at inflated prices. The price lable may look cheap but it is hides very low cost processed crap on which the companies make a huge profit.

DV
 
Darth Vader said:
Same variety but a vineyard across the road has better grapes/wine from the same plants.
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I believe it's all about 'terroir'.

Darth Vader said:
I really would like to see supermarkets gone
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No chance; not everywhere has a farm on their doorstep and the transition from small retail outlets to the emporium style of supermarkets some 50 odd years ago is here to stay. Individual food shops did suffer, but nonetheless survived. About the only exception I can think of is the fishmonger; quite a dearth of those.
 
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