Tomatoes and Cucumbers 2020 - How are yours doing?

[Defenbaker]

It's that time of year when keen tomato growers are eagerly awaiting their first ripe tomatoes, so I thought it might be interesting to have a thread where people can discuss what varieties they are growing, which ones are doing well (or not so well) and announce the all important first ripe tomato of the season. ☺

I am growing two varieties of toms this year - Gardeners Delight and Balconi Yellow. Most plants are in our glasshouse, but I have a few outside as well. All plants are doing well, and have green fruits, but none have begun to change colour yet. We're on the south coast and normally get ripe toms in early July, so hopefully not long to wait now.

I am growing Marketmore cucumbers outside. The plants are doing well - one has 10 cues growing on it. 😊 I've never grown them successfully before (one year I lost plants to late frost, another the seedlings got fried in an early heatwave), so I'm hoping the cues taste good. I've heard some home grown cues can taste bitter, depending on pollination issues, so I'm just hoping this outdoor variety will be edible.

So, how are your crops progressing?

Thanks @Ifailed for the tip especially about good air flow. I will sit in my greenhouse and ponder (have some quiet time for myself) on your comments.

I'm a first time chilli and pepper grower too, so a bit unsure.

Mine are currently standing on my greenhouse staging in 10" pots which I hope will see them through the season.

Chilli plants are currently about 4' tall and peppers 3' tall. If they grow much more they will be too big for the staging and I'll have to find space on the floor.

my chillis and sweet peppers are in the large cold frame but how do they pollinate in there (daft question?). Some things don't need pollination. They have both stamen (pollen bearing parts) and stigmas (sticky pollen receiving parts) in the same flower and can pollinate themselves. Chillis seem to be like that - ie definitely got male (pollen) and female parts in the same flower, and it seems that their own pollen is OK for fertilisation.

French beans can also self pollinate, but runners can't. Courgettes have separate male and female flowers, so obviously need an insect or a human to transfer pollen from one to the other.

Whitefly - when you first see them, it's worth squashing them by hand, early in the morning while they're still too chilly to fly around. Once you've lost control of the infestation, then a vacuum cleaner using the upholstery attachment toes very well. A good reason to have electricity in your greenhouse.

I am growing Latah and Grushovska bush tomatoes, and Galina, Fandango and Green Zebra cordons, all outside. All have set quite a lot of fruit and some of them are getting very big! The Latah and Galina were billed as earlies and are living up to this. Have had a handful of lovely ripe fruit from each (SE).

I have some nettle and comfrey tea brewing - it smells like a toilet

I'm not sure how to tell if the Green Zebra are right. I tried one and it wasn't.

My cucumbers are doing very well this year. Last year I grew crystal lemon and they only got to about a foot high and I only got three fruit from two plants.
This year I'm growing one crystal lemon and 4 Wautoma. I've given each one its own hill of homemade compost and manure and they're thriving! I've picked two Wautoma at pickling size and eaten them with the dc because we couldn't wait, more on the way.

I'm also growing cucamelons, which were a huge success last year. They are only little still.

Can't you blast whitefly off with the hose? I'm sure I did that for my peppers when they were still living indoors ( took them out to do it obv )

Novice gardener here....six tomato plants outdoors with little flowers on some but no fruits yet.
Indoor sunny windowsill chilli has two chillies already!
The rest that were germinated indoors and raised outside when there was no rain...then brought back inside... are doing great with lots of flowers forming and good growth....
Now have a chilli farm on my bedroom windowsill. ..
I have managed to give away nine plants but still have at least 15...

6 tomato plants in my garden. Lots of flowers and a couple of tomatoes already. Lots of cucumber plants in the greenhouse. Way too many in fact. I didnt think they'd all survive but they did and now I have 7 standard cucumber plants and 6 pickling ones. I'm giving most away!

I'm having a bash at growing Gardener's Delight tomatoes and burpless tasty green cucumbers. I've created a bit of a jungle in my conservatory but one tomato plant has been relegated outside as it's an absolute monster! Picked 2 cucumbers at weekend (looked wonky but tasted fine) and have about 7 more growing. Have a few bunches of green tomatoes now. I've one bell pepper plant which is not yet flowering and some chilli pepper plants which are have been on the go since April but still pretty tiny. Really enjoying watching them all grow 😁

Could anyone tell me more about the 'pinching out' of tomatoes please?

if you have a cordon tomato (one that grows up). you take away side shoots that grow in the 'elbow' joint of the leaf.

that stops the tomato putting energy into foliage instead of flowers&fruit

Not even flowers on my tomato plants yet

The cucumbers in the greenhouse are doing well, the outdoor ones less so. Can't remember what types I got, DH always complains if I get 'spiky' cucumber plants - any tips for future seed buying?

Only one aubergine has made it so far, all the carefully tended plants went to the great greenhouse in the sky, the one that got shoved in a pot at the end of the garden behind the greenhouse is thriving.

I've got chickpeas growing nicely though.

Ooh chickpeas, that's exciting!

Cucumber seeds - I always choose an F1 hybrid variety, and preferably all female. I'm currently growing Telepathy F1 which has both male and female flowers (male is just a flower, female has the beginnings of a tiny cucumber behind the flower). You have to remove the male flowers because if they pollinate the females the cucumbers can be bitter. All female varieties save the bother of doing this. They are more expensive than others so you have to weigh up what suits you best.

From wiki: "Green Zebra is a tomato cultivar with characteristic dark green and yellow stripes. Newer variations blush reddish instead of yellow when ripe."

You don't need a hose to blast whitefly off, just a few taps will get them all airborne. But that doesn't work with tomato plants 4 ft high tied in the to the framework of the greenhouse, they just come back and settle in the same place. And hosing would leave a very wet greenhouse! Hence vacuum cleaner. Nothing like vacuum cleaning your plants to secure a reputation for eccentricity!

that stops the tomato putting energy into foliage instead of flowers&fruit in practice, it doesn't seem to inhibit fruiting (after all, the foliage will be a producer of energy). I suspect the real reason is to avoid a jungle and make for easier fruit picking.

Yes I have found in the past that you will still get lots of tomatoes if you leave them to do their own thing, I think they will be much more susceptible to blight though and that's a real bugger when it seeps through.

that stops the tomato putting energy into foliage instead of flowers&fruit in practice, it doesn't seem to inhibit fruiting (after all, the foliage will be a producer of energy). I suspect the real reason is to avoid a jungle and make for easier fruit picking.

possibly. I usually leave one low side shoot on as a back up plan in case wind or wildlife break off the top of the plant.

Last year I was not very good at side shooting and I got lots of fruit that still hadn't ripened by the end of the season. I don't know if the two were connected.

Nothing like vacuum cleaning your plants to secure a reputation for eccentricity!
Ha, that reminds me of when the dc decided to have a water fight using glasses as vessels while I wasn't looking. Inevitably a glass flew out of a wet hand and smashed on a stepping stone in the grass, so I had to take the hoover out to the end of the garden on an extension lead. My garden back onto a public path with only a chain link fence and there were many walkers that day 🤦‍♀️

If you leave a tomato plant to it's own devices, you'll discover it's a 'crawler'. By that I mean whenever the stem makes contact with the ground it will put down roots (you can see the little white hairs on the stem that will do this). You end up with something more akin to a squash plant that will take up a lot of space, with not many fruit.
As to growing as cordons and leaving the shoots in place, I'm sure it will eventually produce fruit on every stem, given enough food, heat and sunshine. Unfortunately the latter two tend to be in short supply in the UK.
I think the advice to pinch out cordons is to limit the number of trusses to ensure you get a crop that ripens, and to keep the plant under control.

Have 11 tomato plants in the greenhouse. All have flowers but yet to show any fruit.

4 cucumber also in the greenhouse. All have little fruits so expecting a bumper harvest. Lots of other stuff going on in veg patch too.

Got an infestation of mice in the greenhouse and they started to eat the cucumbers! I've trapped 19 in the last 2 days - they have a big weakness for peanut butter ;)

green zebra - almost ripe

I have
green zebra - few but big fruits
black krim - just about to form fruits
window box - loads of fruit but still green
cucamelon - lots of female buds but no fruit so far

all on a south facing balcony

Oh, how I would love a greenhouse.

I planted plugs out mid May. I have 6 G. Delight toms in two grow bags, and two courgettes in tubs, down the side of my house. SW facing, so really hot in the afternoon, and retains wall heat overnight. About 4 ft tall now, lots of flowers, and a couple of teeny, tiny toms. Courgettes just producing first fruits. Had to water them twice a day, a couple of weeks ago, not now, lashing it down! All needing their first feed I think.

Cucumbers also planted out at the same time, put three in a huge pot by the conservatory. They are enormous! Didn't realise they would get so big. Have about 10 fruits per plant, and still only 3ft tall. Lots of side shoots as well. Shall I take those off? Assume I will have to feed them soon too?

Lettuce and rocket going strong in a completely shady courtyard.

Also. .I know it's not tomatoes or cucumber abut could anyone tell me please if greenfly is bad for chillies? And how to get rid?

Here is the first chilli of the season raised indoors on a sunny windowsill.

if it is normal aphids then I just take them off by hand (washing hands afterwards especially with chillis). You can spray them with a mix of washing up liquid and water as well.

Or kidnap a ladybird! Greenfly is generally bad for everything.