"jakell" wrote in message
.uk...
hi,
can anyone help. I grew tomatoes this year for the first time and have got
some nice sized fruit, but they are not going red. Took one off the plant as
it's stem was broken and within a week it was red. Do they all need to be
picked before they will turn red????

kelly



At this time of year I cut off all the unharvested vines and put them in a
basket in the kitchen. Or baskets this year ... I had far too many plants,
we simply can't eat all those tomatoes!

Every day I look and if there are any red or turning red ones I take them
out and use them (aka eat them).

Eventually the baskets become fewer until there's only one, I've always had
ripe tomatoes on Christmas Eve to have with the pork pie (a family
tradition) using this method.

I'm not a lover of green tomato chutney but this year I've made green tomato
sauce and shall try frying some because I left the outdoor ones one night
too long, they caught the frost and need to be used quickly.

The ones from the greenhouse will be brought in to ripen as usual.

Mary