On Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:10:34 +0100, Sacha wrote:



Can you park your car? ;-)) It's a very pretty area - my former sister
in law and some friends lived there and a friend of mine lives a roead
or two above it. And yes, of course I'll send you some seeds. Email us
your address to and one of us will pick that
up. I'm a bit cautious with my personal addy at present.

Fortunately two parking spaces at St. Aubin's-on-the-hill came as part of
the deal It's a long story but we lived at La Rocque and Overdale
Hospital before finally (I hope) settling here. No garden to speak of
(more of a courtyard, really) but Quennevais School are working with the
rector of S. Brelade to turn some of his unused meadow-land into
allotments, so once the child protection stuff is done I should be
gardening again. You have mail.

"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

The message
from "John E" contains these words:
"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote in message
k...
| /
/prune|/
o
ó ò

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.

Mine must have been planted in early May - I usually put seeds in during
February.

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.

They like a good organically rich soil, and plenty of supplementary
feeding, and respond well to foliar feed. I feed with my weeds - they go
into a bucket of water, and when they smell foul enough, the liquid is
strained into a watering can and diluted with about three times its
volume of rainwater.

I've been eating Shirley for a fortnight, likewise Garden Pearl, but the
Black Cherry haven't started ripening yet. Tumbling Tom are ripening,
too.

All grown in containers (Poundland planters) in a south-facing position.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

On 4/9/08 10:39, in article , "Derek
Turner" wrote:

On Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:10:34 +0100, Sacha wrote:



Can you park your car? ;-)) It's a very pretty area - my former sister
in law and some friends lived there and a friend of mine lives a roead
or two above it. And yes, of course I'll send you some seeds. Email us
your address to and one of us will pick that
up. I'm a bit cautious with my personal addy at present.

Fortunately two parking spaces at St. Aubin's-on-the-hill came as part of
the deal It's a long story but we lived at La Rocque and Overdale
Hospital before finally (I hope) settling here. No garden to speak of
(more of a courtyard, really) but Quennevais School are working with the
rector of S. Brelade to turn some of his unused meadow-land into
allotments, so once the child protection stuff is done I should be
gardening again. You have mail.

Overdale used to be the old TB Sanatorium time past. ;-) La Rocque is
fabulously beautiful because it has that particular light that nowhere else
in Jersey seems to have and the 'moonscape' effect at low spring tides is
outstanding. However, back to tomatoes - got your email and will send you
some seeds. I know exactly where you are now. Say hello to James and Annie
for me if they're still there!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

"John E" wrote in message
...

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.


Keep faith !
As my soupmaker reminded me only thottherday- there is tom soup stocked in
the freezer with a made on date
of mid December 2007.
Still tastes super.
Just a matter of keeping the developing fruits frost free.
Mucho time yet !
Regards
Pete
www.thecanalshop.com