Tomatoes

This year I have decided to grow 4 different kinds of Tomatoes they are:

1.Neve's Azorean Red (from Plants of Distinction)
2.The Dutchman (from Plants of Distinction)
3.Moneymaker
4.Alicante

Last year wasn't very succesful on the Tomato front as I didn't have a Greenhouse but this year my Greenhouse is all ready to go,I dug the Greenhouse floor out to about 3ft deep,filled this with compost,soil and manure and a little growmore,put a small floor in enough to walk in and filled with gravel,I can't make my mind up wether to grow the Tomatoes straight into the soil (but that would mean changing it next year) or do Ring or pot Culture where the plant is grown in a large pot (grow bag soil) with the bottom cut out and sat on the soil,this is sounding more likely at the moment.this year I am going to grow Peppers (King of the North) and Aubergines (CALLIOPE F1 HYBRID) in the Greenhouse,the tomatoes are now in the heated propergator ready to germinate. Hopefully this year I will have Tom's to be proud of.


The Dutchman
Old strain that features purplish pink fruits with mild flavor. Large meaty fruits are very sweet. 80 days




Alicante
A reliable and highly productive early cropping variety. Produces sweet, red fruits of good size and even colour




Moneymaker
These round, deep red fruits weigh about 7 to 8 ounces, and arise by the many dozen on extra-vigorous plants. Expect the vines to reach 5 feet or so, just studded with luscious fruit. MoneyMaker's flavor is a full, meaty, sweet bite



Neves Azorean Red
A large fleshy Tomato,very similar to the Beefsteak,and very juicy...



Aubergine
Compact, spineless plants produce a heavy crop of baby 5cm (2in) fruits that mature to bitter free, oval, 10cm (4in) fruits of a beautiful cream streaked purple colour.
Ideal for growing in a container on the patio, or in the greenhouse

In the Green house this week I will be mainly......

Sowing Seeds....

We have had 3 lovely warm days so far this week so,I repaired my Green house door glazing,the wind had blown it clean off,it landed on the ground and smashed three panes of glass,so I bought some Silver tape and stuck some clear thick polythene over it and its done the job great (got really hot in there today). I potted some Broadbeans up a few weeks ago (Red Epicure) into toilet roll tubes,they are coming up nice now.
I potted,2 different variety of peas: Misty and Kalvedon Wonder,Butterhead lettuce, that I brought back from Greece,(yeah I know, very sad, I actually found a shop that sells seeds on a tiny Greek Island). Kidney Beans (Minnie),and re potted my Fig Tree (Brown Turkey).

I have decided to grow 2 different Potatoes this year (1st earlies,Maris Bard and 2nd earlies,King Edwards)which are chitting on the kitchen window as I speak,they have been there about 3 weeks.


I have a few things on the boil now so to speak, things are coming along nicely,the nights are still freezing but all my seed trays are all nicely wrapped up in bubble wrap all snug and warm ready to spring to life very soon.
hurry up Spring where are you?

Potential Tenents came to view today!

I went up to the allotment early today,couldn't wait to see what the Chickens would do when they saw SNOW for the first time! I opened the hatch doors and they sort of rushed to the door to all fly out like they normally do every morning,and then all came to a halt as if to say "oh my god whats this on the floor"?, some stood on the duck boards and others came out slowly but flying from one platform to another as not to touch the snow,quite funny to watch.

Anyway,I was cleaning the Chickens out and changing drinkers etc today and as I stood up a pair of Blue tits were checking out the new property! one of the Blue tits actually went inside then came straight back out,probably checking if its suited to family life in there,so in the next few weeks I will be keeping a close eye on things to see if they settle into thier new dwellings.I will add photos too,Paul also said he would make another 2 boxes to go close by very soon. The Collard Doves (Stay away from my Brasicas thats all I ask) are still here also 4 Robins and 4 Jay's,lots of Great Tits,Blue Tits and Coal Tits were all there in one go today it was lovely to see them all in the snow flying in and out for the banquet of food I leave for them.

I have a new book,well new to me but very old actually,it's from 1953! and cost a huge 2/6 in those days,I paid a whole £1.20p for thats inflation aint it? but I love old Gardening books and the old ways are the best ways I find. It's got a really good sowing chart at the back but what makes me laugh is the 'amount of seed required for a row of 30 feet' section, it states: 1/2 a pint of Runner Beans! 1/2 Pint? does or did anyone use to actually weigh them?



Also I found something else whilst flicking through this book under 'Salad Plants', how to grow Dandelions! I spend all Summer trying to get rid of the bloody things,nevermind give them a space of their own and care for them! out comes my weed puller upper thingy and on the fire they all go,and anyway when I was a kid if ya picked a Dandelion it meant that ya 'wet the bed' so I aint gunna grow these and pick them for my Greek salads thankyou very much! maybe thats a Northern saying,has anyone else heard of that?



This week I put toilet roll tubes (I knew they would come in handy for something) around the bottom of my leeks,which not only gives them a bit of protection from the biting wind up there,but bleaches or blanches the stems. In the book it suggest using land drain pipes or metal tubing and should be three inches in diameter and from a foot to fourteen inches in height. They seem to have taken ages to grow though.



Do you have an old Gardening book? email me with a pic if you like and I will put them on the blog.....