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Tomato plant has some tomatoes..

hj.reidhj.reid Posts: 17
in Fruit & veg
Newbie tomato plant grower here.  My question really is...what should I do now with my plants? 
I only planted this about 8 weeks ago but it's looking quite good and is about 5ft high. Tomatoes are Sweet Millions and Moneymaker. What is your advice on looking after and even achieving a few ripe tomatoes before this Summer sadly leaves us? 
My novice skills have been thinning out some leaves to put the plants energy into fruits - there are now a lot of fruits. thanks very much 
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Posts

  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    Hello @hj.reid

    Leave it.  

    It looks perfectly happy to me.  Don't take off too many leaves as they are the plant's food.  That doesn't mean to say you can't give it a weekly dose of fertiliser.  You should have tomatoes well into September maybe even later.  Good on you!!
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • hj.reidhj.reid Posts: 17
    Ah..thank you very much @tui34!! I'll stop snipping the leaves and carry on with the weekly fertiliser, and look forward to a mozzarella and tomato salad, thanks 
  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812


    If you can start them off earlier, grow them in the ground and under cover you'll be more successful.

    You need to cut off the growing/leading shoot and then gamble. Will we get 4 weeks of sun or not? That's your call, I don't think we will so i'd be cutting off some flowering trusses too so all the energy goes into the remaining two.
    Gardening is gambling and it's been a shit year for toms in many areas, especially outside.
  • diggersjodiggersjo Posts: 172
    They look great! As has been said leave them (assuming they are stopped?)
    Yorkshire, ex Italy and North East coast. Growing too old for it!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    If you haven't already pinched the tops out and stopped them @hj.reid it's worth doing that now, as @diggersjo says. It's unlikely any flowers produced now will have enough time to fruit, although you can remove and bring those fruits inside your house to finish ripening, as long as they've already started turning by that point.  :)
    I think you've done really well though, and you have some nice fruit there. If you can sow seed in early spring so that the plants are a decent enough size for going outdoors by end of May/beginning of June, that's ideal. I usually do mine around mid March, kept in the house on a bright windowsill as light is important at that stage, but you can do them earlier if you're in a mild area. Sometimes you just have to experiment with that too.  :)
    If you want to have them in growth earlier, and hopefully fruiting earlier and with more fruits, you may need to invest in a greenhouse, especially if you're in a colder, wetter area. Even the plastic ones, although they're a bit iffy,  will give enough shelter from rough, wet weather, which is fine for most instances.  :)
    As long as they have reasonable temps in the daytime, for long enough, through the growing season [high teens to mid 20s] and don't get into single figures overnight for any length of time, they'll do well. It's getting them outside in spring/early summer that can be the hardest bit as they need enough warmth at that point.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • hj.reidhj.reid Posts: 17
    diggersjo said:
    They look great! As has been said leave them (assuming they are stopped?)
    Thanks v much. There's still new toms coming but yes I think the others have stopped growing
  • hj.reidhj.reid Posts: 17
    thanks v much @Fairygirl . I think I've got the bug now so next year I'll definitely do as you say and plant earlier and invest in one of those green canopies as we don't have space for a greenhouse unfortunately. We're in East Lothian with a SW facing garden that is very sheltered and gets very warm so not too bad location wise. Right, I'm off to pinch out the tops  :)
  • diggersjodiggersjo Posts: 172
    It might not seem obvious, but this tom is starting to change colour:-


    Yorkshire, ex Italy and North East coast. Growing too old for it!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Yes -  you might get away with it in East Lothian for outdoor crops, but don't rely totally on that for every year as it can still be pretty cool, wet and windy. The last year or two has seen a big change climate wise, with high temps etc, but it isn't an exact science for many plants. A sheltered site will really help though, so you might be ok. Even some basic shelter for the worst weather will help, and the wall will also help if you can keep them near that too.  :)
    We're fortunate that we get the longer daylight hours up here through the growing season, but the temps can vary a lot. July was more normal this year in terms of rainfall, but still a lot warmer than it can often be. A little drier on your side   :)
    I've experimented a little bit in the last couple of years, but the ones I have outside [large pot] are tucked in beside the little growhouse, and up against the house wall. It's a windy site, despite hedging etc, so that shelter really helps. 

    Looking forward to seeing your crops next year too  :)

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    It's always so exciting when you grow something you can actually eat!  I've just trimmed back mine (so have a lovely tomato scent on my hands) so the sun can get at the trusses a bit more.  And just dug up some Charlotte potatoes and picked some French beans for supper!  
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
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