Black Tomatoes

JANE just looked at your photos , presume the ones of all the pretty flowers are yours also .
Fabulous !!

My DH grew Black Russian last year and I wasn't at all keen, not much flavour and quite tough skins. Bearing in mind what you said janerowena perhaps we should have left them longer. All the other varieties were good.
I cant say I fancy the new black ones but will reserve judgement.

I was away for a while when my tomatoes were growing well and had fruit. I thought I had left enough water in the reservoirs for them, but on my return they had dried out. The Gardeners Delight were OK, but as they grew further the Black Russian developed blossom end rot. I think it was beacuse they had such big fruits and needed more water than the little cherry ones.

I don't know if this will work, please bear in mind (if it does) that I used flash so the colours are paler

i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm181/janeharrison/miscellaneous/P1010002-1.jpg

It's a pity this isn't a photo thread, I have photos somewhere amongst the thousands. I remember taking a photo of a bowl of the varying sizes, shapes and colours that I obtained from one plant alone.

Jane

Hah! I grew them longer ago than that! Several years. I think we didn't have good enough summers to bring out their true flavours. I grew some in the greenhouse, some outdoors, and the ones that ripened last were really good, the ones that ripened first weren't particularly nice at all. I almost pulled them all up. But we went away on holiday and when we returned I tried some of the later ones, and they were lovely. So forcing them and bringing them on early doesn't do any good, unlike say cherry tomatoes, which being far smaller ripen more quickly. Black Russians get to quite a size. The later ones grown naturally outside also didn't have the grainy 'velvety' texture that merlotgran mentions. I grew them for two or three years before I was able to persuade DBH off them, he loved them for their colours, which varied hugely from black all over to a streaky brown/green/blacky-purple.

Merlot , you are a front runner Again !

I grew Black Russian tomatoes last year. They were a kind of mottled purply/brown but I didn't really like the texture which was a bit velvety.

Carrot museum , here I come !!

I think the tomatoes are more savoury than sweet. Must look out for them.

Ana they are carrots, they do not come with a Farrow & Ball colour chart!

And if they did they would have very odd names, Varicose Vein, Wheelie Bin Bruise and Hidden Haemorrhoid, for example.

I may be alone but I feel today's tomatoes are fairly tasteless.

Very interesting, phoenix. I must admit I'd been imagining a rather more...vibrant 'purple'

I had back tomatoes when in Australia earlier in the year. I was amazed (never having heard of them before) but found them quite tasty and they added a bit more to the usual tomato and pepper salad! Worth a try.

Or for the true carrot devotee, there is always the Carrot Museum.

Worried about the kids getting bored in the holidays?
Feel there may be gaps in your knowledge that might make you appear ill informed?
Do you worry about topics of conversation around the water cooler, the dinner table or at the school gates?

Fear not! The answer is here!http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html

never worry again that people might thinking you boring or ignorant! Visit the Carrot Museum today, you know you want to!

She's correct. Wild carrots are purple. The Sicilian tomatoes I buy are very dark. They're a bit sharper than the normal red ones. I love them

Yep! www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/04/carrots-used-to-be-purple-before-the-17th-century/

What??? Purple carrots?

I know what you mean, but apparently the first carrots were purple!