As KEF says see if you can get a few at the GC- ours certainly still have plenty- and get them somewhere warm. Why don't you take a few of the best ones, keep them potted on and bring them indoors just now on a window sill and see how they go- nothing to lose. If you have a growhouse/greenhouse you can get them into that to push them on a bit. I bought a few little sad looking plants fro 20p from B&Q a couple of weeks ago and I potted them on yesterday into decent pots- they're about 6/8inches now and under cover. It's lovely you're carrying on a nice tradition- good luck!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Now I've pone the big ones igiving plant pots they have seemed to have grown a little! It's hard to get hold of a green house as they are VERY expensive and I'm very tight on money at the moment!!! Is there anywhere I can get pretty cheap greenhouses from?
dont lose hope. pot them on in fresh compost. u will definitely get fruits, but they might not ripen, but u can always try making green tomato chutney with the green toms.
Have a look at Ebay: type 'small greenhouse' in the search box: there are some fairly cheap plastic greenhouses on sale from around £10.00 with free post & packing. Certainly OK as a temporary measure. I bought on a few years ago for £14.95 in a Garden Centre expecting it to last for just 1 season and it lasted 5 years. Finally expired this last winter so it was good value for money
It amazes me how so many Garden Centres still have plants on sale that are so behind they can never catch up. Not only that, I see too many that don't get watered properly either. Only yesterday we were in a garden centre and came across 3 trays of Calibreze plants that had really flopped over. Plants were about 4 inches high in a very lightweight compost that was so dry the slightest puff of a breeze would have blown them over. They had an ornamental fountain adjacent to them so I just took them and soaked them before putting them back on the shelf .
It's certainly worth giving your plants a try even if they are outside, you will need to give them some protection - if you don't have any cloches try putting some canes around the plants and wrapping some polythene sheet around to tent them in to keep the wind off them or they may suffer from wind burn. At worst you can use the green tomatoes for some chutney as franco6832 suggests but if good weather holds you should at least get a few ripe ones.
Jessica, whatever happens with your toms, keep looking at the forum, it's good, we learn a lot about all sorts that we didn't even think we were interested in. This time next year you'll have toms a foot high. All the best KEF.
Jessica, whatever happens with your toms, keep looking at the forum, it's good, we learn a lot about all sorts that we didn't even think we were interested in. This time next year you'll have toms a foot high. All the best KEF.
I'll bet they'll have grown to more than a foot high by August KEF let alone this time next year! JH
Throughout the country in March, April and early May we all suffered horrendously cold easterly winds - I am in Cheshire, and we all had to sow/grow our Toms in unusual conditions.
I am fortunate in that we have a large heated Conservatory and an understanding wife, in late February on returning from winter hols I sowed the Toms (Unwin`s Gourmet and Gardener`s Delight) on the 15th. They germinated in 10 days and pricked-out beginning of March. I have a 6x6foot GH in which I object to putting on the heating until very late March/early April because of the cost of electricity so they had to stay in 4 inch pots in the Conservatory for much longer than usual.
Since 1999 my wife and I have kept a diary for the garden and with following details of the past years, come June, I find that my Toms are only a week or two behind the average. They have 4-5 trusses of flowers, 5 ft. high and green fruit, the heating is OFF with night temperatures in the GH of 50-55 degrees (I leave you younger ones to work this out in your European numbers!).
I still hope to pick ripe Toms in another 4 weeks (mid July) and then compare them with past crops. We all have to compensate from one year to another due to our "fabulous" climate but if you can compensate to some degree, you can still achieve a high production.
YES, my Toms will probably cost £2.00 per Tom!!!! but what satisfaction. Better than tasteless supermarket rubbish and all grown by you!
Posts
As KEF says see if you can get a few at the GC- ours certainly still have plenty- and get them somewhere warm. Why don't you take a few of the best ones, keep them potted on and bring them indoors just now on a window sill and see how they go- nothing to lose. If you have a growhouse/greenhouse you can get them into that to push them on a bit. I bought a few little sad looking plants fro 20p from B&Q a couple of weeks ago and I potted them on yesterday into decent pots- they're about 6/8inches now and under cover. It's lovely you're carrying on a nice tradition- good luck!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Now I've pone the big ones igiving plant pots they have seemed to have grown a little! It's hard to get hold of a green house as they are VERY expensive and I'm very tight on money at the moment!!! Is there anywhere I can get pretty cheap greenhouses from?
Im not giving up!
dont lose hope. pot them on in fresh compost. u will definitely get fruits, but they might not ripen, but u can always try making green tomato chutney with the green toms.
Have a look at Ebay: type 'small greenhouse' in the search box: there are some fairly cheap plastic greenhouses on sale from around £10.00 with free post & packing. Certainly OK as a temporary measure. I bought on a few years ago for £14.95 in a Garden Centre expecting it to last for just 1 season and it lasted 5 years. Finally expired this last winter so it was good value for money
Oh dear, I just planted some that big (well, small), outside, and I bought them from the garden centre last weekend.
I am optimistic - they will do well. They are trailing bush type ones, maybe they don't need to be too big.
Good luck Jessica Rose, keep us informed.
Thank you guys
x
It amazes me how so many Garden Centres still have plants on sale that are so behind they can never catch up. Not only that, I see too many that don't get watered properly either. Only yesterday we were in a garden centre and came across 3 trays of Calibreze plants that had really flopped over. Plants were about 4 inches high in a very lightweight compost that was so dry the slightest puff of a breeze would have blown them over. They had an ornamental fountain adjacent to them so I just took them and soaked them before putting them back on the shelf
.
It's certainly worth giving your plants a try even if they are outside, you will need to give them some protection - if you don't have any cloches try putting some canes around the plants and wrapping some polythene sheet around to tent them in to keep the wind off them or they may suffer from wind burn. At worst you can use the green tomatoes for some chutney as franco6832 suggests but if good weather holds you should at least get a few ripe ones.
Jessica, whatever happens with your toms, keep looking at the forum, it's good, we learn a lot about all sorts that we didn't even think we were interested in. This time next year you'll have toms a foot high. All the best KEF.
I'll bet they'll have grown to more than a foot high by August KEF let alone this time next year!
JH
Throughout the country in March, April and early May we all suffered horrendously cold easterly winds - I am in Cheshire, and we all had to sow/grow our Toms in unusual conditions.
I am fortunate in that we have a large heated Conservatory and an understanding wife, in late February on returning from winter hols I sowed the Toms (Unwin`s Gourmet and Gardener`s Delight) on the 15th. They germinated in 10 days and pricked-out beginning of March. I have a 6x6foot GH in which I object to putting on the heating until very late March/early April because of the cost of electricity so they had to stay in 4 inch pots in the Conservatory for much longer than usual.
Since 1999 my wife and I have kept a diary for the garden and with following details of the past years, come June, I find that my Toms are only a week or two behind the average. They have 4-5 trusses of flowers, 5 ft. high and green fruit, the heating is OFF with night temperatures in the GH of 50-55 degrees (I leave you younger ones to work this out in your European numbers!).
I still hope to pick ripe Toms in another 4 weeks (mid July) and then compare them with past crops. We all have to compensate from one year to another due to our "fabulous" climate but if you can compensate to some degree, you can still achieve a high production.
YES, my Toms will probably cost £2.00 per Tom!!!! but what satisfaction. Better than tasteless supermarket rubbish and all grown by you!