How are your tomatoes doing ?

malebolge

Living_proof wrote: »

Is there anyone on the site who is good at guessing tomato variety please? I have a tomato which has very large, pepper-like fruits and the best guess so far is some sort of stuffer tomato. I have a photo on my phone but not sure how to get it on here.

Sounds like a large Italian plum type. Could it be San Marzano?

Primrose

Is it slightly oval shaped like an egg? If so my guess would be SAN Marzano too. It,s an Italian cooking tomato, not necessarily very moist and the sort of variety you see in tinned tomatoes. Not a salad tomato.

Living_proof

malebolge wrote: »

Sounds like a large Italian plum type. Could it be San Marzano?

Thanks for the suggestion and my local gardeners agree, but even for a large Italian plum my greenhouse ones are HUGE! I am about to pick the first few so look forward to the first tasting.

My allotment tomatoes have now been hacked back to something rather more manageable. Thousands of green fruit, but picked the first ripe ones just now and if we don't get too many cold nights just maybe most of them will ripen. Next year I will learn my lesson and plant them much further apart with taller, very strong stakes. There seem to be some cherry tomato varieties in the selection (given to me) and I won't bother with these next year as they are too time consuming to pick - I will keep for the greenhouse and garden when I can harvest very regularly.

unrecordings

Nothing much to update here - all the Ailsa Craig split a couple of weeks ago, some sealed up again, some didn't. Alicante are just motoring along as they do. I did notice though, that this year I had Sutton's Ailsa Craig, whereas in previous years they were from DT Brown. So next year - back to DT Brown...

Primrose

I had lots of immaculate ripe tomatoes ready for picking yesterday but was too busy. When I picked them this morning I noticed many of the sk8ns had split overnight - possibly due to the sudden drop in overnight temperature but I they were going to be turned into tomato sauce for the freezer it fortunately didn,t matter.

I have grown a new cordon variety this year for the first time Prima Bella. It,s slightly larger than the average Tumbling Tom cherry tomato, has a much richer flavour and I,ve been getting up to ten fruits per truss. It's supposed to be blight resistant but (fortunately) I,ve not had the opportunity to test this characteristic. Will definitely grow them again next year instead of Gardeners Delight

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

I've grown "cream sausage" this year both in the greenhouse and out. Large lemon coloured fruit that taste really nice if I'm honest. My problem was that being such a pale creamy coloured yellow I had no idea when they were ripe till they started dropping off the plant by themselves. They've done well both in and out of the greenhouse.No blossom rot or pest problems which I've had on some of my other varieties. I'll definitely be growing them again especially since they yield a lot of fruit too.

Linda32

I grew cream sausage last year as well. I was pleased with them. I would recommend them.

savemoney

I am growing Sweet Million (cherry) and Shirley in two GH. Both are late this year been cropping now just over 2 weeks. Lots more to pick in coming week, pleased with the yields. I am usually throwing plants away by now

skogar

I hadn't realised it had been so long since I was on the site. Many thanks for the advice regarding the red alert tomatoes - good to hear that they crop reliably this far north. Will definitely try them in pots next year as they are a bit trickier to stake in the grow bags. Will also try the several canes option for staking - I think it will give them a bit more support than they have had this year.

Have been enjoying eating the tomatoes. Next year will have a few more plants I think. Are there any other suggestions for good tomatoes for growing outside? Will have a look at the balcony red and yellow option for next year.

Living_proof

My Lithuanian friend admired my large ? Maranzo toms but said his parents over there grow an even larger tomato (everything is bigger in Lithuania, apart from the country and the salaries, apparently!) and he has since got them to get me some seed for next year. I should have my polytunnel up by then so will be able to judge whether outdoor/greenhouse/polytunnel gives the best results. I am so busy picking the wretched things now I hardly get a chance to compare the flavour.