I always grow sungold tomatoes which have the best flavour and disease resistance of any I've tried. Living in the south of England I sow the seeds in February on a south facing windowsill so that I have really strong, healthy plants to put in my greenhouse by the beginning of April. To protect from blight water carefully so that you do not splash the leaves and check the plants every day for the first signs of the disease. If you remove this the plants remain healthy and you'll still be picking in November.
I only grow heirlooms and must say that it is hard to pick just one or two faves. I grow both in garden and in greenhouse and had no problems with blight, however, we had a cool and wet June which really set us back. Would have to say that Martino's Roma and Ludmilla's Plum were my fave pastes, Black Cherry remains the best cherry out there, and my fave slicer this year? Tough one, probably Green Zebra, though not a true heirloom, or Black Seaman.
Just finished picking to ripen this week two types from the Greenhouses, Gardeners Delight & Moneymaker. Must admit been lucky this year, no blight on indoor crops. Outside plants caught blight later in season, but had done crop rotation, so hopefully may have had some influence. Never known toms to last this late though !!
A bad year for growing Tomatoes in the uk this year due to climatic conditions.
I have been growing Tomatoes since 1994 when I first started to research the best way to grow them and found the tastiest variety to be "Gardener's delight". I grow them by the Hydroponic method in a greenhouse, and would myself never consider any other method. Yield is far and away above conventional methods and, blight has never been a problem, but it is essential to keep ventilation going through the autumn. Attached find my final harvest picture in mid November 2012. another bonus with Hydroponics is that the pile of green tomatoes that we are all left with with at the end of the season will ripen over the next few weeks if layed out on trays, probably due to the nutrient balance in the feed, In the past I have been able to have a few Tomatoes left into January the following year. A retired friend of mine in the mid nineties asked me if my Tomatoes had a chemical taste due to the hydroponic feed? I gave a bag full the next week. His comment later was that they tasted like real Tomatoes used to taste!
if you looking to monty or adam for advice you will be failure
the secret to growing tomato getting an early start. planting out under protection(cloche,wall o water or hoop house) growing in raised beds,watering at ground level and good air circulation. And spraying for blight long before there is even a warning that it is the area(starting 2 weeks after transplant.
We live in France, and this year my tomatoes are all going bad underneath the ones that aren't going bad are very green and hard with no sign of ripening. We have horses I put the in a load of manure in the soil could this be why.
What do you mean by going bad underneath? A dark patch at the blossom (bottom) end of the fruit? Could be Blossom End Rot which is caused by plant stress. This is BER:
Horse manure is a great addition to the soil providing it's aged rather than fresh. Fresh manure will burn the roots of plants.
I live in France too, Dordogne. We have had a drought and very hot weather. Tomatoes can dry out very quickly with weather such as we've had and blossom end rot can be caused by erratic or not enough watering. I have watered mine more than usual this year, but when we were away and the housesitter wasn't so vigilant they suffered.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I live in Holland, have a garden on dune sand. Ik think the answer to tomato blight is looking for small, quickly growing plants. I have had Japanese Early (De Nieuwe Tuin) for two years now and they have given me a steady crop of tasty red and healthy tomatoes for about 6 weeks both summers.
I am certainly growing them again next year and hope to have a still larger crop when my soil gets better from adding more organic material.
Posts
I always grow sungold tomatoes which have the best flavour and disease resistance of any I've tried. Living in the south of England I sow the seeds in February on a south facing windowsill so that I have really strong, healthy plants to put in my greenhouse by the beginning of April. To protect from blight water carefully so that you do not splash the leaves and check the plants every day for the first signs of the disease. If you remove this the plants remain healthy and you'll still be picking in November.
I only grow heirlooms and must say that it is hard to pick just one or two faves. I grow both in garden and in greenhouse and had no problems with blight, however, we had a cool and wet June which really set us back. Would have to say that Martino's Roma and Ludmilla's Plum were my fave pastes, Black Cherry remains the best cherry out there, and my fave slicer this year? Tough one, probably Green Zebra, though not a true heirloom, or Black Seaman.
Just finished picking to ripen this week two types from the Greenhouses, Gardeners Delight & Moneymaker. Must admit been lucky this year, no blight on indoor crops. Outside plants caught blight later in season, but had done crop rotation, so hopefully may have had some influence. Never known toms to last this late though !!
A bad year for growing Tomatoes in the uk this year due to climatic conditions.
I have been growing Tomatoes since 1994 when I first started to research the best way to grow them and found the tastiest variety to be "Gardener's delight". I grow them by the Hydroponic method in a greenhouse, and would myself never consider any other method. Yield is far and away above conventional methods and, blight has never been a problem, but it is essential to keep ventilation going through the autumn. Attached find my final harvest picture in mid November 2012. another bonus with Hydroponics is that the pile of green tomatoes that we are all left with with at the end of the season will ripen over the next few weeks if layed out on trays, probably due to the nutrient balance in the feed, In the past I have been able to have a few Tomatoes left into January the following year. A retired friend of mine in the mid nineties asked me if my Tomatoes had a chemical taste due to the hydroponic feed? I gave a bag full the next week. His comment later was that they tasted like real Tomatoes used to taste!
method
if you looking to monty or adam for advice you will be failure
the secret to growing tomato getting an early start. planting out under protection(cloche,wall o water or hoop house) growing in raised beds,watering at ground level and good air circulation. And spraying for blight long before there is even a warning that it is the area(starting 2 weeks after transplant.
We live in France, and this year my tomatoes are all going bad underneath the ones that aren't going bad are very green and hard with no sign of ripening. We have horses I put the in a load of manure in the soil could this be why.
What do you mean by going bad underneath? A dark patch at the blossom (bottom) end of the fruit? Could be Blossom End Rot which is caused by plant stress. This is BER:
Horse manure is a great addition to the soil providing it's aged rather than fresh. Fresh manure will burn the roots of plants.
I live in France too, Dordogne. We have had a drought and very hot weather. Tomatoes can dry out very quickly with weather such as we've had and blossom end rot can be caused by erratic or not enough watering. I have watered mine more than usual this year, but when we were away and the housesitter wasn't so vigilant they suffered.
I live in Holland, have a garden on dune sand. Ik think the answer to tomato blight is looking for small, quickly growing plants. I have had Japanese Early (De Nieuwe Tuin) for two years now and they have given me a steady crop of tasty red and healthy tomatoes for about 6 weeks both summers.
I am certainly growing them again next year and hope to have a still larger crop when my soil gets better from adding more organic material.