Growing tomatoes

Dustyevsky

In respect to those of a sensitive disposition, I won't post a picture of my most rapid grower this year. It's Moskvich, which I guessed would need to be fast out of the blocks, coming from those parts. I think it's a biggie in the mould of Marmande, but what it tastes like will determine whether it's grown again. Back in the day, I used to grow a 'subarctic' thing which sprawled everywhere and looked awful, but I could have edible fruit by mid-June in the polytunnel. I'd slash it down when the others caught up!

Dustyevsky

Droopsnoot, they're just pleased to see you.

.....I'll get me coat!

Murphybear

With this warm sunny weather my container grown tomatoes are growing like weeds.  there are tons of flowers but no little tomatoes just yet.

On the bright side I bought 3 blueberry plants for just £5.50 each.  The nice man in the garden centre (not where I bought them, where we went for tea and home made cake ) told me to put 3 together in a large pot and don’t forget the Ericaceous compost.  Just 2 weeks after I bought and potted them they are coming on a storm and I already have  a few blueberries 

I bought an apple tree 2/3 years ago for £6, it was small.  The tree has grown well and this year for the first time there are apples.  I could be using my cooking skills on apple and blueberry “something”.  

I find container gardening can be hard work but very satisfying. 

Ps sorry I have hijacked the tomato thread a bit 

Update:  I now have tomatoes on some of my plants.  Plus, exciting news, the golden raspberry bush I only planted a short time ago gave me a dozen golden raspberries this morning.  They are sweeter than the usual ones 

Silvertabby

Murphybear said:

With this warm sunny weather my container grown tomatoes are growing like weeds.  there are tons of flowers but no little tomatoes just yet.

On the bright side I bought 3 blueberry plants for just £5.50 each.  The nice man in the garden centre (not where I bought them, where we went for tea and home made cake ) told me to put 3 together in a large pot and don’t forget the Ericaceous compost.  Just 2 weeks after I bought and potted them they are coming on a storm and I already have  a few blueberries 

I bought an apple tree 2/3 years ago for £6, it was small.  The tree has grown well and this year for the first time there are apples.  I could be using my cooking skills on apple and blueberry “something”.  

I find container gardening can be hard work but very satisfying. 

Ps sorry I have hijacked the tomato thread a bit 

Loads of flowers on my tomato and chilli plants in the greenhouse.  Bit behind the drag curve this year, as I had to plan round not having a greenhouse for a month or so between the old one being taken down and my new one being built.  Still looks like I'll have a good crop of both, just a little later than normal.

I have 3 potted blueberry bushes next to the conservatory.  Seem to be having a bit of a rest this year, but had a bumper crop last year.  Or should have......  Went to see what my indoor cat was making such a fuss about, and found 3 or 4 blackbirds stripping the fruit.  Had it not been for the glass, they would have been within 12 inches of feline fury, but they didn't seem to care - I swear they were taunting her!

twopenny

Way behind here! The cold and wet turned to baking hot and dry so my seedlings still are in the baby stage after months. I bought from a charity stall some lovely healthy plants but only now can I get the last of them in the garden as it's finally rained.

Of course now I have seedlings growing in the soil from dropped toms last year as well as my pots and bought in ones.

I'll be taking them to the charity stall - still people wanting them to bring on 'in case'

droopsnoot

I have flowers on all my tomato plants now. I have a few on a couple of the chilli plants even though they're quite small, and I was advised that if I pluck them off, it would encourage more flowers later on. I read that it's a sign that the pot is too small, and if they can't spread the roots out they'll move onto the next growth stage, which is the flowers. I've moved it into a larger pot, too.

Nobbie1967

droopsnoot said:

I have flowers on all my tomato plants now. I have a few on a couple of the chilli plants even though they're quite small, and I was advised that if I pluck them off, it would encourage more flowers later on. I read that it's a sign that the pot is too small, and if they can't spread the roots out they'll move onto the next growth stage, which is the flowers. I've moved it into a larger pot, too.

I’ve just realised this year that the poor growth of my chillis in previous years was down to not potting them up into big enough pots. I had the idea that you should treat them mean, but after seeing them flowering at just 6” high I potted them all up and they are sprinting away.

droopsnoot

^ I've also read that it doesn't do to move them straight into massive pots - from the tiny ones that the seeds start off in to a slightly bigger, then a bit bigger, and so on. That sounds like your "treat them mean" approach. As it happens, I haven't pinched the flowers off mine, I might do on one of them just as a comparison, but it seems a pity to risk not getting any fruit.

matty_bram

I always grow tomatoes from seed....forget about them...they die.

Then a friend always gives me some slightly older seedlings...that I then grow well into lovely tomatoes.

There just seems to be a two week patch in the growing season where I lose the ability to care for plants. 

Every. Damn. Year. 

-taff

Sow them, germinate them, give them to your friend to keep them alive for you