Who Dares Wins - Autumn Planting

After the heat this week, I've potted up the 10 seedlings of 'Little Heart' tomato (shown two posts earlier) which I will attempt to grow as an Autumn crop, mostly in the hothouse, but some in the garden as normal tomatoes would be grown. Joining them are 3 x 'Siletz' plants (in the background of the photo) and 5 x Struck Cuttings from various plants I had growing at the time. My objective is to try and get at least one ripe fruit from these small seedlings which will put me ahead by one generation with this variety and anything else I get will be a bonus, with late fruit.

Peppers soon

It won't be too long before the Peppers are starting to mature on the plants, with lots of fruit showing some size at present. I like to try different things each season and this year is no exception with two types I'm hoping perform well, although some seed would be nice - in the first instance.

Here is a fruit on one of my Cappia Peppers from Turkey, these I'm led to believe are a nice sweet fruit.

Another is this, one of 5 plants of this variety I'm growing.

Second Season Tomatoes

I'm going for a second season growing this year with about 20 tomato plants in total which I hope to grow until the cold weather stops them. I've grown 10 seedlings for Little Heart and they're approaching 10cm high at present, plus I have 25cm high seedlings as well as plants from struck cuttings which will make up the numbers.

Here are a couple of photos of the seedlings and plants, so far.

'Little Heart' seedlings


'Siletz' plants

Hot Chocolate

This year when I grew my seedlings for Brandywine Pink tomatoes I found I had one single seedling with a regular leaf, where Brandywine is normally a Potato Leaf variety, so I knew I had a ring in. I planted this seedling in the corner of the vegetable garden in the hope it may produce an new unknown variety.

This plant has grown well and is now producing mature fruit that has an unusual 'brownish' colour to its skin as it ripens, which is most unusual. Could it be a cross with a Brandywine Pink, or just a ring in seed.

Here's one almost ripe on the bush.

The same tomato after being picked for a couple of days and left inside to ripen fully

And finally the same tomato cut ready to be taste tested.

Although not the best tomato we've eaten, it is unusual with its brown skin so we've given it a working name of Hot Chocolate because it was so hot when we cut it - plus its brown skin colour.

The ever reliable UK2000

We like to grow tomatoes here and our all time best favourite is UK2000, a regular plant in our vegetable garden. These tomatoes are quite tasty and actually taste like real home grown tomatoes should.

Here's one on the scales that is 264 grams.

Tomatoes - New from Old

We've just had a taste of some hot weather with a couple of days in the 30c+ range, so upon hearing the forecast I decided to take some cuttings from some of the tomato plants in the garden that I haven't yet got seed from, so as not to lose a season if anything happened to any of them. Filling some 3" Supertubes with Propagation Mix and wetting it down, I took lateral cuttings from the plants and stuck them in the tubes. These tubes were then placed in the bathroom, our dullest room for daylight during the day. After 3 days I can feel resistance on the stem which would indicate the presence of roots, so all seems well and I have 5 cuttings which I'll allow to grow inside for another week, then I'll harden them off.

Only leaves that would be below the level of the mix in the tube were cut off and the remainder will be trimmed when the time comes to plant in the garden. This is a good way to get mature seedling size plants going at anytime during the season.

Have you tried New for Old?

Black Russian - A Tasty Tomato

Here's a tomato that is popular with a lot of people and it's something we haven't grown since 1996 - It's none other than 'Black Russian', a great tasting tomato and usually one that the 'B' store has as an early tomato. The truss had about 4 or 5 fruit on it and with high daytime temperatures expected over the next couple of days, anything with any colour is being picked in advance so as not to spoil.

Wouldn't You Know It

Just when everything is going good with the tomatoes in the outer garden, what should happen, but Blackbirds are eating the fruit on the tomatoes with any sort of colour. Off to the 'B' Store and got 3 x Rat Traps which I promptly set with cut up pieces of a tomato which they'd half eaten earlier.

More to follow I hope.

All Heart

Just when I thought my Little Heart tomato had settled down with its genetics, what should it throw up at me - none other than a "heart" tomato on one of the plants growing in the garden. The single heart shaped fruit is so much a reminder of what this plant produced for me last year when I first discovered it. I suppose that from the 5 plants I have grown this year, one odd shaped fruit isn't too bad.

I had 4 plants that were surplus to my needs this season and I gave them to my friend Neely to grow as they had a big future ahead of them, but sadly due to unforeseen circumstances, these plants threw odd shaped fruit, so much so they could be described as mutant. Sorry Neely, next year they'll be good - I hope.

Going Banana's

Here's a brand new one for me this year thanks to my friend Templeton. It's called 'Green Banana' until a better name comes forward, these are another of the Spanish tomatoes found in the markets of Barcelona.

Inside the Hat

Here's what the inside of Monomakh's Hat, a very meaty tomato with an average taste that can be used as an all rounder. Probably one that may not make the list next year, but a plant that gives large fruits and would be good for the home garden.

Seed Save Begins

I started washing tomato seed saved from bagged blossoms today and also saved more seed from collected fruit. In my laundry cupboard I now have plastic cups containing seed from Black Cherry, Sprite, Lime Green Salad and more Little Heart. All this seed will be used next season for my plant sale, but there are a lot of varieties still in the garden yet to ripen that will be added to this list.

I sowed the seed today for the F3 generation of Little Heart, which I'm expecting to grow as my hothouse Autumn crop, along with a few 'Siletz' which are currently just getting their first true leaves.

Here are some 'Nicoleta' seeds from last season.

A Top Hat

Well we finally picked our big pink heart tomato called 'Monomakh's Hat' and it's a beauty, a whole 327 grams which is 11.5 ounces in the old scale. I hope this is a nice sandwich tomato and I'll probably find out within the next few days.

I Finally Bagged One

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I cut into the tomato (below) but was pleasantly surprised at what was inside, as I have grown a few seedless tomatoes in recent times. This is one of my Little Heart tomatoes that is from bagged blossoms and the seed has been squeezed into a container and is in the cupboard to ferment. By the weekend I will have seed from this tomato in a seed tray in an effort to get another growing from it this season, which will put me a year ahead with the filial generations. This is a lovely eating tomato and I expect big things from it.

Autumn Crop

I'm sowing seeds now for my Autumn crop - here are a couple of 'Siletz' that I'm having another try of, as these are one very tasty tomato.

We Liked It.

We did the big taste test on 'Siletz' tonight and I must say that if anyone wants a sweet tomato, not acidic in any way, then this is the one. The downside was no seeds, but then that's nothing new for me.

Here it is.

Well, we finally picked 'Siletz' today and what a lovely size tomato it it too, weighing in at 270 grams. I'm sure we'll enjoy eating this one - I can't wait.

Worth The Wait.

We've been watching this one grow for weeks now and it's almost to the stage where it will be picked and eaten. This one is 'Siletz' and is not hothouse grown, but is in a 32cmx32cm pot in the backyard. The plant this fruit is growing on, is a very compact plant that is about 55cm in height. I'm hoping for something in the 250+ gram weight range, but won't care if it's heavier or lighter, so long as it tastes nice.

Newest Babies

Here is one of my 'Tamina' tomato plants, which I'm growing for seed only at this stage. These were released in England about 12 months ago by Thompson & Morgan, so are new to me this season albeit a bit late starting them.

I'd like to think we'd get some warmer weather and then they'll take off and do just fine.

Washing's Done

At least three days this week I've had blossom bags on the line after being washed. These have been in use on the tomato blossom, until fruit set on selected trusses. The idea is to produce 'pure' seed, not crossed in any way and it works well.

Early removal of bags is a necessity otherwise you will get fruit fill the bags, or even worse - 'Blossom Drop'.

Here it is.

I checked on the Little Heart tomato in the hothouse and found a caterpillar had nibbled the skin, so I picked it and took inside to ripen. I weighed it at 148 grams (5.3 oz) and is as big as a tennis ball, so we'll do the important taste test on it tonight (Fri) and then I'll report back if it was good. This tomato is an F2 and will possibly change more before it's stable, but so far it has taste and size in it's favour.

Here it is in Jan's hand.

The same tomato at tasting Friday afternoon. Result is great at a very nice 8+/10.

Worth the wait - Hopefully

In the next day or so I'll pick my first fruit from a tomato grown in the hothouse I named 'Little Heart' (F1) last year which came from a 'mutant' lot of seeds, supposedly Cuor di Bue. This plant gave small heart shaped fruit last year, with excellent taste, so I decided to grow them again this year, but got a surprise with their size. The fruit seems as if it will grow to about Tennis Ball size, very prolific, so when I get the first fruit it will be taste tested to see if the flavour in these F2 variety has stayed as nice as we remember from last season. I do have four plants of this tomato growing in the garden for comparison on taste and size etc.

Here is a photo from yesterday.

Almost Christmas

I know it's almost Christmas, but this isn't my Christmas tree, this is actually 'Papa Misco' all decked out in its Organza blossom bags.

This is proving to be a small compact plant for me as you can see by its size against the size of the tub. Still looks like an interesting plant to play around with next year.

Yes, that's seven bags you can see.

One from the Pot

This year we ended up with more tomatoes growing in pots, in an effort to grow some of the smaller varieties for seed. Amongst the varieties is Siletz, a dwarf determinate tomato, barely 60cm high and carrying some nice size fruit. Here's a photo using my wife's for comparison, size wise.

Tomato Blossom Bags

I've started taking off some of the blossom bags from my tomato plants as some fruit are getting a bit too big to stay any longer.

I must have well over 100 bags in use as I know I've bought 75 new ones in the last fortnight and I feel sure I had 100 last year. Three small fruit are enough to fill a medium bag, so it's important that they come off as soon as possible after fruit set.

I picked a bowlful of Polar Star tomatoes from the two plants in the hothouse this morning and they are still changing colour so will get a lot more before they've finished producing.