tomato: last moment?

[Han]

Hello guys/girls,

I had of a lot of my Strillo tomatoes from the 27 plants this year in the GH but still there are a lot of green trushes. What do you think is the last moment they will turn from green to red?

This year was the first year of growing tomatoes for me so this was/is a real experience. Made a lot of mistakes and learned from it!
It is still a wild bush in the GH! The growing really never stops even after topping/cutting!  Next year not so many tomato plants! Had about a 1000 of these little cherry ones and still there are a couple of hundred green. Had to give a lot of them away and almost every one visiting left with some :-)

Han

[Han]

[galina]

I don't quite understand your question Han - if we get a mild autumn, you could get tomatoes ripening in the greenhouse right until November.  One year I harvested a ripe tomato on Christmas Day!

On the other hand, it is more usual to take full-sized green tomatoes off when a real frost is forecast (-2 or so) you know that your greenhouse insulation isn't able to cope with.  If you do the bubble wrap insulation malarkey and use a greenhouse heater, they will be ripening for a long time yet.

However, the ones taken in green will also turn colour, every one of them.  They won't taste quite as nice as greenhouse grown ones from summer, but they will be edible or 'cookable' - still nice in fry-up type breakfasts.  If you do keep the plants going into winter, you need to know that their flavour wil go down as well - sunripened will always taste better than forced, as we know from commercial tomatoes out of season.

Hope I have sort of guessed where you were going with your question.  If not, ask again and somebody else will tell you about their experience.

I am glad you had such a good harvest in a pretty grim year.  By the way, it is also nice to freeze some small sized tomatoes whole and enjoy a bit of summer in late February.  When they are defrosted, they won't have the same texture, but still a nice reminder.

[gavinjconway]

I freeze any surplus and used in stews etc you wouldn't tell the difference.. Also make a tom and onion stew to put on toast - freezes well and a few min in the mic and you have a quick snack..

[Han]

I don't quite understand your question Han - if we get a mild autumn, you could get tomatoes ripening in the greenhouse right until November.  One year I harvested a ripe tomato on Christmas Day!

Thank you, Galina! Your answer is perfect! In the GH I have also bubble plastic so I can leave them as long as possible, hopefully turning into red!

Sorry to be not clear in my question. Maybe there is still a lack of English knowledge after living here for 3 years............:-(

[galina]

Sorry to be not clear in my question. Maybe there is still a lack of English knowledge after living here for 3 years............:-(

Glad you had answers to your question.

Well, that's the same problem for both of us - English is my second language too  ;D  And I would have never guessed, your English is excellent.

[Han]

Glad you had answers to your question.

Well, that's the same problem for both of us - English is my second language too  ;D  And I would have never guessed, your English is excellent.
[/quote]

Thanks for the compliment, Galina. I'm Dutch and trying to do the best I can!