Today is seeing me a drippy, sweaty mess in the polytunnel, working at 30 degree temperatures to pot on my tomato seedlings and put the larger ones into their final resting place in the Gro-Pots.
I've just started on the 'Gardener's Delight' Tomato seedlings.
And I really wanted to show those of you who are a bit dismayed at the lack of growth on your tomatoes compared to the plants you are seeing in the shops that all is not lost. I have lots of tiny little seedlings that are only just going into their first sized pots after being started off in toilet roll inners.
The variable weather and chilly nights in the polytunnel has kept the growth checked but they will soon pick up now that we have had a few days of sunshine, even though they do look so ridiculously teeny, tiny now they are potted on individually.
These are just some of my 'Golden Sunrise' tomatoes. I grew these last year and the flavour is amazing ... and they won me a couple of prizes at the two flower shows I entered with them.
This year instead of staking them I am going back to my 'greenhouse' method of allowing them to grow up strings that I have tied to the polytunnel cross frame bar. They will need tying in a little bit as they wind their way around the string but it means that there is no mass of bamboo canes cluttering up the polytunnel. We'll see if it works as well en-masse as it did in a single row in the greenhouse.
I have to admit to sowing far too many tomato seeds once again, and there are lots more plants waiting to be planted. Some of them will be going in the net tunnel when I have hardened them off slightly, and some if they put on good growth in the next month will be taken to the car boot sale with us to make some extra cash.
Oh well this has been a nice little computer break ... but now it's back to work.
Hope the sun is shining for you today too.
Sue xx
Wow, if all those tomatoes produce you will be rolling in tasty treats.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Wow, you'll be in tomato heaven!! I've never seen pots like your green ones. I think they would be ideal for watering.
ReplyDeleteThat's a heck of a lot of side shoots to pick out!
ReplyDeletexx
Doesn't EVERYONE sow far too many tomatoes? Fortunately they are easy enough to give away / sell. I'm presuming you want lots of them for making sauce to freeze for Winter use?
ReplyDeleteWhat a grand harvest you can expect from all those!
ReplyDeleteWe've put ours out in the open today. We've got 10 plants - they're quite big and were grown from seed by my dad and started off in his greenhouse - hopefully the weather will improve and they'll do well.
ReplyDeleteEventually after growing too many for years, by about year 23 I finally got it right!
ReplyDeleteWe have lots of tomatoes too but I love them and no doubt we will find a use for them x
ReplyDeleteWe have stuck to five different varieties this year but we shall still give some away. A good idea to sell left over plants x
ReplyDeleteI've just planted 50 or so tomato plants out as an experiment this year - but we'll have to see how it works out. I'm hoping for a bumper harvest.
ReplyDeleteI've got 20 and more to come. I'm thinking of investing in those collars.
ReplyDeleteIm so glad to see the stage yours are at. My first lot just did not pick up, even once the heat arrived, so they are now in the compost bin and the replacements are now at the seed leaf stage. I have three plants from an earlier planting in my raised bed in the greenhouse and the tiny ones will probably join them in the next couple of weeks. As I'm in Scotland I'm hoping there's enough time in the growing season up here to let those tiny ones mature. Here's hoping we're all munching sweet tomatoes in a couple of months :D
ReplyDeleteI forgot to buy my cress and mustard seeds!
ReplyDeleteI see lots of tomato soups, sandwiches, casseroles, stews and salads in your future...I thought about this as I was chopping some tomatoes to go with my eggs this evening for tea. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI am one of those people who buy the well grown tomato plants going spare from other people's plantings, as I don't have a permanent greenhouse or polytunnel to start them off early in. For 50p a plant (less when people get desperate!) I don't grumble.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought (and I am no expert) but don't the plants need air to circulate around them because of the risk of blight when foliage is touching? I know you know your stuff so I have probably got hold of the wrong end of the stick.
And I'm one of those people who even though I might have over a hundred tomato plants at home will STILL buy one for 50p or less from someone at a car boot sale if it's of a variety I haven't sown myself ;-)
DeleteThey will have lots of air around them don't worry. I have grown my tomatoes like this for the past 6 or more years and they have never suffered with more than a mild blight. My Dad taught me all he knew about growing tomatoes and I have adapted it to meet the growing situation in each place we have lived.
My tomato plants seem to be taking forever to grow. I have potted them on into a tomato grow bag. Thought it was just me, but by the sound of things other people are experiencing slow growth. Thanks for the post, makes me feel a bit better about my tiny tomato plants! Kind regards, Louise S, Cheshire.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this post, it is hugely encouraging to me to see how small some of your seedlings are. Perhaps I shall be excommunicated as a real gardener {grin} but life has got in the way and I've not even sown my seeds yet. Hopefully I will rectify that by the weekend; do you think I'm way too late?
ReplyDeleteNo I don't think you're too late at all. I always find that later sown seeds catch up with their earlier sown counterparts ..... as long as we have some decent warm weather. Good luck :-)
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