# Tomatoes: Really poor season!



## PK99 (18 Aug 2021)

3 August 2014







today


----------



## midlife (18 Aug 2021)

It's our potatoes that have been poor plus lots of stuff have bolted.


----------



## fossyant (18 Aug 2021)

We've got loads of green ones in the greenhouse. Only just starting to go red.

Outdoors, not so many


----------



## mudsticks (18 Aug 2021)

Mine have started in with blight already , even in the polytunnel.

Too dull and humid, at all the wrong times.

Some years just end up like that


----------



## Saluki (18 Aug 2021)

My onions were ready to lift. Growth had stopped. I have 3 onions.
The rest of them just didn’t bother to grow.


----------



## Kajjal (18 Aug 2021)

Poor year all round for fruit and veg. last year was really good.


----------



## fossyant (18 Aug 2021)

Our peas and baby corn doing OK. Strawberries got gobbled by slugs.


----------



## bikingdad90 (18 Aug 2021)

Saluki said:


> My onions were ready to lift. Growth had stopped. I have 3 onions.
> The rest of them just didn’t bother to grow.


Same here, had a success rate of 0%!!


----------



## OldShep (18 Aug 2021)

I’ve given up with tomatoes. My first year was tremendous and every subsequent year just a lot of work for little reward. 
Fruit in general seems to have suffered this year although we did have forever of strawberries. . I usually get 10-12 jars of raspberry jam from my local hedgerows this year I’ve had none. Also the Brambles aren’t looking too promising either.
Ive grown shallots rather than onions this year. They aren’t big but at least they’ve multiplied. Put the fork under them last night and will lift them Friday before the forecast rain.


----------



## midlife (18 Aug 2021)

My shallots grew but quite small and really eye-watering when you chop them. Elephant garlic about the size of a marble!


----------



## Saluki (18 Aug 2021)

The blackberry bushes, near me, are laden. This is excellent as loads of people won’t touch them as they ‘grow outside and are dirty’.


----------



## mudsticks (18 Aug 2021)

Squash are doing ok.

Sweetcorn ready next week


----------



## Sittingduck (18 Aug 2021)

we have picked a handful of ripe ones before today but OH came in to present about 10 nice red ones to me earlier, picked this very afternoon. Had a cpl on top of a pizza just now 

this is our first summer in this place and with a greenhouse so still learning but I think it was so chilly this spring and has been quite a poor summer, everything is very behind.


----------



## lazybloke (18 Aug 2021)

I thought it was a bad year for allotment produce, but I've returned from a week away to an inevitable glut of enormous courgettes.

Looks like a bumper crop of sloes in the hedgerows.

Gin and Ratatoille time.


----------



## Cathryn (18 Aug 2021)

My husband's root veg are amazing this year but the tomatoes are poor and the raspberries non existent! Sigh.


----------



## oldwheels (18 Aug 2021)

I only have tatties now and a mix of some Shetland Black and left over supermarket ones also. Very good crop so far.
My wildlife pal has a biggish garden and everything is really good this year. A Highland bull managed to reach over his fence and reached a cabbage and early deer problems were sorted with a higher fence but a gun is kept in reserve.


----------



## mistyoptic (18 Aug 2021)

Plenty here (Staffordshire). Spent yesterday making tomato relish because we have too many to eat 🍅


----------



## PaulSB (18 Aug 2021)

I agree it was difficult early in the season, too cold for things to get going. Our peas have been a failure, chard and spinach germination was so poor I just pulled them out and mulched the ground. Asparagus didn't produce well and I'm unsure if this is due to the cold spring or the bed is getting old. Purple sprouting bolted.

Good success with gooseberry, red currants, black currants, apples, French beans, runner beans, lettuce, spring onions, courgette, Cavaolo Nero, broccoli, garlic, shallots, onions and tomatoes. The tomatoes are late to begin ripening but looking at the crop and very healthy plants I think we will harvest till mid or late November.

Overall pleased because there was a point when I thought the season was a right off.


----------



## jowwy (19 Aug 2021)

i have had success with beetrrot, spring onions, brocolli, carrots, lettuce, french beans.........but my tomatoes are just staying green at the moment, they are money makers and i have even thought of building a mini green house around them to see if i can get them to ripen


----------



## figbat (19 Aug 2021)

We have our usual endless glut of runner beans, but the tomatoes are doing what they seem to do every year and producing a lot of fruit but too late to ripen. Carrots and beetroot were very small, potatoes too. Cucumbers are doing OK. Strawberries were a bit of something and nothing. Our cherry tree didn’t fruit anything like last year.


----------



## Bazzer (19 Aug 2021)

(All greenhouse grown.) 
Tomatoes were a little late for us. First pick of our favourite tomato Sungold was a bit later than usual at the very start of July, but since then we have been eating several of them almost daily. The yield is just starting to wane, but I think that is due in part to the recent weather.
I picked 3 kgs of (I think) Alicante the other night for making sauce, but we have been picking odd ones for about a month, when the Sungold were not appropriate for a meal. Probably have double that amount ripening.
Variety Roma bought specifically for sauces. They seem to ripening as in past years, but I don't expect to pick them until September. 
Chillis have gone crazy with fruit, surpassing previous years, which surprised me. I have always bought packet seeds, but the crop last year was terrible, so as an idle experiment, last autumn I deseeded an Asda chilli we were using for cooking. Dried the seeds on a paper towel and left them in the garage over winter. Every one planted germinated. From early tastings they just need a bit longer to get some fire in them.


----------



## Colin Grigson (19 Aug 2021)

Our neighbours have given us box after box of tomatoes …. they’re obviously growing well here


----------



## Saluki (19 Aug 2021)

One of the nearby houses, has an allotment. Free veg outside their house as they are imminently moving away. 2 cucumbers and a squash came home with me. Soup later 🙂 little cucumbers will go in salads.


----------



## Colin Grigson (19 Aug 2021)

Saluki said:


> One of the nearby houses, has an allotment. Free veg outside their house as they are imminently moving away. 2 cucumbers and a squash came home with me. Soup later 🙂 little cucumbers will go in salads.


Sharing excess fruit and veg is so neighbourly - I love these little things about living here


----------



## postman (19 Aug 2021)

Well just the opposite here in Meanwood,loads of toms and the spuds grown in sacks are superb,sadly strawberries are rubbish.


----------



## Poacher (19 Aug 2021)

Outdoor tomatoes seem to be ripening better than in the greenhouse with the same varieties.
These are Pink Brandywines in a raised bed.






Meanwhile, in the greenhouse, I suspect a Blackbird has been checking the aubergines for flavour (the one in the background).





Probably be OK for human consumption, baked in a pie!


----------



## dan_bo (19 Aug 2021)

fossyant said:


> Our peas and baby corn doing OK. Strawberries got gobbled by slugs.


We've got a frog in residence for them little turds. Got PSB in for (hopefully) later this year.


----------



## mudsticks (19 Aug 2021)

Saluki said:


> The blackberry bushes, near me, are laden. This is excellent as loads of people won’t touch them as they ‘grow outside and are dirty’.




Ssshhh ,

Best not tell them where carrots come from..

Quite pleased with the aubergines this year though ..


----------



## Ian H (19 Aug 2021)

Last year we grew enough potatoes to last us the year. This year we grew fewer, but the crop was not brilliant, with some blight, and greenhouse tomatoes were blighted as well. Our neighbours' greenhouse has suffered: tomatoes not too bad, but grapes rotting and two nectarine trees* looking decidedly sickly.

_* it's a large greenhouse_


----------



## jowwy (19 Aug 2021)

Poacher said:


> Outdoor tomatoes seem to be ripening better than in the greenhouse with the same varieties.
> These are Pink Brandywines in a raised bed.
> View attachment 604995
> 
> ...


how did the blackbird get into the greenhouse??


----------



## Poacher (19 Aug 2021)

jowwy said:


> how did the blackbird get into the greenhouse??


Door left open most of the time in Summer. I built the greenhouse with the primary purpose of overwintering tender plants, so didn't bother with the additional complication of opening vents etc., so ventilation is via the door hole. Plenty of hoverflies take advantage (good for pollination and pest control), and so do some birds - robins and sparrows do us a favour by eating aphids and other potential nasties, and sometimes take shelter. I've no direct evidence to blame the blackbird, but it seems the likeliest suspect based on previous experience!

No sign of rodent teeth marks, no slime.


----------



## jowwy (19 Aug 2021)

Poacher said:


> Door left open most of the time in Summer. I built the greenhouse with the primary purpose of overwintering tender plants, so didn't bother with the additional complication of opening vents etc., so ventilation is via the door hole. Plenty of hoverflies take advantage (good for pollination and pest control), and so do some birds - robins and sparrows do us a favour by eating aphids and other potential nasties, and sometimes take shelter. I've no direct evidence to blame the blackbird, but it seems the likeliest suspect based on previous experience!
> 
> No sign of rodent teeth marks, no slime.


im about to build my green house this atumn/winter....i'm going to replace one of the windows with enviromesh, to ensure it doesnt overheat and gets airflow to stop humidity and damp issues.....


----------



## lazybloke (19 Aug 2021)

Poacher said:


> *Door left open *most of the time in Summer. I built the greenhouse with the primary purpose of overwintering tender plants, so didn't bother with the additional complication of opening vents etc., so ventilation is via the door hole. Plenty of hoverflies take advantage (good for pollination and pest control), and so do some *birds *- robins and sparrows do us a favour by eating aphids and other potential nasties, and sometimes take shelter. I've no direct evidence to blame the blackbird, but it seems the likeliest suspect based on previous experience!


Had a big pigeon stuck in our greenhouse recently; In through the open door, then repeatedly tried to go out through the glass panels of the roof.
<Pause> flap BANG <pause> flap BANG <pause> flap BANG!

Hell of a noise. Wouldn't mind if it ate some of the snails.


----------



## iluvmybike (19 Aug 2021)

PK99 said:


> 3 August 2014
> 
> View attachment 604919
> 
> ...


Sadly we had the same - it is blight which is an airborne virus - due to recent warm and wet conditions, We went away for 3 days leaving strong plants with loads of fruits and 3 days later returned to find blackened plants and destroyed fruits. You can make a spray with baking soda and oil to help but they need to be done BEFORE the blight strikes. All you can do now is destroy the rotted plants (don't burn them as this spreads the spores in the air and don't put them on your compost heap) - put them in your garden waste reccyling bin as council composters run at a high enough temperature to kill the spores. Don't plant tomatoes or potatos in that place next year


----------



## PaulSB (19 Aug 2021)

The thing I forgot which has been astonishingly successful this year is peppers. I'm usually happy with a few, this year we currently have about 20 with the same number starting to develop. The bonus is the earwigs don't seem to be after them this year either.


----------



## iluvmybike (20 Aug 2021)

PaulSB said:


> The thing I forgot which has been astonishingly successful this year is peppers. I'm usually happy with a few, this year we currently have about 20 with the same number starting to develop. The bonus is the earwigs don't seem to be after them this year either.


There is always something after your crop!


----------



## Poacher (22 Aug 2021)

First of the outdoor Pink Brandywine; fingers crossed for the rest, but they're looking good so far.


----------

