This year (2020) as every year, my plants seem to wilt with the leaves dying back. This year it seems slightly worse than normal but I keep going through cutting off the affected leaves and hoping for the best. However, it seems to have infected some of the fruit as well and some of my…… Continue reading Tomato Problems – Bacterial Canker
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Recipe – Fantastic Simple Red Tomato Chutney
This year (as usual) we now have a glut of tomatoes. There are only so many one can chop up and freeze, or turn into tomato sauce or eat, so we’re aways looking out for other things to do with them. This year (2020) our mix of colours is heavily biased to wards red tomatoes…… Continue reading Recipe – Fantastic Simple Red Tomato Chutney
Recipe: Warm Sausage Salad
At this time of year (July – August) we get a glut of salad items to the point where just eating them as a cold salad isn’t enough. We’ve found a number of recipes for warm salads and have found this is one of the most versatile. The basic recipe can be extended by adding…… Continue reading Recipe: Warm Sausage Salad
Cherry Tomatoes in July
As the tomatoes start ripening, I’m pleased to see that we’ve grown a range of different colours, particularly in the cherry varieties. The standard and beefsteak tomatoes are yet to really start doing anything but here’s a picture of the varieties we picked today. The only new ones for this year are the Dancing with…… Continue reading Cherry Tomatoes in July
Guttation – Droplets on the Leaf Edges
Sometimes, usually overnight or when the weather is cool and damp, droplets of liquid form along the edges of the leaves of plants. This is “Guttation”. Not to be confused with the early morning dew, guttation is caused by the “water potential” in the roots of the plants. Because transpiration doesn’t occur at night or…… Continue reading Guttation – Droplets on the Leaf Edges
July 2020: First Tomatoes ripening
I’m not sure if its just because we are in partial lockdown (we were partially freed yesterday but that doesn’t make me want to go out unnecessarily) but I think I’m watching the tomatoes more closely than usual. Whilst the weather hasn’t been the best, there are signs that the crop will start soon. These…… Continue reading July 2020: First Tomatoes ripening
End June 2020: The Tomato Journey so far
Surprisingly its now 106 days since I sowed most of my tomatoes. Fruit is now set on all but six of the thirty or so cultivars that I sowed but there’s no reason to suspect that the rest won’t set in the next few days. Based upon past experience, its still a couple of weeks…… Continue reading End June 2020: The Tomato Journey so far
Blight in my greenhouse?
If there’s one word that strikes fear into tomato growers, it has to be “blight”. More people seem to be looking on the internet trying to see if they have blight than almost any other problem. The reason is simple, if you get late blight, it’s simple to spread throughout your whole crop, it will…… Continue reading Blight in my greenhouse?
Tomato Progress & Selection
I’m always trying to think of different ways to compare the different cultivars. In the early days (when I was even keener) I weighed the harvest from each of the different cultivars to see whether there were significant differences that would influence my decisions as to what to grow. What I learned was that there…… Continue reading Tomato Progress & Selection
2020 May 27th – First Tomatoes Set
Its always pleasing when you start to see that you might get some tomatoes this year. It feels earlier than normal but, looking back through the calendar, its neither the earliest (nor the latest). This year the first ones I’ve noticed are: Bloody Butcher, Kbits Ukranian and Mountain Magic. The Mountain Magic are an F2…… Continue reading 2020 May 27th – First Tomatoes Set