First tomatoes very nearly ripe!

Witzend maybe some will taste better than others. I am thinking of Apple pips from one core which won’t grow true but some will be better than and some will be worse than the parent. Fingers crossed.

I have 24 tomato plants, all in pots in the open that I grew from seed and have been picking at least a pound a day for the last 4 weeks.! The little ones are almost coming to the end now but the bigger ones are at their peak. I have a freezer full of garlic roasted toms and 2 big mason jars full. I take a bag each week to the community fridge..and I know every recipe involving tomatoes!

I’m afraid the taste from the squished-out seeds is disappointing, @Avalon, a bit nothing-y, not the lovely sweet taste I was expecting. Maybe I was unlucky, but I wouldn’t go to so much trouble nurturing them again.

I only used those seeds because at the beginning of lockdown when I did it, all the shops where you could buy seeds were closed.

I can’t complain about the quantity, though! I counted 42 on just one truss - there are masses almost ready to ripen.

Ellianne you will never want to buy supermarket ones again!

Ooo they do taste delicious. Why did I never try this before, it isn't that difficult!
I took one round in the car yesterday for our GS to try but I forgot it was in my pocket and sat on it!

We have been growing Crimson Crush outdoors for the past 2 years as they are blight resistant and it has worked, although the seed is more expensive. I picked the first ripe One yesterday. We have other varieties in the poly tunnel and I have been picking sporadically for a couple of weeks now.

I have thought about getting seed from the previous year’s tomatoes. Let us know what your’s taste like Witzend. Last year’s end of season green tomatoes gradually turned red and I ate the last one in March. They taste so much better than boughten ones.

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I’ve never grown tomatoes before. A complete novice and this was the first of the crop. I named him Brian after the snail in the Magic Roundabout

ps, I don`t wrap cherry tomatoes, they ripen in a bowl with a plate on top. The bigger ones are worth looking after

I am just about to roast a batch of cherry toms with a couple of peppers. I will then freeze them in portion size so i can make soup with them. I have sooo many tomatoes this year we are eating them with virtually every meal!!! [smle]

So true Greyduster. GDs are patiently waiting for their bag of Granny’s tomatoes and a bag of pea pods.

DS sent me a photo yesterday of the first tomatoes he’s ever grown. I told him they would be the best he had ever tasted; he said later I was absolutely right!

One of my pot grown plants was blown right over in yesterday’s high winds. ?
I now have 11 undersized green tomatoes on a plate in the kitchen, where I hope they’ll eventually ripen.

Thanks. I'll pick them today.

When I grew Gardener’s Delight tomatoes the green ones, at the end of the season, simply went into a large bowl on the kitchen counter and were removed as they ripened. No wrapping needed.

yes, like that except for the bigger tomatoes, they get individually wrapped

I am having great success in ripening indoors in stacked egg trays. Do you mean one tomato in each egg bit craftyone?
My plant suffered in the recent storm, the canes snapped and everything is trailing over. Just when I thought I was doing so well with my first attempt at growing them.

I make up a garlic spray every week which I use to keep my tomato plants healthy and it works very well. Lots of flowers showing but no sign of tomatoes yet.

I just went out and plucked every tomato that was a fair size, all green. I am having great success in ripening indoors in stacked egg trays. Losetto tomatoes are a waste of space btw, not one single tomato big enough to bring indoors. 3 plants cost me almost £10 from dt brown, they arrived very late on. Home sown tomatoes, or local nursery bought, are by far the best.

I wish I’d thought of planting a sprouting potato or two, @Coolgran. Because of lockdown/garden centres closed, a couple of large pots that would usually be filled with flowers are still empty. Though one has been colonised by a favourite weed/wildflower - the yellow fumitory - I think it ought to have a nicer common name!
The leaves are much like maidenhair fern, so I think I might call it yellow maidenhair in future.

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I’ve taken 6 off my hanging basket tumbling cherry tomatoes. Beautifully sweet. Many green ones and loads of flowers. I move it around the patio chasing the sun. I’m up north and didn’t have any heatwave. Basket Asda £4.

Tonight we cropped and had for dinner the potatoes from a sprouting potato chopped up and planted in a pot. Worked well.

Hey wd witzend, its very worth doing that. I noticed fruits swelling faster now they have no flowers and fewer leaves, even just taking the lower leaves off helps to stop water splashing up onto leaves. That blight is terrible, ruins the whole crop if not pro-active

Thanks for reminding me, @craftyone - I’ve ‘stopped’ most of the trusses and taken off any more flowers, but noticed while watering the other day that there are still a few I missed. (And then forgot!)

Also pruned a lot of leaves recently, to allow max light and air.

We've just had the first of our tomatoes which are growing in pots outside. They tasted fantastic and the scent is just heavenly.

I think there is a thread somewhere about favourite perfumes and maybe a freshly picked tomato perfume would be quite popular.

I dealt with my tomatoes today, in spite of managing side shoots, they still grew into triffids. Not enough time left for outdoor ripening from a flower now so not one of my 9 varied plants has a flower or bud left and all plants have been thinned so that air and light can get to every truss. The indeterminate tomatoes have all been stopped at 4 or 5 trusses. The determinates are just trimmed here and there and as above, no more buds or flowers. Makes it much easier from now on, any flowers get pruned off. I have very many tomatoes maturing, certainly not wanting any more

I have thinned leaves out quite drastically, it is blight time in many areas
blightwatch.co.uk/

This is summer blight and autumn blight can hit hard and fast so I am taking tomatoes off to indoors as soon as viable. I cleared out 3 balconi plants today, very susceptible, lots of small tomatoes now safe indoors

Yes, I’m well aware that I shouldn’t have expected miracles from squished out seeds, @Craicon. I used to grow Gardeners’ Delight or similar, but hadn’t grown any for years because of being away too much in summer, when they need daily attention.

I only grew them this year because at the beginning of lockdown I thought we wouldn’t be going away at all - and used squished-out seeds because the shops where you could buy seeds were all closed at the time.