"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 14:43:07 +0100, "Jeannie"
wrote:

Basically, due to the unseasonably cold weather and here in Notts it is
currently winter coat weather in my "nesh" opinion, would I be better to
bring them into the greenhouse or not. I've never had any dealings with
tomatoes before and am not sure how much of an English summer they can
stand.

Jeannie
As long as there is no FROST they will be OK, but the more warmth they
get (as opposed to baking sun) the quicker they will grow. Most
tomatoes can be grown outdoors, some variesties will do better than
others. You also need to ensure they never run short ot water, and
also feeding will help once you see the first fruit appearing. Use
tomato feed or home-made brew with nettles, comfrey etc.

You will also need to watch out for tomato/potato blight later in the
summer, around the end of August. You may be lucky but it has become
more prevalent in recent years.

If you have room in the greenhouse they would certainly produce fruit
sooner, but why not leave them as an experiment.

Pam in Bristol

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It's useless trying them outside, here on the Furness coast. We-e-ell! ok,
they grow, but the tomatoes don't suit me. There isn't enough sun and warmth
outside to grow tomatoes properly.
You have to get a bush-type plant, under normal circumstances, I think.
My greenhouse tomatoes are the best yet, four trusses on each so far.
Cucumbers too, all very healthy at present. If the sun is up first thing
the temp is usually around ninetyF, and when I open up it drops to around
80. You can't beat built-up beds. I change the top one-foot depth every
four years.
In the Isle of Wight I used to buy fruit -and veg of course, from the many
small growers and the best I saw was a lady's who had one greenhouse full of
cucumbers up and across the roof and the 'cumbers were hanging long and ripe
all the way down the stem (I only grow to about five feet then I allow the
side branches to develop . On all I allow one every second node., - in the
upward or horizontal branches. They have to be supported on canes of
course.
In the IOW the allotment and pro operators do pretty well because of the
many Hotels and Boarding Houses who buy up the full crop before the seeds
are planted. Some growers quite easily get two crops of broad beans in one
summer on the same plot
...
Eeh!, I'm right chuffed with this here years crop , er, ....so far!.
Waiting patiently for the ceremony of the delicious tasting of the first one
to ripen!.

Harvested the first bucket of first-early taties yesterday. I have twelve
black plastic buckets with holes drilled in the bottoms,. My cement mixer
mixes earth-soil, peat, (equal); plenty of last years leaves.
Plus a couple of shovelsful of coarse sand, (not off the beach), a handful ,
more or less of Phostrogen plus Growmore, - a good couple handsful of
bonemeal and a soupcon of dried seaweed pellets.
In early March each bucket gets five inches of the compost put into the
bottom, The taties have already been chitted in a box in this room and are
placed one per bucket with the compost just covering it. They are then
stacked in twos in the greenhouse and as the shoots and leaves grow they are
covered and covered each time they grow upwards about five inches at a time
until the bucket is full, leaving an inch at the top for watering. They go
out onto the patio when the weather warms up.
What breed of first-early's is best?.
Over the years I've tested many names, but each time the winner is always
Pentland Javelin.
They are always nicely-shaped, white and moderatively prolific.They are
made nude for cooking by the medium soft appliance of a hand nylon dish or
pot scrubber. The skin simply wipes off.
Low-Boiled for up to 20 minutes they can be used on any dish and the taste
is the best according to my experienced palate. There's enough in one bucket
for two people, for two separate mealtimes.
I put the recovered compost into a sack to use for potting-on plants and so
far no harm has come to them. I think there is no deleterious left-overs
from the tubers, and am sure there is plenty of good
nutriment still there for potting up plants.
Doug.
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Doug.
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