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Monday 26 July 2010

Tomatoes and other veg

Today I would like to bore you with lots of pictures of tomatoes. Due to the freak weather conditions I got my tomatoes off to a late start. The first lot frizzled to bits in my cold frame during hot March days. The next lot experienced extremes of cold and damp. The ones on the following photos are from the seeds Mr H. from Idaho kindly suppied me with. I only sowed them out late April, so I'm quite pleased that most of them are ripening already not much later than I would normally expect.

I must also admit I'm the world's worst organised gardener. I frequently forget what I sow where and even if I make a note I then forget where I transplant it to. It's obviously easy to distinguish a tomato from say a cucumber, but when it comes to tell different tomato types, I get confused. So, knowing this, I endeavoured to plant at least the first lot in alphabetical order to the 10 different varieties Mr.H sent me. The rest is all a bit higgledy-piggledy, but I have my first 10 as reference plants. So here we go

#10 Red

Black Cherry (delicious!)

Bursztyn

Gruntovi Gribovski

Orange Smudge

Red Cherokee

San Marzano Roma (obviously not ready yet)

Targinnie Red

Taxi

Turkey Unnamed

This was today's colourful tomato harvest. Looking forward to growing my very own "Heiko" tomato next year

For those of you not so much into tomato photos, here for something different:

Red amaranth flower. Yes another one growing spontaneously. And I'm pleased my red-stripe amaranth has taken too.


Green aubergine. It's well ahead of their purple colleagues.

Chicory


Pears almost ready. It's an early variety and it's actually slightly late this year, but the more bountiful.

Florida Cranberry. After a slow start during the cold spring, the ones in more exposed positions are starting to look like proper plants now.

8 comments:

Stefaneener said...

I know what you mean about disorganization. I'm always wondering, "Now, which one is that?" The miniblind slat tags I made work well -- when I remember to tag things!

Tomatoes here don't seem to ripen much earlier depending on when they were planted, just the plant size varies. Crazy weather.

Ayak said...

If it wasn't for yours and Mr H's recent post, I would never have imagined there being so many different types of tomatoes. The photos are brilliant.

Mr. H. said...

Your tomatoes are looking really great. How is it that your's planted in April are so far ahead of mine planted in March? I think you will really like the Bursztyn, ours are always very flavorful and one of our early tomatoes.

The #10 red, Bursztyn, Targinnie Red, Turkey, and Gruntovi Gribovski were given to us a few years ago from friends in Canada and we have been growing them ever since...it's so nice to see them flourishing in your Italian garden.

Thanks for making me smile today.:)

Heiko said...

Stefani, I stick little labels on things too, but often they fall off or the writing just fades in the sunshine and becomes illegible. My favourite tomatoes are always the volunteers anyway. They tend to be the strongest, because they when and where they want and it's always a surprise as to what comes out.

Ayak, it's great isn't it. In the "Old World" they tend to stick to the same tried and tested varieties don't they. If you want I'll pass some of my seeds onto you next year. I've received so many myself. Find me on Facebook and we'll have a chat.

Mr.H, the thanks go your way for supplying all these wonderful seeds. Busztyn is lovely. That together with Black Cherry is my favourite so far. From Canada to Idaho to Italy and maybe to Turkey next. Monsanto eat your heart out, we're a true multi-national!

Angela said...

Bursztyn is Polish for amber (Bernstein), did you know?
ALL of your pictures look lovely! I am envious. My tomatoes are just plain normal ones. The Cherokee type is really something!
How are you preserving them all, or do you sell them?

Heiko said...

Angela, that would explain why they are amberish in colour! Unfortunately the cold spring and late start hasn't effected the timing but yields are much lower looking than usual. I will still make some sauces, I'll dry some and maybe this year I'll bottle some. Than I'll eat lots!

Jan said...

Those are gorgeous tomato photos, and I'm impressed with you naming so many varieties... I'm hopeless and forgot what sort they are, even if I knew originally!

Kate said...

Hooray for your amaranth Heiko! Isn't it just the most attractive plant in the whole vegetable garden! And so delicious and it will keep growing for months, then give you trillions of seeds.... if you can be bothered collecting them. I just let them fall and self seed.