Despite so many dull and rainy days so far this summer, so relatively few summery days when it has seemed like the sun is throwing us crumbs of sunshine just to let us know that it's still there, my tomato plants are providing fruit and ripening. Of course, I give them a helping hand of feeding with a liquid tomato feed (I've used Doff this year) and picking many of the tomatoes just before they ripen, bringing them indoors to finish ripening. I believe that picking them a little early gives the ones still on the bushes a chance to develop, and the flowers to provide even more fruit. Although for a while I thought I wasn't going to get any tomatoes at all despite the hundreds of flowers, it seems, fingers crossed, that all is going to be well. So far I've picked a good two or three pounds of tomatoes which isn't a lot from three large bushes but it's more than I had expected. Tumbler, Tumbling Jester, and Losetto are doing just fine and not a sign (touch wood) of disease.
 |
| Tumbler, Tumbling Jester, Losetto 29072016 |
Above image, the small red tomatoes are Losetto F1 hybrid, the larger red tomatoes are Tumbler, and the green and red are Tumbling Jester. As you can see by the top tomato in the image, Tumbling Jester never totally loses its greenness even when ripe.
 |
| Unripe Tumbling Jester still growing on the plant. |
 |
| Tumbler, Tumbling Jester, Losetto 29072016 |
In the above image, the tomato bush in the foreground is Losetto. At the rear left is Tumbler, and to the rear right is Tumbling Jester.
When I first started to grow them (
I bought them as small plants) I soon realised that they were going to grow quite large and strongly. Even so, I was concerned that the weight of any tomatoes might actually break them so I put in four stakes in each plant and wound string around them, spiralling upwards. This has given the plants much needed support, it has kept the branches off the ground, and there is no sign of branches being ripped, through weight, away from the main stem.
Despite all the rain, I have not seen any sign of disease. As you can see for yourself, there are plenty of flowers appearing and if we are lucky enough to have some decent weather (after all, it's not quite August yet), I expect to be harvesting plenty more tomatoes.
They all taste great, full of flavour that you don't always get with supermarket fruit (remember, a tomatoes is a fruit not a vegetable) with that little bit of sharpness that I love so much, particularly Tumbling Jester. I eat them sometimes by slicing them quite finely, and pouring onto them either a good Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (Sainsburys Taste the Difference), or olive oil and lemon juice. A sprinkle of sea salt and a shake of freshly ground black pepper. And eat.
 |
| Sliced Losetto, Tumbler, and Tumbling Jester |
