Saturday 1 August 2015

Tomatoes ripening at last!

Getting my first ripe tomatoes is always a significant moment in the gardening year for me.


These ones are "Maskotka", of which I have three plants.


It is a very prolific fruiter, but a very untidy plant too.


Some others that are now ripe are these "Orkado".


The compost contamination thing has definitely affected them, because the fruits are a lot smaller than usual, and those on the upper trusses are the wrong shape. They are more plum-shaped than they are supposed to be.


Although the tomatoes in my next photo are not yet ripe, they are looking good. This is "Possena del Vesuvio", grown from seeds sent to me by my friend Enrico in Italy.


It's OK, these ones are supposed to be plum-shaped!


These ones are nearly ready too. They are "Primavera", one of the new German-bred blight-resistant varieties from Stephen at Victoriana Nursery Garden.


This is Primavera's sibling Clou. Whilst Primavera is going to be red, Clou is going to be yellow. This variety has had the most even (and successful) fruit-set. Almost every flower has produced a fruit.


This, on the other hand is Giant Delicious, which  has suffered from very poor fruit-set. It has had lots of flowers, but hardly any fruit have formed. However I do think I can detect a hint of reddening in this particular one.


No sign of ripening in the "Chocolate Stripes" though.


Nor indeed on this "Ferline", though it looks promising.


I can hardly wait for the day when I will be able to prepare a salad of home-grown tomatoes in four or five different colours. It surely can't be far away now!

9 comments:

  1. They are looking very good. So much better than last year.

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  2. Hello Marc
    Oh wow, what a choice of tomatoes... Here I could only harvest a little hand full, the rest is still green.
    Thank you for your visit at my blog,
    GrĂ¼ess Pascale

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  3. All of my plot tomatoes are still green although I've had a couple of cheriette tomatoes from my balcony plant. My fault, I think, as I keep forgetting to feed the plants in the garden and the summer weather hasn't helped. Yes, fresh home-grown tomato salad is definitely something to look forward to!

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  4. I'm always amazed by how many tomatoes you have on each plant! I never even have that many flowers to begin with, and the majority of them set fruit but I often have maybe 5 fruit at maximum growing on a tomato plant at one time. You have more than 5 on most trusses!!!

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  5. No reds here yet but if anything the ones outside are going to beat those in the greenhouse as long as they don't fall foul of blight. Maybe in the dull conditions light levels are better outside.

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    Replies
    1. Sue, I think the cooler dryer weather we have been having might actually be an advantage in respect of blight - which as you know prefers warm humid conditions.

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    2. I'm sure that is right Mark although we did have a blight warning, Not a good year to assess blight resistance - I should say so far

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  6. Looks like your tomatoes are not only starting, but you will be in for a good harvest from here on in. Those Possena del Vesuvio are beautiful - the dark green shoulders are so prominent.

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  7. Looks like you'll soon have a bounteous harvest!

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