Help MBE grow his dinner 2013.

annie123

Welcome back MBE, at least your your excuses weren't alcohol related this time! unless you'd been drinking whilst sawing a broken ankle sounds very painful and so does anything to do with sawing off thumbs :eek: hope you both are feeling a bit better.

I'm now making chilli jam to use up the tomatoes, this must be one of the best years for yield for me ever. Still picking a kilo 2-3 times a week and not even started on the yellow ones yet.

Apple picker




Oh Gawd they're hugh photos, sorry. Tried resizing but still massive, but you get the general idea.
Must dash, need to bottle chilli jam.

mrbadexample

annie123 wrote: »

I'm now making chilli jam to use up the tomatoes, this must be one of the best years for yield for me ever. Still picking a kilo 2-3 times a week and not even started on the yellow ones yet.

How many plants do you have? I'm harvesting but nowhere near that amount! Most cherry tomatoes too, although I've got some bigger ones on the way.

zafiro1984

Anne123 - apple picker looks achievable, even by someone as inept as me - thanks

Just popping out to pick more blackberries and a carrier bag full of rosehips - which will have to be deseeded tonight and then frozen. -I can feel more wine in the making

annie123

I've had 10 here and 4 at my sons, but he gets those so not counted them.
1 is a black tom, not even got a blush yet, the yellow paste type one just got a blush today so bought 5 in for the first time, 1 is a cherry tom and I've not included the weight of them as they get eaten whilst I'm in the garden. 1 got vine weavel grub problems so picked those, there weren't many and binned the plant.
So that leaves 6 which have kept me in enough toms for the street.

The mini Italian plum (bush not vine) has produced shed loads, with more to come. It has loads of branches and lots of support. It was given to me via hubbys work, so no idea if it's an F1 or not but I'm going to save some seed and try next year with them.
One also given to me by an occasional visitor on here was labelled 'black tom' a pretty beef type tom, not massive ones just a good size and plenty of them.
The others are the blight resistance ones I bought last year having had a massive blight attack. They've been brilliant.
This year I've had 1 text warning and the week after it was 30c so no blight.
They are normal size, bit smaller size and beef steak size.
The beef ones produce less, then the normal ones, and then loads and loads of the slightly smaller than normal ones.

As usual they were feed wilkinsons version of miracle grow until they start to produce flower stalks, then phostrogen twice weekly.
But.....I put wilted comfrey leaves under the Italian plum and 2 of the blight resistance ones when I potted them up into buckets, so I'm convinced this has made a big difference. And I never leave them on the plant to ripen, as soon as they blush they're on my kitchen window sill.
Bearing in mind that my toms only get sun from 9.30 to 10.30 am, then 12-2pm then 5-8pm in the summer due to trees, I could have started a market stall if I didn't have neighbours with 35' sycamore trees.

mrbadexample

annie123 wrote: »

And I never leave them on the plant to ripen, as soon as they blush they're on my kitchen window sill.

Well you're obviously doing something right, but what's your reasoning for this? I leave them on the plant as the ethylene gas they produce encourages the others to ripen, doesn't it? :huh:

annie123

mrbadexample wrote: »

Well you're obviously doing something right, but what's your reasoning for this? I leave them on the plant as the ethylene gas they produce encourages the others to ripen, doesn't it? :huh:

I do it because my Nan did it and I learned to grow from her.
I've always found that once the plant starts the ripening process it doesn't make any difference to the others left behind on the plant if I pick the ones with a blush on them, a few more will blush the following day or so. And I don't pinch out the tops either.
They ripen quicker on my window sill than on the plant outside, may well be different for greenhouse ones though.


I think this years bumper crop is down to the comfrey leaves put at the bottom of the pot (Nan would put wilted nettle leaves under the plants but I don't have a nettle patch like her) and the blight resistance ones grown for the first time seem to produce a lot more per plant, but I need another few growing seasons to confirm that that.
The ones with the comfrey leaves produced bigger plants and more flower stalks than the others, but again near a few more years to confirm this.

Pick some of your blushed ones, just a hue will do and pop them onto your window and see if you get the same as me, toms ripening/blushing quicker indoors and on the plant. End of year mini trial

djohn2002uk

I did that Annie for the first couple of weeks or so and they certainly ripen quicker. I did it simply to leave less fruit for the plants to feed. Now I don't need to do it because we've got them comming out of our ears and ripening so quickly too. Mine are in the greenhouse though.

mrbadexample

Righto, I'll give that a go.

Surprisingly, I'm away this weekend.

mrbadexample

Whose idea was it to enter a marrow-growing competition?





Not terribly big but it's only a small variety (badger, IIRC). It might just be enough - I'm off to visit the main opposition this weekend. I do hope I don't get drunk, fall over and accidentally crush anything. :whistle:

mrbadexample

How do I know when this thing is ready please?



I hope it tastes good as my entire garden seems to be smothered by the plant. I had one of those white patty pan jobbies (roasted) a week or so ago, but it was awful - really, really bland. I this one's a yellow-fleshed one which should hopefully have a bit more about it.