"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote in message
k...
The message
from "John E" contains these words:

I was going to post a message to ask if anyone had any suggestions as
to how
I could get my outdoor tomatoes to ripen faster, but it seems from
your post
and the replies, that mine are doing as well as can be expected. In
particular: I planted four different plants (four different varieties)
all
bought from the garden centre as seedlings. The Beefsteak variety is
cropping well and has produced five or six ripe tomatoes so far. Pixie
F1 is
working overtime, and has produced about 15 excellent small tomatoes,
with
several orange ones to ripen in the next few days.

Pixie, IME, is around as flavourless as Moneymaker. I grew them once,
around 1970 - and complained to T&M that they described them as 'full of
flavour' (OWTTE).

Shirley is loaded down
with green tomatoes, but none have ripened so far (apart from one truss
which I broke off by accident three weeks ago, and is now ripening
indoors).

My Shirley went in very late, and I'm enjoying them at present.

Similarly with F1 Golden Sweet which is loaded down with large green
tomatoes.

The Pixie and Beefsteak plants are at the south end of my garden, with
the
others shaded by them (although pixie is too small to do much shading).

Pixie was also billed as 'needing no support'. Every plant collapsed
under the weight of tomatoes.

I am optimistic that some of the fruit will ripen before the end of
September, or at worst indoors later (based on the earlier experience).

Move to Sunny East Anglia and get your (outdoor) tomatoes so much earlier!

Hmm. Well, I live in Peterborough, not too far from East Anglia, and my
tomatoes are as stated. My pixie does not need any support, and the tomatoes
are tasty!

Odd that my Shirley is so far behind yours! Although mine are beginning to
'yellow up' now.

I do have a very organic rich compost in which they are grown. I wonder if
it is too rich? Maybe a more mineral rich compost would be better next year.

John