Tag Archives: yellow stuffer

tomatoes

Tomatos: Heritage and brandywines

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Sat here with the FA Cup on in the background, I am seed shuffling. Seed shuffling tomato seeds. I have now got 12 baby seedlings, sat nervously on the window sill. I am hoping to sow some more in the coming weeks, The plan, is to have tomatos and chilli peppers in the poly tunnel.

So far, I have sown a money maker, true black brandywine, purple cherokee, yellow stuffer, marmande, and cream sausage. A few of these are heritage varieties, and some of them the big beefsteak variety. They are also a diverse range in terms of their colour spectrum.

Last year, Marmande were lovely. Just a bit green. They have a lovely knobbly surface that you just don’t find in the supermarket. I also had purple cherokee. Again, this was a productive cropper. There were tomatoes, big ones too. Smudges of purple. rather than fully, failed to move much from green.  The tomatoes that we see in the supermarket, are those beautifully round, smooth, spherical creatures. Yet not all veg is smooth, uniform and standard. The vast majority of it, is actually wonky. Yet we don’t buy it, and it sadly goes to waste.

Having rooted around the seed stashers, I have located my tomato seeds. Once more, I am trying to select the varieties that I would like to sow.  Have already sown a few yellow tomatoes, but there is a yellow brandywine that I quite like the look of. There is already a pinkish one, that rules out the pink brandywine. There is something definitely more solid about a beefsteak tomato. The plants are different too, in terms of the leaf shape and they get quite tall.

I have quite a few tigerella seeds, freebies, I think. Might try these to see what kind of fruit they are, beyond their novelty stripes. It is a heritage variety, interestingly. Lastly, there is Roma VF. Meant to be good for sauces, so we shall see as to how productive it. Most likely going to be used just like a conventional red tomato.

chillies, Experimental Chillies and be;;s, tomatoes

Potted up tomatoes and chillies

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The first of the tomatoes have germinated and come through. I think I have six surviving germinators, with one keeling over with the cold. These have been transplanted into yogurt pots from their modular compartments. I have to say, that the trick by Allotment Lena works. Where you use a spoon to transplant from one place to another. There appears to be less root disturbance. There are not many that have come through, yet money maker tomato seems at this stage to be the quickest out of the blocks. There were 24 sections in the modules, and so far seven have come through. I think I may have made the compost a little too damp. Going to see how many more come through, and then I will look at sowing some more. Was thinking about where to put these when they grow larger, and the poly tunnel seems to be the best place. I have always grown tomatoes outside, and never had them ripen. Putting them into the polytunnel is probably going to be more useful.

The chillies are starting to get a wriggle on, and these have also been transferred from modules to other pots. I did have a panic as some of them looked a little shrivelled. I had thought thought that I had lost most them. Much hand wringing ensued. However, covering them with a propogater lid, these were a little revived with the heat and light being trapped to warm them up again. The cayenne chillies were the quickest to come through, and with the Aji Limo chillies are the more robust looking. Pumpkin and raindrop chillies are by far the daintiest of the lot.  Debating, as to whether I sow some more. Unlike last year, I don’t plan to plant them directly into the ground in the poly. The plan is to plant into pots, based upon previous experience.

There are eight varieties in all, I am still waiting for orange and chocolate habaneros to germinate. In previous experience, these do take a while. I don’t particularly want to pop them into a heated prop, as they end up leggy and wiry.

tomatoes

Early-I know-Tomatoes 2015

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early tomato varieties
early tomato varieties

Since we are sowing seeds. Why leave the tomatoes out? I have sown them at time of the year before. Only to have wiry, gangly leggy creatures that I didn’t pot up quickly enough. I’m not very good at both potting on, or pricking out for that matter. I stood in Dad’s loft, it was cold up there, rooted in the seed stasher to pull out the seeds. I didn’t have as many as I had thought, but that didn’t make the selection of seeds any easier. Laying out the packets, it was a cross between laying out solitaire cards and X factor selection. You might think, that a tomato is a tomato. Not quite. Trust me, there are people out there who will have strong views on that matter. There are quite a few heritage/heirloom varieties in this particular experiment. Last year, I had a few that were shop brought plants. Wiry and tall to begin with, with slightly odd leaves. These did actually take sometime to get growing. The plants did grow large well, but were slower to produce the bigger, beefsteak fruit.

The varieties are:

  • Yellow stuffer-This made the lovely yellow chutney last year, so same again, please.
  • Marmande-big beefy beefsteak. Very productive last year, knobbly decent sized tomato.
  • Cream sausage-hilarious name, but actually yellow.
  • True black brandywine-another beefy beefsteak. But what looks likes like a Gothic fruit. Did have a shop brought Brandywine last year, the name escapes me.
  • Moneymaker-I have to have one bog standard red tomato, so mum doesn’t protest. It was toss up between this variety and Gardener’s delight.
  • Cherokee purple. I brought one of these last year as a plant, from a local greengrocer. Big plant, big fruit, but not bad.

I do have a sense of trepidation about sowing this early. Not least of all because they all might germinate like triffids and become leggy.Must keep an eye on them, make sure that they get potted up as soon as possible. Seeds were modularised, twenty four modules. But not a lot of seeds, at this stage. Plus, I have to consider window sill space. If they all do come off, then there is the small matter of them ripening.

success, Taking stock

Hot Yellow Sun: The chutney that worked…sorta

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This year I intentionally grew yellow tomatoes. There were large yellow stuffer tomatoes, as well as smaller cherry tomatoes. There was a third plant with a citrus-y name, and the fruit were lemon shaped, but still tomatoes. I had also sown and grow orange habeneros, to join the tomatoes. Alas the habaneros didn’t come off. So we were stuck with the tomatoes, and one home grown chilli.

Compared to the red, white and green courgette and green tomato chutneys, this was a vibrant yellow chutney. The tomatoes held their form and flavour. It wasn’t quite as spiced as I would have liked, but quite sweet. I would definitely make this again, this was a highlight of the chutney and jam making experiments. I think I have the one jar left!

The chutney could definitely do with a bit more spice and flavour to it. I have found that with all of the chutney’s really. That whilst they are quite tart to begin with, on storage they do mellow. I need to figure out how to retain a burst of flavour. Plus, how to keep that flavour and not make it taste as though it was an indian dish and just curried veg.

tomatoes

Sunshine yellow: tomatoes and a cauliflower

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yellow toms

The sunshine has helped mature some of the tomatoes. As I await the vast majority to go red, there are a clutch that have gone a lovely bright yellow. Most of these are yellow stuffer. Whilst they are not the same size as yellow peppers, they are a similar shape. There is not a lot of tomato-y stuff inside, as they can be stuffed. These are a nice fleshy, firm fruit through. Not particularly delicate. I guess as they have a large cavity, they might not be full of tomato taste as one would normally expect.

cauliflowe

Ma has harvested a cauliflower, she tells me that was football sized. I say was, as it has been eaten.

tomatoes

Team Tomato

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Over the last few weeks, these darlings have been battered and bruised by the wind and rain. I had thought, that they would all cease to exist. So much so, additional reinforcements of cherokee, brandywine, citrina, sunstripe and another yellow one have been called in. There are smaller specimens of katiebell, lizziebell, luciebell and flamingo

The plants are on a spectrum of leafiness and healthiness. To be fair, I always suffer this developmental delay on planting out. They simply don’t like the windy heavy clay. That said, once they get a bit robust, have been fed a bit; they start to unfurl themselves, One thing is for certain, they are not pretty. The conditions make them battle hardened and haggard. The leaves have a spikey quality to them. Some are in open ground, some are positioned in raises beds. There is on, singular, black cherry, is in the poly tunnel by way of experiment.

That does, make for a lot of tomatoes. A few of which are starting to flower. Have arm pitted a few times, the gardeners delight and moneymaker. I know, that for some, these are generic, yucky tomato varieties. In the first time that I am growing these, I shall see just how yucky they might be.

Looking forward to the yellow, and pink ones, as well as the green and red stripey things. But the whoppers, have to be the marmande, cherokee and brandywine’s. Big wibbly tomatos, that you don’t get in the shops.

tomatoes

Tomatoes so far April 2014

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Have moved these to the top tier of the 4TB as some of these were starting to hunch over. Not looking too bad. But there is a frost scheduled for this coming week, so they will remain fleeced for the time being.

tomatoes

Taking chances

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20140410-120153 pm.jpg

Am taking chances with the tomatoes and putting them into the 4TB. They will be nestled within fleece, this will hopefully protect them whilst allowing them grow a bit more hardy. I know that they are still quite small, and we may still get a frost. The 4TB does however get quite warm at the moment. Have just taken out a tray of squashes and cukes, they were wonderfully warm. There are still three very tiny tomato babies still being held in side. Will keep an eye on the 4TB over the next few days, just in case.

aubergine Analogue study 2014, chillies, Experimental Chillies and be;;s, Superhots 2014, tomatoes

Go, little greenhouse

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Finally, the cover for the 4TB has arrived. A little bigger than expected, but that is a lot better than smaller. I had purchased one that did turn out to be smaller, and of no use. This may be bigger, but it is also made of the same reinforced material as the wendy house and the poly tunnel. I am hoping, therein, that it lasts a while. That said, the cover that was replaced is in fact five years old. Apparently, the shop that made the 4TB has changed the dimensions, so I couldn’t an appropriate replacement. That said, to their credit, the company was very good about making amends. In the poly tunnel yesterday, it was a rather balmy twenty degrees. The best thing, that it was still there, and hadn’t floated off. The wendy house was there also, for which we are also thankful. The lyon prizewinner leeks are still there and quite snug too.

Tomatoes aren’t doing too badly at the moment. The vast majority of the seeds that were modularised have come through. The module was sat on the not very warm window sill, and so they did take their time. The babies were also a little leggy, which resulted in them having to be demodularised and then potted up. No mean feat, as I am not very good at pricking out and potting up. Which is why, I only sank singular seeds to begin with. In essence, at the moment, we have the same number of tomato plants as we did last year. It remains to be seen, if these will all achieve maturity.

On the next window sill, we have the the aubergines. Dancer, diamond, tres hative de barbentane  and black beauty have all come through. I am still waiting for early long purple to germinate. There was a pleasant surprise in how quickly the aubergine seeds have come up.

Of the chillies and superhots, I have yet to see any of yellow scotch bonnet and orange habanero. Fire has been temporarily written off in failing to come off entirely. The dorset naga looked a bit precarious, having caught a cold; it looked as though it was going to keel over. I checked this afternoon, and it did appear to have rallied. I’m not hedging my bets. I would like it to survive, one has a dorset naga chilli challenge to try! Have resown some california wonder, as i had somewhat neglected to re-sow a sweet pepper. All those hot chillies, and no sweetness. One is thinking of all the possible chilli jam to be made.

I have kept all the babies in foodbag cloches. Mainly, as they are on window sills that don’t always stay warm. With some heat and light trapped, the cloche offers something of a security blanket. I am conscious that a sudden drop in temperature could wipe everything out. I would like to place the tomato babies in the 4TB, under a fleece. Just not sure if they would survive, would be a tragedy for them to be annihilated after being pampered for so long.

tomatoes

Tomato progess

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baby_toms

 

I had a peek yesterday at the modularised tomato seeds, and found a few babies had germinated and were actually a little leggy. In order to prevent the legginess from increasing and causing them to keel over, I have potted them up today up to their baby leaves. All being well, the stem will send out some stabilising roots and the babies will become a little more solid and robust. There were quite a few modularised, but only ten babies have come up so far. Hopefully, a few more will come through. I did see a couple of contenders coming through their seed cases.

At the moment, there are babies belonging to aisla craig, yellow stuffer, black cherry, marmande and gardeners delight. These are of course a very early sowing, and the danger remains that these will be cold and keel over. The plan is, to keep them inside for a short while, and then transfer to the 4TB once that has had it’s cover replaced. I am always some what saddened when baby seedlings keel over.

Last year, I didn’t label them, or separate them out as seedlings, They were transplanted outside and into raised beds. This year, we have labels, and I deliberately didn’t sow lots and lots. I’m not very good at pricking them out, so the potting up process was done with care and very slowly. it will be interesting to see which ones are the most productive. Depending on how many grow, it may be possible to carry out a further experiment. Half the cohort could be once again placed outside into raised beds, with the other half grown in the poly tunnel if there is enough room. Last year, there was a bumper crop of tomatoes, they all remained green and had to be ripened indoors. Based purely on the appearance, I think marmande was the most prolific. If there is the same level of cropping, it might be useful to have a recipe for a relish or chutney.