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?

I have cherry toms in pots outside. I am inside with a broken ankle, and my DH is "looking after" them. I am worried.

That is fantastic @Defenbaker

Here's my garden bounty for dinner!

@BewareTheBeardedDragon Ooh, that looks fabulous! Is that celeriac on the right? (I've never eaten it - is it similar to celery in flavour?)

My diet is not the best, but once I have home grown produce to eat I find I eat more healthily, partly as it tastes great, but also because I've invested effort into growing it, and place a high value on the home grown crops.

It was a lovely day today, down here in the south. I really enjoyed pottering about and took my time with the watering, while I gazed at the toms starting to ripen. Sometimes I almost go into a trance!

Wish I could go into a trance - dc wouldn't leave me alone long enough

My diet def gets better when there fresh garden goodies on offer

It is Kohlrabi on the right, which is really delicious and slightly sweet. I am also growing celeriac but none have swollen yet.

ta-daaah

Is that a cucamelon?

yes! it's maybe 2cm long.

I wonder how big I should let them get. anyone know?

That's about as big as they get, I haven't grown them for a couple of years but IIRC they start dropping off the plant if you leave them too long.

Yes, that is how big they should be, if you leave them the skin goes tough

I grew cucamelons last year, outside. I found that once the first one appeared, they suddenly produced a flurry of little fruits. None of them grew much beyond 2cm length, but the ones left on the vine for a day or two did fatten up slightly. They were pleasantly crunchy.

I'm going to try growing Minimunch cues next year, as I've read they're very prolific, with thin skins that don't need peeling. Hopefully they will be similar to the "Cucumbears" that Lidl sell (which are lovely but pricey for the quantity you get).

Just reviving this thread to say to @TheGoatIsHere I harvested my first cucumbers last week, went to my recipe folder to find my dill pickle recipe and found I also had a bread and butter pickles recipe in there so I made those instead and they are delicious, disappearing fast!

Toms and cues are all going crazy now - it's like waiting for a bus, nothing for ages then they all come at once! Trimmed away some of the leaves on the cue plant to give a bit more sunlight and discovered a couple of cues I didn't know I had. ☺ I love it when everything is coming to fruition.

Have just had a punnet full of toms, but now a dead patch coinciding I think with the very miserable cold June when they just stopped growing. Not a good tomato year for me.

Cucumbers are now doing nicely - looks like one every two days for the foreseeable future (which is the rate we eat them).

My salad success this year is the lettuces - I'm giving them more room and they're really repaying me. Mixed packet, so I have heading varieties and cut-and-come-again, oak-leaf, butterhead, green, red and green-with-red-splashes. I'm really enjoying them.