Have just had to make a batch of tomato pickle, a month earlier than usual. The Alicante toms I am growing this year are huge ( to previous years) and I needed far less numbers to make the needed weight. I wonder if this has to do with the variation, as these are potato leafed unlike previous cultivars. The Roma are just turning and when I have enough will go to make soup for the winter. I tried freezing whole tomatoes last year, and it worked well.
I don't feed my tomatoes at all. They go into the pollytunnels as around late May whenever the last frost seems to have passed, they are planted into soil that has already had a potato crop taken and that had compost added for it. But the tomatoes themselves get no fetiliser or compost, and they are rarely watered, I watered 2 days ago for the first time since they were planted. We've had enough rain that it moves through the soil under the pollytunnels.
Last year I got enough tomatoes that we had enough salsa, ketchup, bbq sauce and "tinned" tomatoes for the entire year, we're nearly out of the plain ones and ketchup but I think I overdid the salsa!
B3 Thanks for the tomato tip! I am leaving on a week holiday tomorrow, and have been trying to figure out what to do with all my currently ripe cherry tomatoes. I'll pack some to take with us, but have more than we can eat at the moment.. eating them for breakfast (fried in the pan next to the eggs), lunch (tomato and cheese sandwich) and dinner (tomato and cucumber salad). Last year I roasted them and put them in bags to freeze. Mainly made soup.. but it wasn't the right flavor as they were all super sweet. Frozen marbles can just be taken out and tossed in with a jar of pasta sauce or veg soup. Love it, thanks!
Overfeeding just makes them too comfy @celcius_kkw . It's also a waste of food. You want them to flower, and then produce fruit. If they're too comfy, and not stressed enough, they'll just grow lush and not bother trying to 'reproduce'. Which is what we want. I don't grow very many, as I only have a small growhouse, and I'd need to heat it if I wanted earlier produce. In pots, and I only feed a couple of times. I've experimented in the past with feeding more and it makes no difference to the size of crop, regardless of variety. Different if you're growing in the ground, whether inside or outside. In pots they're more dependent, as with any potted plant.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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The Roma are just turning and when I have enough will go to make soup for the winter.
I tried freezing whole tomatoes last year, and it worked well.
You want them to flower, and then produce fruit. If they're too comfy, and not stressed enough, they'll just grow lush and not bother trying to 'reproduce'.
Which is what we want.
I don't grow very many, as I only have a small growhouse, and I'd need to heat it if I wanted earlier produce. In pots, and I only feed a couple of times.
I've experimented in the past with feeding more and it makes no difference to the size of crop, regardless of variety.
Different if you're growing in the ground, whether inside or outside. In pots they're more dependent, as with any potted plant.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...