How are your tomatoes this year?

[adamaki]

Just wondering how everyone else got on growing tomatoes this year, with the awful wet summer. In previous years I've grown mine outside, but being in Scotland they've never got past a few green tomatoes before the weather turns. This year I had a new greenhouse and filled half of it with tomatoes. They grew like crazy and were 5ft tall by the end of June with loads of green tomatoes. I watered regularly, fed weekly and pinched out the tops when they had 4-5 trusses on them. However, since then I've had virtually no ripe tomatoes. Most of them have been green on the plants and not ripened all summer. After the bad weather at the start of July it's been regularly over 30C in the greenhouse even with vents and doors open. Now the weather is getting colder the plants are starting to die off and the tomatoes are dropping off.

Has anyone else had the same problem? Any ideas why my tomatoes haven't ripened?

Looks like it's going to be green tomato chutney for me again!

[Green Aura]

Our tomato harvest is poor and still green - I think we've only had 3-4 red tomatoes in total. I think we may have partially been to blame I think we got a bit over-excited by the new polytunnel and packed too many things in. I certainly can't blame the weather too much as we've had the best of it this year.

You can ripen tomatoes off the vine though Adam, just put a banana with them and they'll start to redden pretty quickly.

[yvette]

I have had a couple of handfulls of cherry tomatoes, but again, loads still green and not enough sun to ripen them off. With the wet weather they seemedto have a severe check to growth and developed too late. Green tomato chutney anyone?

[diggernotdreamer]

What varieties have you been growing? I live in the North West of Ireland and have had bumper crops. I tend to grow heirloom varieties and quite a few from Real Seeds as they supply tomato seeds suitable for areas with short growing seasons like they have in certain parts of America.

[adamaki]

Glad to hear it's not just mine!

Green aura - yes I use the tomatoes on the windowsill with a banana trick too. I even tried putting a bunch in my greenhouse with limited success!

Digger - I grew a few heirloom varieties and some common ones. All are just as under ripe. I even had one called Scotland Yellow but only had a few ripen so far.

[wabbit955]

have had a ok crop but not as good as normal ans still loads still green

good job i got load of tomatoe pickle left from last year

[Veggiesnhedges]

I've grown 3 large plants in an Eco tomato planter and they have done really well, we've had lots. They did really well last year aswell but I do sow the seed very early on. I loved the sung old variety

[gregorach]

Pretty similar here... Healthy plants with a fair bit of fruit (although not as much as previous years) but very slow to ripen. Just not enough sun... It's been an incredibly poor year all round - the potato crop was less than half what you'd expect, my brassicas just never really got properly established, the french beans didn't start fruiting until the end of August, and while there's lots of healthy green foliage on the parsnips, the roots are still narrow. I've sown carrots four or five times over and not got one yet. It's been a really struggle not to just give up, and if I had to live on what I produce, I'd have starved to death a couple of months ago.

[Odsox]

This year above any other, growing everything under cover has well and truly paid off.
Some of my tomatoes got a touch of blight early on, but by pruning off the infected leaves slowed it's progress almost to a standstill. I thought that the crop would be much reduced but the stacks of bottled toms in our larder says otherwise, and there is probably another month before the greenhouse ones stop ripening.
Otherwise it's been a bumper year for everything else, I've been picking runner beans since the end of June and there's probably another week to go (they stopped flowering last week).
Sprouts, winter cabbages, spring cabbages, leeks, celeriac, PSB, beet, turnips, peas, haricot beans, lettuce, onions, carrots, cucumbers and courgettes all have done (or are doing) very well.
Garlic bulbs were on the small side though and I think I need to buy new stock for next year, and my potatoes finally succumbed to blight but I have very healthy ones growing now that may produce a crop in November.
One things for sure, I'm glad I bought those polytunnels.

[adamaki]

It's been a really struggle not to just give up, and if I had to live on what I produce, I'd have starved to death a couple of months ago.

Aye, pretty much the same here! If I was living on what I produce I'd be halfway through the local rabbit population by now!