If you grow tomatoes…

Ours are still outside - it really depends on the amount of sun, which I always thinks makes the tomatoes taste better. We are away next week and will review when we come back in the middle of September.

My cherry tomatoes are outside and are ripening. So far there’s no sign of black leg but that usually gets the plants by the end of September.

When the night start to get chilly I cut off tresses and ripen them indoors, either in a paper bag in the drawer or on the window sill with a banana.

I think about green tomato chutney round about mid-October!

Leave them growing and on the vines (tomatoes ripened on the vine have a better taste), it is unlikely there will be any frosts until mid October in SE England. If frosts are forecast, pick them and they will ripen on a windowsill. If you then want to hasten the ripening of green tomatoes, put in a plastic bag with a ripe banana

Meant to say that we are a bit further North than you I think Witzend, in Bedfordshire. We haven’t had the heavy rain the South coast has had the last couple of days and it has been warm.

Thanks, everybody - I didn’t know that about putting them in with a banana!
So they can stay outside for now.

Ours a ripening very slowly. Strangely the outside ones are ripening at the same time as the ones in the greenhouse.
About 50% are still green.

We bring tomatoes in before the first frost.

Apart from draping at sundown, frost is enemy.

Mine are still in the greenhouse. DH puts a red card beside them to help them ripen, he says. Don’t really know if it works. I check every day and just bring them in if they look edible. Not many this year though .

It’s been my worse year for tomatoes, even in the greenhouse.

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Mind are ripening at last , so tasty , I am eating them off the vine
I accidentally cut a vine off , brought it in its ripening at the same rate
The tiny ones won’t grow much now though

Mine are all ripened or ripening. The smaller the variety, the quicker. They are all blight resistant. I have frozen the big ones. I grew too many plants. All outdoors but sunny place by a wall

I would think that leaving them outdoors, unless blight resistant, is dodgy. Could be a devastated crop. I used to bring mine in from early september and kept them dark, they always ripened eventually

I have had a lot this year, very impressed with the varieties

karmalady

I would think that leaving them outdoors, unless blight resistant, is dodgy. Could be a devastated crop. I used to bring mine in from early september and kept them dark, they always ripened eventually

I have had a lot this year, very impressed with the varieties

Thanks, I will watch like a hawk for blight! Had it before with some in pots - I know it goes through like wildfire.

Ours are all harvested. I have found a tomato sauce recipe by Delia for pasta which I have made pots of and frozen.

BevSec Delias’ meatloaf recipe with that tomato sauce and pasta is truly 😋

Granmarderby10 thank you, I will look it up. 😊

BevSec

Ours are all harvested. I have found a tomato sauce recipe by Delia for pasta which I have made pots of and frozen.

Different recipe, we've frozen many pots of sauce already.

Jaxjacky

It’s been my worse year for tomatoes, even in the greenhouse.

Same here. In fact, it's been a really poor year for most of our veg, with the exception of our tatties and beetroot. I just finished pickling the last of the beetroot this week, in fact. Also made a spiced carrot chutney.

ours are still in the greenhouse and we are still getting new fruit
we haven't really had a massive crop this year compared to others

I haven't had so much as one tomato this year.

Neighbours kids using my plants as a goalpost, plus the wind and rain.

All I have is a couple of miniscule plants, with no idea what to do with them or where to put them.

A few of the small ones are ripening, one beefsteak, a 3 in 1 odd tomato, that’s it so far, cucumbers ok, but less than usual, beetroot ok, courgettes great and early spuds lovely. I’ve got leeks in, 🤞 no leaf miner and a few parsnips now.

Mine have just about stopped ripening, but lots are splitting, so I have picked them all and taken up the plants. They have been in big pots outside, we haven’t had any rain to speak of here in Essex, so it’s been a struggle to keep watering them. I grew two varieties, Crimson crush and cocktail crush and had a good crop from both, but I really like the big beefy tomatoes which sadly are usually susceptible to blight. Will make soup as they ripen.

We have hung the plants upside down to ripen the tomatoes but that was in a greenhouse.

Putting them in a drawer works and bananas do help as they emit ethane.

Most of my veg have been very poor but the tomatoes are doing OK. Strangely those outside have ripened at the same rate as those in the greenhouse. We have had a really heavy crop of blight resistant plum and big beefsteak ones with many kilos still left to ripen. They are really tasty this year. I grew from seed with seven plants in the greenhouse and twelve on the veg plot.