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Post by balc2 on Oct 5, 2023 11:45:35 GMT
I just picked another big handful of Gardeners Delight tomatoes this morning!
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Post by seaburn on Oct 8, 2023 9:33:14 GMT
ours are still doing well but I need to clear the greenhouse soon so I will be picking them all.
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Post by balc2 on Oct 10, 2023 20:42:00 GMT
This morning I spent an hour on the balcony & picked the ripe toms. I also took some photos of the tomato plants. I expect to have to take them down at the end of the month but for now I want them to continue to ripen the remaining fruit.  
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Post by balc2 on Oct 20, 2023 20:08:47 GMT
Every few days I'm picking at least a few toms from the plants on the balcony, but I'm picking them as soon as they start to show a little colour so as to give the rest a chance of getting a little bigger & to start to ripen. I will probably remove the plants at the end of October but until then they can continue to bulk up the fruit & I'll pick whatever ripens so others get a chance before the month comes to an end. I also took some photos of the plants before they finish.    |
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Post by balc2 on Nov 2, 2023 22:06:12 GMT
Today I also picked the last of my tomatoes.  It's no good leaving them any longer so off came those of a size that will ripen over the coming weeks in the kitchen & then I cut down all the plants. The self-sown seedling looks in every way a different variety to 'Gardeners Delight'. I have never grown this tomato before so I have no idea where the seed could have come from, perhaps it hitched a ride on a bird, though few ever enter the balcony. This seedling reached the ceiling of the balcony even though I removed the growing tip at the start of September. It had grown another sideshoot which when it reached the ceiling just kept on growing - sideways!
  
As I don't know the name of this variety I just kept on using 'Gardeners Delight' even though it clearly isn't!
That's it for another year!
I have been growing tomatoes on this balcony for the better part of the 22 years we have lived in this flat. I've also grown them in a greenhouse on the allotment I shared with a friend from church as well as in the open ground. I also grew them when we lived in different flats in Spain. But I'm not sure if I will continue another year. It's a very expensive hobby - though the tomatoes do taste better than the ones we get from the supermarkets.
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Post by Eli on Nov 4, 2023 10:47:03 GMT
It would be a shame if you didn't grow any at all balc2, I don't grow so many now because I don't need them but still like to have a few home grown ones for myself. As you say they taste much better than 'shop' ones.
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Post by seaburn on Nov 4, 2023 11:21:44 GMT
I agree Hywel. I will be growing fewer plants as its just Steve and me now the girls are married. I have a dish of green ones on the windowsill and they are providing a couple of red ones every other day. I grow them for the flavour. as the supermarket ones are pretty bland.
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Post by balc2 on Nov 4, 2023 17:52:17 GMT
We'll see next spring how I feel! I'm only growing 9 plants anyway!
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Post by seaburn on Nov 4, 2023 20:55:53 GMT
I'll go for 6 2 cherry type, 2 salad ones and 2 plum ones.
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Post by grindle on Nov 5, 2023 4:12:55 GMT
I won't be growing many next year, OH doesn't eat them so it's only me, I'm going to have to find another place to grow them as the greenhouse is in too much shade for them, I'm working on a scheme  |
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Post by balc2 on Nov 5, 2023 21:49:08 GMT
grindle, I'm also the only one who eats them, my wife isn't very keen on them but I love them! These 'Gardeners Delight' toms I could eat like kids eat sweets! (In fact I do! )
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Post by balc2 on Dec 6, 2023 22:02:55 GMT
Would you believe that this cutting has survived 3 nights of frost on the balcony?! No special protection either!   |
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Post by balc2 on Dec 7, 2023 21:01:05 GMT
This is the first ever tomato cutting I've ever taken! When I was planting out the tomatoes in May I accidentally broke one of the plants off very near to soil level! With the hope it might still recover & grow I planted it in the growbag. The broken off piece I shortened, removing some lower leaves & put it in alongside the rootball. I wasn't expecting it to take but on the off chance it might I thought perhaps later, towards the end of summer I might get a truss or two. The same from the rootball portion. But the rootball part never did grow yet the cutting, though it took a very long time, did grow!
At the end of October I removed all the plants from the growbags except for this cutting. I put the bags under the table on the balcony & hardly took any notice of the tomato cutting; I was expecting it to die any day but, as you can see it hasn't! In fact it has survived 3 nights with temps of 3C below 0C with no protection. It has been in the same place without being moved for the last 2 months & now it even has a couple of flowers!
I took this photo today from outside of the balcony to show where it is. I didn't cover it with fleece or anything, in fact I more or less forgot about it, just like the 2 pots of Clivias! .
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Post by balc2 on Dec 7, 2023 21:31:48 GMT
I will be growing some mini-tomatoes next year. But I still have a lot of 'Gardeners Delight' seeds. 2 years ago I got a packet of 60 seeds online! I don't know why I got so many as I can't grow more than about 10 plants on the balcony! So I will probably sow another ten to grow on the balcony next year as well. It's a tomato I very much like & have grown it many times over the the last 20+ years on the balcony. I've also grown it on an allotment as well as an unheated greenhouse on said allotment.
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Post by grindle on Dec 10, 2023 7:44:54 GMT
plants always manage to amaze us don't they |
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It's no good leaving them any longer so off came those of a size that will ripen over the coming weeks in the kitchen & then I cut down all the plants.
Sept 6, 2018 17:58:08 GMT
Sept 6, 2018 17:58:08 GMT
Aug 10, 2019 9:01:47 GMT
Aug 10, 2019 9:01:47 GMT