Have I sold 16 people a pig in a poke?

[PiggyPokkyFool]

Name changed as this is very outing.
The facts: Saw YouTube video about growing tomatoes from a slice of tomato, had some v tasty cherry ones from supermarket so planted 3 slices with low expectations. 3 weeks later, 54 seedlings, transferred to larger pots expecting to lose half, 52 survived - nearly all grew looking super healthy - had 49 tomato plants. Couldn't possibly use all so planted some, gave away some and had 28 tomato plants left. Got the bright idea of selling them on our local group for 50p each - sold all bar 3 which I offered some to my much older, much wiser chum and he said " Oh, no thanks as they are probably F1s so won't produce anything". Have I sold 16 people a pig in a poke? Never mind friends who think I am a great grower

Well done @buddinggrower - I might have to have a go next year and to be honest @BobTheDuvet toffee sounds very nice too.
Lots more pickings today though the torrential rain of the last three days have caused a few of my tomatoes to over swell and split - only noticed it when I was picking this morning as they have been neglected for a few days.

Yay @BobTheDuvet - every cloud has a silver lining!

Thank you for the comments, its helping me manage without any harvesting of my own to do!

Still, with this thread on board, and the positivity on just growing anything from anything (🍅 slices!) I have high hopes for the next growing season (and more pig-in-a-poke threads)

Oh, and these, from my sloes, steeping nicely in gin and sugar.

I have been minimal on the sugar and hoping it works out.

This will be my own harvest, if, it comes to fruition! But would love to be harvesting my own 🍅's!

Sadly the didn't realise it was toffee until I'd poured it into my sterilised glass jar and it had cooled... getting it out again will be fun. Heat the jar?

Yes, use a wine cooler or something to fill with hot water and immerse the bottle, or do a bain marie with the bottle in?

Worried I had to go give mine a shake to check it still moved!

Does anyone have any tried-and-tested green tomato chutney recipes? I've got a few kilos of toms still on the vine and I think it's nearly time to call them in.

Spent the morning outside starting my prep for winter - mulching/composting beds that have reached their limit and covering them with weed suppressant fabric, and weeding the lawn, and raking. How are others getting on?

I've got a few kilos of toms still on the vine and I think it's nearly time to call them in. A lot of them will ripen off the vine. Unless you really love chutney, you don't need to make them all into chutney.

Morning all - and what a beautiful day for gardening it is in old London town. Heavy rain showers and gust of wind must confess to being still in bed.
I'm leaving my tomatoes on the vine to ripen but the ones I have picked accidentally i.e. one or two green left on an otherwise ready vine have all ripened on the window cill and they taste good - not quite as sweet as the vine ripened ones but good nonetheless.
Still producing lots of raspberries, cucamelons, french and runner beans, some strawberries and the odd cucumber. It is definitely slowing down. Bah humbug I hate winter.
What can I grow inside to keep me going from November to January? I am usually a fair weather grower but would love to keep it going this year. Suggestions please.

P.S. Just to clarify, the gusts of mind are outside and are not being produced by me in my bed.
As you were....

What can I grow inside to keep me going from November to January? Beansprouts?

Cress?

I had been thinking of sprouting too!

Trying to find the best form of container/sprouting base..one that holds enough moisture but allows water through. So far I have come up with muslin, but on what? Just a tray maybe? Does it need to have a lid?

Beansprouts, cress - is it 1975? Sprouting? That is the expression we used growing up for one someone started to get boobs ( yes that is what we called them - if anyone had said the word breasts we would all have been appalled)
Tell me about these pea shoots though - Do you grow it like a kind of salad? Micro greens? off to google....

This thread is bloody lovely and inspiring. We were trying to move so I could get a bigger garden but that didn't work so are about to extend to get more inside space , and are now looking at hydroponics indoors so that we can have year-round herbs and salads and a place to start off seedlings.

Anyone done anything like that ?

Would the successful tomato growers recommend pots or in the ground for growing? I usually do pots but this year they were an unmitigated disaster

Also, anyone tried growing strawberries vertically ? I don't have much space (london garden) so am looking for tricks to help.

Piggy You may laugh, but at this time of year nothing puts on any growth - things that are hardy outside just go into stasis, and things that are in the warm don't have enough light to support growth. So basically you can convert the energy in the seed into growth, but after that it's downhill. So all the suggestions you have are for things that you harvest at the seed-leaf stage - they're all basically sprouting seeds. Cress and beansprouts are both microgreens.

I do have things other than sprouting things gorwing in the winter on my hot sunny windowsill all through winter, and some flowering cacti

@MereDintofPandiculation - I wasn't really laughing as such - all suggestions are significantly better than anything I came up with myself.
I have never sprouted anything, bar the boobs, in my life but I will try.
@lightlypoached - I recommend strawberries in hanging baskets which I hang out of random trees in my garden - stick down the runners each year and you have great success year after year. Photos of large and alpines for illustration.

I do have things other than sprouting things growing in the winter on my hot sunny windowsill all through winter, and some flowering cacti Yes, I have pelargoniums flowering all winter in the porch, cabbages and kale outside putting on leaves, cacti flowering. But Piggy is talking about starting from scratch for a winter crop, and my experience is that if you sow too late, there just isn't enough light. Things either don't grow, or they grow leggy and soft and are prone to succumb to mould or aphids. Even with mature plants, growth rate slows enormously.