oooohhhhh look what I have found!!!!! my very first teeny tiny tomato of the season ...... its one of the German "fleisch" tomatoes and it's obviously going to look a bit like a beef steak shape.. -how excited can 1 person get over something so small lol
Whilst out checking things over I got a snap of my tomatoes -well three of the 42 ;-).... I know they still don't look very tall -and these are the ones that went outside first , so the others are smaller! but they are really sturdy and suprisingly I have noticed a ouple of them have their first flower buds on ...oohhhh can summer really be on its way???
Well here it is..... the first tomato to brave the outdoors -
At last I have tracked down some more round pots to add to my troughs for my tomatoes to live in!!! I have also got hubby to wire the bean canes in place to stop the avalanche happening once the plants start fruiting...
And this one is a Brandywine -which is a "potato leaf" variety -I was most confused when I set these last year and this strang looking thing appeared, I was wondering what was going to grow on it..but now I know what it is
Well here are my tomato seedlings so far -now it might look like they are smaller than they were before lolThe ones in red have germinated today...not bad as they were only set on the 18th March
Indeterminate - grows tall and needs support
Determinate - shorter, bush/shrub like needing less or no support
I'm planning on setting 2 of each seed -so I potentially could have 36 tomato plants -which is why I'm having to make sure that I find room for them all. Even if all the plants make it ...I know none of the fruit will go to waste as any extras get roasted and bagged up and then put in the freezer for pasta dishes through the autumn and winter months.
The Indeterminate obviously need to be next to a fence or close to an arch etc -so I have plenty of places to anchor them as they grow and tie in the trusses -and to protect them from the wind. The determinate ones can be dotted around in any gap I can find -and, if like this year the winds get up -we can run around like loonies bringing them all up near the house for shelter lol
TOMATOES.... I have to start here as tomatoes are my favourite seed to grow -hence the variety .... the ones in bold type are new to me ...so fingers crossed
How do I grow my tomatoes?
well, firstly I save all the plastic tubs I can -from, cottage cheese tubs, yogurt pots, and the tubs that grapes etc come in are particularly good.. your very own free mini indoor greenhouses! I start all my seeds off in these in a little compost..
When it comes to pricking out simply hold by 1 of the seed leaves and loosen the compost from underneath - at this point I like to put each plant into its own yogurt pot.
By the time they are due to go into their final position I have a large bottom pot(buckets are good) -punched with plenty of holes for drainage and a little gravel in the bottom, fill with plenty of compost. I then have some large plant pots with the bottoms cut off, twist theses down into the bucket about 1" and fill with compost .. dig a deep hole - plop the seedling in.. bury it right up to just below the first pair of true leaves (the part of the stem that is underground will grow roots making for a stronger and more stable plant)... the idea behind the double pot is that you water in the bottom pot... this makes the roots dig deep -again making a stronger plant.
The top pot is where you feed them...
As you can see I also did several to a trough too, although I think I was a bit ambitious getting 4 to a trough... won't do that this year... You can also see how sinking the tomato seedling down into the compost does give you slightly "wee" looking plants to begin with -but they do really well .
Also whilst I'm wittering on about my beloved toms... if you look at the trough at the top, you will see that the one on the right differs to the others -this is one of the Brandy wine varieties -that grow on a plant called a potato leaf ! So don't be surprised if you get a plant that looks like that...
