Tomatoes: Really poor season!

[oldwheels]

I only have tatties now and a mix of some Shetland Black and left over supermarket ones also. Very good crop so far.
My wildlife pal has a biggish garden and everything is really good this year. A Highland bull managed to reach over his fence and reached a cabbage and early deer problems were sorted with a higher fence but a gun is kept in reserve.

 

[mistyoptic]

Plenty here (Staffordshire). Spent yesterday making tomato relish because we have too many to eat 🍅

 

[PaulSB]

I agree it was difficult early in the season, too cold for things to get going. Our peas have been a failure, chard and spinach germination was so poor I just pulled them out and mulched the ground. Asparagus didn't produce well and I'm unsure if this is due to the cold spring or the bed is getting old. Purple sprouting bolted.

Good success with gooseberry, red currants, black currants, apples, French beans, runner beans, lettuce, spring onions, courgette, Cavaolo Nero, broccoli, garlic, shallots, onions and tomatoes. The tomatoes are late to begin ripening but looking at the crop and very healthy plants I think we will harvest till mid or late November.

Overall pleased because there was a point when I thought the season was a right off.

 

[jowwy]

i have had success with beetrrot, spring onions, brocolli, carrots, lettuce, french beans.........but my tomatoes are just staying green at the moment, they are money makers and i have even thought of building a mini green house around them to see if i can get them to ripen

 

[figbat]

We have our usual endless glut of runner beans, but the tomatoes are doing what they seem to do every year and producing a lot of fruit but too late to ripen. Carrots and beetroot were very small, potatoes too. Cucumbers are doing OK. Strawberries were a bit of something and nothing. Our cherry tree didn’t fruit anything like last year.

 

[Bazzer]

(All greenhouse grown.)
Tomatoes were a little late for us. First pick of our favourite tomato Sungold was a bit later than usual at the very start of July, but since then we have been eating several of them almost daily. The yield is just starting to wane, but I think that is due in part to the recent weather.
I picked 3 kgs of (I think) Alicante the other night for making sauce, but we have been picking odd ones for about a month, when the Sungold were not appropriate for a meal. Probably have double that amount ripening.
Variety Roma bought specifically for sauces. They seem to ripening as in past years, but I don't expect to pick them until September.
Chillis have gone crazy with fruit, surpassing previous years, which surprised me. I have always bought packet seeds, but the crop last year was terrible, so as an idle experiment, last autumn I deseeded an Asda chilli we were using for cooking. Dried the seeds on a paper towel and left them in the garage over winter. Every one planted germinated. From early tastings they just need a bit longer to get some fire in them.

 

[Colin Grigson]

Our neighbours have given us box after box of tomatoes …. they’re obviously growing well here

 

[Saluki]

One of the nearby houses, has an allotment. Free veg outside their house as they are imminently moving away. 2 cucumbers and a squash came home with me. Soup later 🙂 little cucumbers will go in salads.

 

[Colin Grigson]

One of the nearby houses, has an allotment. Free veg outside their house as they are imminently moving away. 2 cucumbers and a squash came home with me. Soup later 🙂 little cucumbers will go in salads.

Sharing excess fruit and veg is so neighbourly - I love these little things about living here

 

[postman]

Well just the opposite here in Meanwood,loads of toms and the spuds grown in sacks are superb,sadly strawberries are rubbish.

 

[Poacher]

Outdoor tomatoes seem to be ripening better than in the greenhouse with the same varieties.
These are Pink Brandywines in a raised bed.

Meanwhile, in the greenhouse, I suspect a Blackbird has been checking the aubergines for flavour (the one in the background).

Probably be OK for human consumption, baked in a pie!

 

[dan_bo]

Our peas and baby corn doing OK. Strawberries got gobbled by slugs.

We've got a frog in residence for them little turds. Got PSB in for (hopefully) later this year.

 

[mudsticks]

The blackberry bushes, near me, are laden. This is excellent as loads of people won’t touch them as they ‘grow outside and are dirty’.

Ssshhh ,

Best not tell them where carrots come from..

Quite pleased with the aubergines this year though ..

 

[Ian H]

Last year we grew enough potatoes to last us the year. This year we grew fewer, but the crop was not brilliant, with some blight, and greenhouse tomatoes were blighted as well. Our neighbours' greenhouse has suffered: tomatoes not too bad, but grapes rotting and two nectarine trees* looking decidedly sickly.

* it's a large greenhouse

 

[jowwy]

Outdoor tomatoes seem to be ripening better than in the greenhouse with the same varieties.
These are Pink Brandywines in a raised bed.
View attachment 604995

Meanwhile, in the greenhouse, I suspect a Blackbird has been checking the aubergines for flavour (the one in the background).
View attachment 604997

Probably be OK for human consumption, baked in a pie!

how did the blackbird get into the greenhouse??