Tomatoes going wrong - again!

greenbee

Davesnave said:

greenbee said:

Davesnave said:

I have plenty of well-rotted stable manure, but by the time it's turned into lovely crumbly stuff, I think whatever it had in it has probably mostly  leached away. I use it as a soil conditioner and much of the real 'oomph' for my toms and peppers is supplied via fermented comfrey leaves. Of course they stink even worse than some of the other things mentioned, which just proves they must be good!

I must remember to dig up some comfrey from my brother's garden. They've got lots, and he didn't even know what it was, so I need to get to it before it is 'weeded'!

It will be best if he has the variety 'Bocking14,' as that's sterile and doesn't cause problems by popping up all over your garden.

It doesn't seem to be as prolific as my borage (which is everywhere OTHER than the bed I want it in for easy access when cooking!), so I'm hoping it is. I plan to plant it by the compost bins... 

twopenny

When I had a big garden I grew Comfrey and Nettles. Pruned them heavily and chopped them into a bucket as liquid feed. But then the smell was far enough away from the house. Great stuff.

Dog poop on the compost heap was supposed to be an activator. (own dogs all jabs and tablets to keep them bug free) and it made the poop scooping less arduous knowing it was useful

greenbee

My brother has a dog poo wormery, but it does say not to use on F&V, just ornamentals. Mind you, he's also discovered that there's a dog poo bin just up the road from him, as the worms were struggling to keep up!

suki1964

Davesnave said:

I have plenty of well-rotted stable manure, but by the time it's turned into lovely crumbly stuff, I think whatever it had in it has probably mostly  leached away. I use it as a soil conditioner and much of the real 'oomph' for my toms and peppers is supplied via fermented comfrey leaves. Of course they stink even worse than some of the other things mentioned, which just proves they must be good!

I remember when we were putting our beds in, we found an advert for stable manure and off we went with the trailer

Well it wasn't well rotted, a few of the bags were pure liquid - I was heaving tipping them into the beds lol

Since then out neighbour has had numerous ponies, donkeys and horses and has a huge pile at the back of his garden which we are allowed to help ourselves too. Its great stuff when dry and crumbly, but wet? Urgh

Funnily enough, the first year we planted after digging bags of it in the veg patch, we had the best carrots we have ever grown

MovingForwards

My OH planted comfrey roots and we will be raiding the neighbours nettles. We already got one neighbour giving us their coffee grinds and tonight we offered to take their grass cuttings. Will be speaking with another neighbour next time we see him to see about taking his unwanted clippings.

So far we have one compost bin on the go, it's a long-term one. We will be setting up medium and short-term ones. That way we will always have a compost supply.

Oh and as this is about toms, three of mine have flowers and one of my peppers has even more buds than the other day.

Must unpack my farmhouse cookbook and that has recipes for chutney, jam and other 'old school' recipes.

twopenny

Red Tomato Chutney and add some chilli, paprika, black pepper (add or remove to taste) makes a great addition to home made burgers in a bun.

The 'bbq sauce' suddenly disappeared from shelves so I experimented having the basic ingredients from the back of a jar.

Davesnave

MovingForwards said:

Oh and as this is about toms, three of mine have flowers and one of my peppers has even more buds than the other day.

I think all mine have flowers and maybe a few embryo fruit too, but I'm not going to beat my 'fastest tomato' record, which was the Latah cross on 9th June about 9 years ago. I think most won't ripen any till July is knocking at the door.

Can't get over my chillis, though. They're 5cm long already and I wasn't quick sowing the seeds either. Never seen a chilli pepper in May before, albeit a wussy one!

MovingForwards

@Davesnave that is good with your chilli.

I thought I would start simple with herbs, toms and peppers as I've only ever grown runner beans before and that was years ago. I didn't expect any flowers yet as things aren't much taller than when I got them, unless I have dwarf tom plants; must look up what I've got 😁

July I can handle, if they suddenly turn into tomatoes ready to be picked next week I'm not ready!

We have been getting good growing weather this year and I'm looking forward to hearing about all the crops.

Farway

As this is about tomatoes, here's my Bloody Butcher.

The plants seem robust and not reaching for the sky before getting flower trusses

MovingForwards

my baby tomato flowers