First tomatoes

[dwrudd]

I have sweet olives just ripening in the greenhouse (can't wait) and in there as well I have some moneymaker which are about the size of golf balls, so they should not be long. Outside I have gardeners delight which are only small ( pea sized ) but this should help spread the harvest, and my gartenpearl in tubs are covered in 1 inch green toms.
First bit of sun should see everything come on great
Darren

[OverWyreGrower]

Lots of green toms on Sungold, Gardeners Delight, Incas F1 and Tumblers

But... ha, ha! Some of my Sungold are changing colour, so I ate one

[pigletwillie]

I must confess that we have been picking toms since the first week of June. However that is due to sowing the seeds in late jan in a heated greenhouse, planting them out in a tunnel in early April and using an early variety (bloody butcher).

The sungold sown in March and in my greenhouse at home are only just ripening and most welcome they are too.

[valmarg]

We've been picking bloody butcher for about three weeks. Like yours Piglet, they were sown early in a heated greenhouse, together with the beefsteak and plum varieties. The cherry varieties we sow later.

One plum variety, olivade, is doing absolutely fantastically this year. We have had a few ripe tomatoes, but two plants have their sixth trusses setting.

I noticed yesterday that we have a large mortgage lifter ripening - bring on the mozzarella.

A cherry variety we are growing for the first time this year, idyll, is setting really well. Flavour will be the main criterion whether we grow it again, but its looking really good.

valmarg

[sclarke624]

Hiya
Picked my two first Gardeners delight yesterday. Mother outlaw and sister outlaw reckon I should pick all the green ones and put them on a windowsill. I'm not going to as these are the same two who told me I am supposed to take all the flowers off those cucumbers whilst pointing to the tomato plants . Yeah nobody believes me when I tell them that

I have heard though that you can ripen toms by putting them with another ripe tom or a banana something to do with ethane gas (I think it was ethane , some sort of gas any way).

Ohh and first post and first year growing. HIya

[Cutecumber]

it's ethylene, the gas.

[Madasafish]

On our 5th beefsteak tomato - about 8oz.. Lots of Sungold and GD.. al under glass. Started beefsteak in late Jan under grow lamps.... Greenhouse heated only on frosty nights.
Moved quickly to keep potting on so all grew very quickly in warm April/May sunshine.. then slowed down..

(I Have 18 plants plus 6 peppers in a 8x6 greenhouse - about 6 too many:-)

[AstroChris]

First off, just want to say Hi.

I'm new to the site and live in Stirling, Scotland.

This is my second year of growing veg and so far loving every minute of it.

Saw this post and just had to reply!

These are Sungold


and these are Garden Pearl


Just wish the other toms would get a bit bigger.

Alicante


Marmande (outside)


If you want too see more pics I have a website at

www.backyard.8m.net

[Alison]

Mine aren't ripe yet but have some pretty big fruits on my outside Red Alert and loads on both my yellow and red tumbling toms (inside and out) as well as various small (but swelling) fruits on the Ferline, Gardener's Delight, Idll and San Marzano - at least I think they all but I'm not going outside to check now!

[pigletwillie]

Hi Astrochris, nice piccies of your tomatoesand welcome to the vine. However couild you just adjust the size down a bit to fit the forum.

[AstroChris]

Hi Astrochris, nice piccies of your tomatoesand welcome to the vine. However couild you just adjust the size down a bit to fit the forum.

Sorry about that, I made sure to keep them below 100kb.

[Flummery]

Hiya

I have heard though that you can ripen toms by putting them with another ripe tom or a banana something to do with ethane gas (I think it was ethane , some sort of gas any way).

Ohh and first post and first year growing. HIya

Hi and welcome - it's a bit early to be thinking of taking toms off to ripen indoors. Most of us are only just getting our first ripe tomatoes and they will continue ripening on the plant until probably October. They taste much nicer vine ripened (and eaten straight from the plant!). Our daughter had been seen walking through the greenhouse with her mouth open and sucking them gently from the vines. Cheeky madam - but she's right!

[veggiewomble]

I have loads and loads of green tomatoes on the two plants (Sungold and Moneymaker) - last estimate around 80-90 in all?? And loads of flowers, but only a few Sungolds which are around cherry-tom size are actually turning golden at all. Looks like I have a long wait ahead....

vw

[Cutecumber]

I am trying to get a long season of fresh tomatoes by using different varieties and making two sowings of the cherry tomatoes. The latter - particularly tumbler and sungold, may have been ready at the beginning of July, but that means that they will be finished in a few weeks - at the end of the season I therefore only get the biggies.

This year I have another batch of cherry toms that won't start ripening until mid-august - they were some side-shoots of the first Sungold and a few Gardeners' Delight from free seed. Fingers' crossed - if the blight stays off the big tomatoes it could be a long-lasting harvest this year!

They don't seem to be put off by the lack of sun, either - my San Marzano are enormous!

[moggssue]

I was told at the weekend to take the bigger green toms off and put them into a brown paper bag to ripen them? I'd rather leave them on the plant if I can, but maybe later in the year it would be good to know if this works?