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?

Thank you for that! I will have a little handpick and look for a spray bottle...

@bluefoxmug wow, you GZ is huuuuge, mine are nothing like that big!

I wonder if where people are in the country affects tomato growth ..as well as indoor /outdoor if course. ...some people already have green fruits and have yet to see a flower. ..
be interesting to plot a map. ..Although I suppose exactly when they were planted would be a factor too. ..

I stopped pinching off leaves after reading this thread so thank you ....

*and others have yet to see...

Here are some of my toms! Fandango starting to blush, Grushovska getting pleasingly large and Green Zebra small but beautifully striped.

beautiful dragon I love the taste of green zebra. but the rest of my family thinks tomatos should be orange

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. Stopping the top after four trusses is designed to prevent late unripened fruit. I find with greenhouse tomatoes, and now our autumns are considerably milder than they were, that tomatoes ripen well indoors, especially if one of the truss is beginning to colour. Looking back at my records, last year I was still eating newly ripened tomatoes well into December.

I always start by pinching out, but by this time of the year I've lost it, and content myself with picking up all the floppy side shoots and tying them into the bars that run along the roof of the greenhouse (which I use in winter to drape bubble foam over.)

It's different if you grow outside - more room, so easier to get at the plants, and blight reaches you earlier so more important to keep a lot of air around the plants.

Toby 19 mice! Agree peanut butter is a good bait. I wonder whether they'd go for tahini?

First year growing greenhouse plants (tomatoes and cucumbers). We have far too many plants. Cucumbers are flowing and I can see little baby ones behind the flowers on some of the plants. The tomatoes haven’t really flowered yet and got a bit scorched. Some plants have a few flowers so there is some hope. They’ve got really tall though. It’s a jungle in there!

We have Moneymaker and Sungold outside which are now as wide as they are tall 🙈. In the greenhouse we have Vittoria, Black Cherry and Indigo Rose which starts off black then gradually turns red and black when it's ready to eat!

I haven't grown tomatoes for years and years so am quite excited as they are all doing well. We are only growing one cucumber plant this year (can't remember the variety) as we were overwhelmed with them last year and ended up giving loads to the hens. This is our first year with a greenhouse 😊

🍅

If you are like me, and always plant too many cukes - highly recommend searching for a Bread and Butter pickles recipe - delicious

I've never heard of those The Goat but I'm still working my way through dill pickles I made last year, they are delicious too. I've also made them with cucamelons in the past.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/dill-pickled-cucumbers

I got the kids sufficiently interested to harvest a load of potatoes and broad beans yesterday. We've had a handful of sugarsnap peas every day since the weekend, from 10 plants. Not sure how much longer that will last but there are still flowers coming.

I also have a couple of jalapeno chillis in the greenhouse, about 20cm tall and no sign of fruits. As well as some slightly exotic ends of seed packets - electric daisies and "rats tails" radish.

Here are the chillies that were raised outdoors until it started raining. ..now they live on my bedroom windowsill which is a lovely sunny spot on a good afternoon. ..
There are 8 more in the lounge and one on the kitchen...

And here is one of the lounge ones in flowerr...

@TyneFilth "Fellow Saladists!" - I like that term of phrase! Wish I'd put that in the thread title. ☺

@BewareTheBeardedDragon - I'm curious about the crystal lemon cucumbers - what sort of flavour do they have? They look cute but I'm wondering about the taste.

I grew cucamelons last year, outside, against a west facing wall. They looked very pretty, and the fruits were nice and crunchy, but the flavour was a bit sour compared to cucumbers (and nothing like melons - they just look like tiny melons).

The zebra toms look interesting, but I'm unsure I could get large toms to ripen properly in our part shaded garden (which is why I tend to stick with cherry varieties). Pics of Q plant attached.

I have Gardener’s Delight, beefsteak and Koralik tomatoes growing. All have fruit (beefsteaks are huge!) but nothing looks close to ripe yet. for cucumbers I’m growing telegraph and I’ve already had three cucumbers off it.

@catwithflowers wowsers - those are properly black!

@Defenbaker well, I only had a few to try but as I remember the flavour was good and cucumbery. If my big happy looking healthy plant this year gives me more ill update with a better review! Though bear in mind that I really like the citrusy zing of cucamelons.

This year is my first year growing veg. I’ve got Lizziano, Crimson Crush (both meant to be blight free), Tumbling Tom & Patio Plum growing in Quadgrows.

We don’t have very ideal conditions - they are in my South facing lightwell (basement flat) so get some good strong light in the morning but fairly shaded in the afternoon. They’re against a wall so hopefully it’s warmer too.

The Lizzianos have shot off upwards and are just starting to flower and Tumbling Tom not far behind but hanging down as expected. Patio Plum was a bit of a random last minute addition & it certainly is a teeny plant as it hasn’t done much.

I've grown Lizzano before - they're really nice and heavy fruiting.

Maybe a contender?

Polytunnel in Cornwall. Been eating Sungold for about 10 days. Also got good crops coming on Red Pear and Indigo Rose but not even changing colour yet. Cucumbers also in tunnel going mad so having to give them away. However, runner beans and french beans outside doing badly. Pathetic in fact

Ate my first ripe tomato today and have my first red chilli.

Tomatoes are outside and chillis are in the new tiny greenhouse

My cucumbers are slow but ok. One cucumber is about 10 cm long now. I've lost a lot to fecking slugs though (my nematodes ran out !)

Ate my first ripe tomato today and have my first red chilli.

Tomatoes are outside and chillis are in the new tiny greenhouse

My cucumbers are slow but ok. One cucumber is about 10 cm long now. I've lost a lot to fecking slugs though (my nematodes ran out !)

We had our first ripe toms today - one from the glasshouse, and one from a plant grown outside, against a SW facing wall. Taste test revealed that the tom produced in the glasshouse was slightly sweeter and juicier than it's counterpart from outside (both Gardeners Delight). Also had the first ripe Marketmore cucumber, which tasted fine, but the skin was quite tough so I peeled it. Another cue is nearly ripe, with more developing, so it looks like we'll have a steady supply once they get going. Very pleased as never grew cues successfully before. We have a few tins of tuna so think tuna salad will be on the menu this weekend.