I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April.
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@CiaraNi i've a wee south-facing glass house against a white wall, hours of light. only grow tiny varieties. switched to using growbags this year - good move, fair yield. ruthlessly cut back any non-flowering stems. Water water water. taste one or two as they grow, but make wee batches of sauce for winter to be reminded of summer. might try hydroponics next year (said that two years ago already).
most important result is grandchildren learning about photosynthesis
keep sowing, keep sharing
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@magsamond Everything about this is lovely - the decent crop, the winter sauce reminding you of summer, the grandchildren learning along with the plants growing
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@CiaraNi they look delicious though!
If you would like any tomato growing top tips for next year, I’d be happy to share some.@Hellybootwader Thank you and yes please, all tips welcome. I've still got a few tomatoless plants hanging in there, not actually dead. I'm a laissez-faire balcony 'gardener' - I always remember to water them, and I randomly gave them some organic liquid fertiliser at some point, but otherwise I just leave them in peace. If there's something I should actually be doing, I'd be interested to hear.
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I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
@CiaraNi I had the same result a few years ago - I thought I'd be overflowing with tomatoes
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@Hellybootwader Thank you and yes please, all tips welcome. I've still got a few tomatoless plants hanging in there, not actually dead. I'm a laissez-faire balcony 'gardener' - I always remember to water them, and I randomly gave them some organic liquid fertiliser at some point, but otherwise I just leave them in peace. If there's something I should actually be doing, I'd be interested to hear.
@CiaraNi i'm by no means an expert, but i've followed the tip that you should remove the middle sprout at any fork they grow. so just leave the two outer branches but take the middle one when they start growing one there (i hope this makes sense). i think that's supposed to make them grow more fruit?
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@CiaraNi I had the same result a few years ago - I thought I'd be overflowing with tomatoes
@SCampbell I've decided to think of it as a crop of exclusive tomatoes.
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@CiaraNi i'm by no means an expert, but i've followed the tip that you should remove the middle sprout at any fork they grow. so just leave the two outer branches but take the middle one when they start growing one there (i hope this makes sense). i think that's supposed to make them grow more fruit?
@venetiana Oh that's interesting - and thanks for the clear description, I know exactly what you mean. I must look at mine later, see if there are forks involved. Thank you for the tip.
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@Hellybootwader Thank you and yes please, all tips welcome. I've still got a few tomatoless plants hanging in there, not actually dead. I'm a laissez-faire balcony 'gardener' - I always remember to water them, and I randomly gave them some organic liquid fertiliser at some point, but otherwise I just leave them in peace. If there's something I should actually be doing, I'd be interested to hear.
A tip still pertinent to *this* year, which I had to pick-up quickly when I started growing in this normally hot-summer climate, is that many plants - inc toms - have summer break then continue with renewed vigour as it cools down, if you have managed to keep them alive thru the heat.
So, if it's been abnormally hot and dry up there too, try giving them some more feed and water. They may have a 2nd go, if there's enough light and the temperatures stay up.
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A tip still pertinent to *this* year, which I had to pick-up quickly when I started growing in this normally hot-summer climate, is that many plants - inc toms - have summer break then continue with renewed vigour as it cools down, if you have managed to keep them alive thru the heat.
So, if it's been abnormally hot and dry up there too, try giving them some more feed and water. They may have a 2nd go, if there's enough light and the temperatures stay up.
@wavesculptor @Hellybootwader Thank you. The balcony gets many hours of light and sunlight and temperatures are still warm, so there should be hope yet. Not five months of it, but a good few weeks before everyday Autumn weather. I will continue to feed and water them and see if anything happens. Thanks for the tip.
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I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
I read once that tomato seeds can be encouraged to be more successful if they are fermented before planting, and that gave me the best germination rate, and the best crop I've had.
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I read once that tomato seeds can be encouraged to be more successful if they are fermented before planting, and that gave me the best germination rate, and the best crop I've had.
@isol Interesting! Great tip. Thank you.
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@Hellybootwader Thank you and yes please, all tips welcome. I've still got a few tomatoless plants hanging in there, not actually dead. I'm a laissez-faire balcony 'gardener' - I always remember to water them, and I randomly gave them some organic liquid fertiliser at some point, but otherwise I just leave them in peace. If there's something I should actually be doing, I'd be interested to hear.
@CiaraNi if you have flowers that are not setting fruit - they may need some help with pollination- if you can ‘tap’ the plants on the stalks with flowers that can help get pollen onto the stigmas (for extra fun you can use a soft paintbrush & pretend to be a bee)
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I read once that tomato seeds can be encouraged to be more successful if they are fermented before planting, and that gave me the best germination rate, and the best crop I've had.
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@CiaraNi if you have flowers that are not setting fruit - they may need some help with pollination- if you can ‘tap’ the plants on the stalks with flowers that can help get pollen onto the stigmas (for extra fun you can use a soft paintbrush & pretend to be a bee)
@Hellybootwader Thank you. The flowers have been few and far between and on stalks that are not setting fruit. I will definitely try this.
"you can use a soft paintbrush & pretend to be a bee"'
This is most definitely what I will be doing - thanks for this delightful tip!
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I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
@CiaraNi It's sad but happens. And are these tiny tomatoes not the most precious treasures?
Here in France, with now too much sun even for the sun-loving tomatoes, lives a guy who produces seeds adapted to heat and drought. He started with usual species hardening them, e.g. giving them nearly no water. His tomatoes grow even on completely stony ground, like weed.
Another one breeds old forgotten varieties and makes research about climate adaption. Our problems are not so new, natives had
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@CiaraNi It's sad but happens. And are these tiny tomatoes not the most precious treasures?
Here in France, with now too much sun even for the sun-loving tomatoes, lives a guy who produces seeds adapted to heat and drought. He started with usual species hardening them, e.g. giving them nearly no water. His tomatoes grow even on completely stony ground, like weed.
Another one breeds old forgotten varieties and makes research about climate adaption. Our problems are not so new, natives had
@CiaraNi adapted varieties for every climate zone. But with the industrialisation of farming to a handful modern varieties, we often forgot that knowledge.
So I want to give you some hope for the next year: nature has some solutions. And sometimes, tomatoes want to be free.
(I had my best harvests from forgotten, wildly seeded tomatoe plants on my compost). -
@Hellybootwader Thank you. The flowers have been few and far between and on stalks that are not setting fruit. I will definitely try this.
"you can use a soft paintbrush & pretend to be a bee"'
This is most definitely what I will be doing - thanks for this delightful tip!
@CiaraNi hope you have fun buzzing around the flowers!
If not many flowers maybe add the fertiliser a bit more regularly? The soil will probably be depleted after 5 months.
There are some nice seaweed based fertilisers that seem to work well.
Tomatoes are hungry plants. -
A tip still pertinent to *this* year, which I had to pick-up quickly when I started growing in this normally hot-summer climate, is that many plants - inc toms - have summer break then continue with renewed vigour as it cools down, if you have managed to keep them alive thru the heat.
So, if it's been abnormally hot and dry up there too, try giving them some more feed and water. They may have a 2nd go, if there's enough light and the temperatures stay up.
-
I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
@CiaraNi 🤩 Nice
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@CiaraNi adapted varieties for every climate zone. But with the industrialisation of farming to a handful modern varieties, we often forgot that knowledge.
So I want to give you some hope for the next year: nature has some solutions. And sometimes, tomatoes want to be free.
(I had my best harvests from forgotten, wildly seeded tomatoe plants on my compost).@CiaraNi If you want the link of the breeder, I can give it to you. On his website you can search varieties which are best for balconies e.g. I have to search ... we call him the Tomato Prince, it's a big old castle ... must refind the book.
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I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
@CiaraNi I decided to plant bok choy (Chinese cabbage) this year. After much composting and manuring of the soil before sowing the seeds, and loving twice-daily waterings thereafter, I ended up with a crop that could fairly be represented by your photograph if you removed the tomatoes. The plants came up, but I think they got shocked by the heat because they bolted and went straight to seed. OTOH I did manage to grow a few aubergines/eggplants. Outdoors.
