Huge Crop Of Tomatoes.
By nancyrowina
@nancyrowina (3850)
August 29, 2009 8:45am CST
I've grown 2 varieties of tomato this year one called Tumbling Tom and the other one I got free with a magazine called Gardeners Delight. Tumbling Tom Are dwarf plants designed to grow in containers and Gardeners delight are a normal sized variety.
I wish I had used larger containers for the Tumbling Toms now as the plants keep getting blown over and I don't tend to visit the garden they are in for a few days at a time, so some of the plants have been laying on their sides quite a lot of the time. They also kept drying out but despite this I'm still getting loads of nice cherry sized tomatoes off them every time I go down to check on them and give them some water.
This morning when I went down there I got tons of tomatoes and this isn't the first lot I've picked I've been getting them since late June. The bowl I use to store them is nearly over flowing I'm going to have to make a tomato chutney I think.
4 people like this
8 responses
@WebMann (4731)
• Canada
29 Aug 09
Ha, I know what it's like to have a huge crop of tomatoes. Just our Tiny Tim's alone have provided more than we can eat but did I stop there, oh no. I had to plants about 8 plants and now we have tomatoes every where.
But that's so cool because this is our first year with a garden so it's nice to be able to give away tomatoes instead of being given tomatoes.
I will plant a lot more next year so we can do some canning. We use about a can of tomatoes a day in our house so it would be great to can enough to last at atleast part of the winter.
It's so cool. We have Tiny Tim's that get about as small as a pea and beefsteak tomatoes that get about the size of a baseball. I will have to take a few pictures of them together. And we also have two yellow pear tomato plants that are producing a handful or two a day now.
Don't you just love gardening?
3 people like this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
29 Aug 09
It is satisfying when you have the vegetables to use, I'm going to do a chutney to preserve them with the chilli's I'm also growing. I've never tried canning things, in the UK we just make preserves.
1 person likes this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
29 Aug 09
The recipe I'm going to use has chilli in it too so it will be spicy.
1 person likes this
@peavey (16936)
• United States
30 Aug 09
I am so jealous... my tomatoes did almost nothing this year, and some of the ones that did make are rotting on the vine, still green. We had so much rain, cool days, lack of sunshine, it was a terrible summer for tomatoes and peppers both. I usually get a good crop of tomatoes and had a lot of plans for their use, so I was really disappointed.
1 person likes this
@peavey (16936)
• United States
31 Aug 09
I'm having a little luck in getting them at first blush and wrapping them in newspaper. They ripen slowly like that and so far, no rotten ones. I like green tomatoes fried and found a recipe for green tomato salsa which was pretty good, so they won't be a total loss. I'm just disappointed to not have sauce and juice and things like that.
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
30 Aug 09
You can make chutney out of the green ones I'm told so pick them before they rot. I can't believe how well I've done out of these plants as it's been quite hot here and they haven't been watered enough. There's still more on the plants to go and pick later.
@GardenGerty (160952)
• United States
29 Aug 09
I will have to look for Tumbling Tom next year. I did not get much off my cherry tomato vine. If the plants lay on the ground directly, they sometimes will grow roots and start a new plant like from a cutting. The tomatoes have been great this year. My best producer has been Celebrity.
2 people like this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
29 Aug 09
I'm amazed by how well these plants have done as they have been quite neglected, if I was caring for them every day and they were in the right size pot I could get even more.
1 person likes this
@thea09 (18305)
• Greece
29 Aug 09
Hi nancyrowina, well done with your tomato crop, I'm incapable of growing anything without killing it so admire your achievemnt. I adore cherry tomatoes and love them in my salads whilst my son just eats them whole. The tomatoes here are just starting in the gardens and I was picked a bag full of the most strange shaped ones the other day, never had made it to the supermarket shelves as not looking perfect but they certainly tasted perfect.
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
29 Aug 09
Yes you do get some strange shaped ones more oval than round, especially on my plants that fell over. They still taste better than the shop bought ones though.
1 person likes this
@nijolechu (1842)
• Canada
30 Aug 09
WE have tried to grow tomatoes before. We bought some cherry tomato plants and let they grow in our yard. It was pretty cool because they grew so fast and provided us with some many tiny tomatoes to eat. My neighbor has the big kind of tomatoes growing in his front yard. They have ripened yet but they will soon enough.
1 person likes this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
30 Aug 09
Yes cherry tomato plants do seem to do very well on the amount you get, I do want to try growing some big beefy tomatoes next year, you can get huge ones that you can stuff.
@BarBaraPrz (47667)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
29 Aug 09
Interesting... I just came in from picking up my cherry tomato plant... it's windy out there.
Did you know you can make chutney using green tomatoes as well as ripe ones? Or how about salsa?
1 person likes this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
29 Aug 09
Yes I've seen recipes for green tomato chutney, it's still quite warm here so I shouldn't have trouble ripening the ones that are still green. I'll try it another year when it's cold an the tomatoes never ripen.
1 person likes this
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
30 Aug 09
How about gazpacho? Congratulations on your bumper crop of Tumbling Toms. I bought Tiny Tim seeds and Red Robins to grow indoors this season, but inadvertently left them behind when we moved. Bummer. There is nothing like the taste of a home-grown tomato.
1 person likes this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
30 Aug 09
I bought some jalapeño seeds that I threw out accidentally which was a bummer.
