Allotments 4 All

I'm having to hold my hands up in the air and head down...my tomatoes are totally failed this year..and so have I..
Even with the ground preparation that I did for the earlier on the year..my plants have been sulking. They look green and happy enough..they have even provided some flowers which most have failed to set. Odd fruit have set..I have thinned those to bare minimum hoping to give those a change to grow..but NO.. :( all of them managed to get to golf ball size and since nothing..they are just green, don't grow, don't change colour..nothing is happening. Its like the whole green house is frozen in time.. ::)

So although my plants are alive..I'm not expecting any miracles happening anymore this autumn.

Shame..I did fancy that pot..not for the 'victory' but it looks really nice.. ;) ;D I just have to settle drooling after those beauties in your photos.  Just wait untill next year.... ;)!!!

How strange goodlife, it has seemed to take ages for things to ripen up this year, maybe you'll sweep in first week in october with the winner!

x sunloving

Throwing in the towel, sad to say, but the only flowers on the Brandywines seem to want to reach for the sky!

My half a growbag didn't work but we all learn  ::)

Ninny

Mine did the same Ninnys.  I grew lovely tall plants but my brandywine seems to be trying to get out of the greenhouse with about five tomatoes. I weighed one yesterday and it was 8oz. I was so fed up that I cleared out my greenhouse (blight took hold)  leaving only  the chillies and sweet peppers.
I must say that the brandywine toms that I harvested were delicious.

Duke

 :o

Blimey! Some of the very bestest growers here have done badly this year.
Mind you, its the quiet ones you have to watch....
Shirley we can't all be done at 1lb, can we?

My other half (who does the tomato growing, not me) brought in a Brandywine from the greenhouse this morning. It was just short of one and a quarter pounds. 563 grams. Two of them together weighed over a kilo. We don't go in for competitive growing for size so this was without any flummery, just how they grew. The overall crop is fair though well attacked by slugs. I had a smaller Oxheart for lunch chopped up over chunks of homemade fennel seed bread with a scattering of warm cooked runner beans, garlic, herbs, and dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It was quick and fit for a king.

Welll nothing bigger than 280 grams for me but the harvest had really started

My "Giant Belgium" tomatoes  not quite ripe so still on the vine & hoping they double in size  ;D!!

Just as I wrote about my plants that they are not growing..WELL... I shut the GH windows for giving up with the plants and thought that if they do get damp and mouldy, nothing is lost anymore....and I suspect that little bit of warmth in the expence of ventilation have made the difference...MY PLANTS HAVE STARTED TO GROW!!  :o ::)
They are not going to make any whoppers in this late date..but if I can get something to eat that will be bonus.
Oh dear..what a year..but once again..another lesson learned.. ::)

My "Giant Belgium" tomatoes  not quite ripe so still on the vine & hoping they double in size 

Looking good.. ;D

My greenhouse in all closed up now but I still have all my dwarf project varieties outside, they all have green fruit and have for some time but they are also frozen in time, frankly I ma getting sick of seeing them like this, the weather here has been in the 30s unbtil a few days ago , now a little rain and warm weather si here will come the blight to me I guess.

Maybe next year we should start earlier. I di wonder how it would be for an expoeriment if we all grew one plant of the same variety just for comparison.

I know one thing for sure, giant tomatoes aside for a minute,next year I am picking one varirty of tomato and sticking to it for general use, (apart from 1 biggie for fun) I just feel I can't be bothered keeping records and  having differnt sizes, colours, dates etc for a while.

All I have to do now is decide which one ;D

XX Jeannine

All I have to do now is decide which one   ::) ;D

I started very early this year..earlier than I ever done before and with the help of the light plants were looking good and growing nicely..but the weather was so cool, particular those night time temps when it should not have...e had 8 to10 decrees in the middle of July  :o..like the temperature we have now....and then there was the rain..rain...rain.. ::)
I just feel I can't be bothered keeping records and  having differnt sizes, colours, dates etc for a while.
Oh..I know exactly how you feel..next year I just want to pick varieties that I know are good yielders and just EAT!  ;D Though..your suggestion for growing same variety for comparison is good one...I'm on, if you are.. ;)

I'm not sure if I've already mention on any other post...but I invested to Quadgrow planters.. ;D..and next year half of my GH space is for them and they are going to be planted with chillies and peppers..so I'm going to HALF the amount of toms that I'm usually growing  :o ...or that is the plan so far.. :-X

Two photos of my biggest so far Délice de Burpée!  Weighing in at 1lb 14oz, or 860 gms.  Grown outdoors, and not fed with anything.  watered about four times since May.  It's not that we have had lots of rain this year (sorry!)  but I just let them get on with it and search further down for their water.

Well done Peanuts, it's massive!

Please let us know what it tastes like.

Hi Betty
I know they are  a beautiful flavour.  I was given some seed two years ago by a French friend in our village, as I liked them so much.  They are all flesh, not hugely juicy, and a small amount of pips/seeds, so more like eating thick slices of meat!  Now they are starting to ripen, it is a toss-up between doing a salad of Sungold, or Délice.  Délice wins hand-down, and I either make a soup of the Sungold, or I gently roast them with garlic, herbs, salt, sugar and pepper, then I bottle them for using in winter.

Wow, that's a loely looking tomato. The best I've managed is 9 ozs so far , still, they all taste good  ;D

Wow Peanuts thats a whopper! you've taken the top spot.

I love roast tomatoes to and already have 11 pots in the freezer for winter teas yum! Afew courgettes and french beans are good in it to!

Im definately not growing black russian again as its a blight magnet as is golden sunrise. But i love to have three colours in  my salads and cooking and so will keep my favorites.

For me thsi is the first year i have had a glass big greenhouse- always coped with plastic ones that had to be repaired after every gale and so despite the mildew and the blight its still been the best year ever for toms and melons and cucumbers and s i just cant wait for a good year! might have to have a new freezer!

Good luck all with the final ripening and show us your biggest anyway even if it doesnt beat the record.
x sunloving 

At the moment, feeling very bad that I posted my huge tomato, as I took no effort with it, it just happened. And no-one else has posted one since!  As we live in SW France where it is warmer from time to time, and usually wetter than UK, (although I think not this year!), I think it shouldn't really count.  So please  everyone  continue to post photos of your biggest tom, and I'll keep quiet.

Don't you dare..

I had already posted my biggie and you beat me,I also live in a warmer place and said that I had an unfair advantage so I am pleased to see you posting.

Geeat tomato, well done.

XX Jeannine

Sadly I don't think we're going to get ANY tomatoes, never mind a biggest one.  Very few unblighted plants left now.

But that's the way it goes.  Perhaps next year ...

And the apples are looking good  :) so it's not all negative!