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
Category: Blog
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
Growing my Tomatoes in lockdown
I’m not sure if I grow tomatoes in the same way as other people. My desire (usually) is to grow as many different varieties as I can fit into the available space and, because of the weather in the UK, this usually means growing them in the polytunnel or greenhouse. This year however, I think…… Continue reading Growing my Tomatoes in lockdown
End of October 2019 – Review
Well, we’ve got to the end of October, the clocks have gone back and fireworks are beginning to sound in advance of Guy Fawkes Night. I tend to think about now as the end of the productive year and start to think about what should be done for next year. Its been a funny old…… Continue reading End of October 2019 – Review
End of September 2019 Update
So, we’ve reached the end of September and autumn is beginning to make itself felt. The days are already noticeably shorter and the temperatures are starting to drop. The polytunnel has certainly slowed down, french beans have produced less than 1kg of beans although some of the late sowings are still producing edible beans. We’ve…… Continue reading End of September 2019 Update