Posted: Sat May 18, 24 12:59 pm Post subject: this years tomatoes
elsie, craig and shirley sound like a z list club band
they came quite tall in 500ml pots, they are now up to the tuft in 17 lt pots and resting under a small tree after a tiring friday night out
from the nice market gardener folk who do ace veg and some "spare" veg plants
no big boys this year, probably best as it will be a short season, it has only just warmed up enough for outside toms
Nicky cigreen
Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 9881 Location: Devon, uk
Posted: Sat May 18, 24 5:03 pm Post subject:
this year I am growing entirely from seeds I saved myself from last year - some from my own home grown tomatoes and one from organic box scheme I liked. I do understand that they wont necessarily breed true - but I think it is likely to have some qualities I like.
So my varieties this year are : sweet olive, orange cherry, yellow cherry plum, riverford red cherry, fiorento,
gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 8924 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Posted: Sat May 18, 24 5:33 pm Post subject:
The organic box cherry might be less likely to be an F1, hopefully 🙂
gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 8924 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Posted: Sat May 18, 24 5:35 pm Post subject:
I bought Roma...a good shape for slicing for salads or sandwiches, and a good cooker as well.
I'm not doing tomatoes this year. With work and not being too well, my gardening is just what I feel I can manage this year. I am hoping to grow peas and mangetout peas in the greenhouse with a couple of courgettes.
You should have more than enough for food supply next year then. I don't really have time or energy to look after them properly, and the greenhouse needs a rest from them this year, so have mangetout peas, a few peas (the others didn't come up), a squash and a couple of courgettes in there this year.
elsie, craig and shirley have had a difficult year
lots of travel, getting stuck in unsuitable places, less than ideal weather etc
they have quite a few tomatoes, one red, one orange, lots/most yellowing
i might even get some to eat
just for fun as well as flushing and reducing water i have added an over ripe banana to each pot, although enough acetylene to make a difference to ripening out of doors might take several cylinders an hour
gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 8924 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 24 5:20 pm Post subject:
I just grew Roma (not F1)
Took a long time to get flowering and was a bit leggy...not enough light...not enough insects either so I helped the pollenation.
A decent tasty crop. I trimmed the tops today, don't think they are going to set any more despite still flowering, so I'm concentrating on getting what there us on the plants, to ripen
there are a tiny fraction of the pollinators there were a couple of years ago
at the mo the odd lone working wasp is looking for insects to take home
across many species flying insects are almost missing from the ecosystem
there are a few spp that seem ok, perhaps because the predation rate has reduced
the large insectivores, bat and bird etc, are almost missing, as are the insect on insect ones
hand pollination or grow things that are not insect dependant
Slim
Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Posts: 6612 Location: New England (In the US of A)
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 24 8:16 pm Post subject:
It's not global. My property is awash in a huge diversity of insect life. So it's clearly a privilege that can't be enjoyed by all, but if you're surrounded with native woodlands and plant a bunch of things that flower, you can maintain an abundance of healthy critters
Some things seem to be down this year, like butterflies, but think that is very much because of the weather. We seem to have the usual cohort of bitey things in the woods, wasps, bees and others of easily visual size here, but we are semi rural.