I thought I needed a diversion from turning over tomato bottoms and seeing nothing but the dark side so today it’s all about what’s working in the garden !
I’ve harvested two more Gardeners Delight – one from each plant. Total 2010 harvest now stands at 3! And the photo is of Black Cherry which takes a while to lose those green shoulders but will be delicious pickings when it does.
And then there’s this little bed which is working out well. These were the stragglers which had ground to a sorry halt in protest over growing conditions, all were pot bound when I planted them out. But liberated, they’ve wasted no time in fruiting. There are 8 plants in a container which doesn’t take up much space but holds 60 litres ( and could hold a lot more) of compost.
For growing plants to full size it would be too restricted an area – but I think it might come into its own as a trial bed; for taking different varieties to a couple of trusses to try them out.
And then I don’t know if anyone else saw the photo of David Cameron and Barack Obama taking a hike through the White House vegetable patch, looking very much as if they’d taken a wrong turning and were hurrying back to the land of flip charts and Foxes Glacier Mints from which they’d strayed…. but squint as I might, I can’t work out if those are tomato plants on their right . They look like tomato plants – with supersize me stakes.
The official White House site wasn’t great on detail. Although I did watch a video on the making of the garden and enjoyed the fact that rather than refer to improving the soil the chef/gardender instead referred to the more constitutionally appropriate act of making ‘some amendments‘ to the soil. Which they did with Sulphate of Potash and Crab Meal ( good for calcium and nitrogen – BER take note).
I don’t know what has happened to the Number 10 garden since May but based on this photo I don’t think it’ll be benefitting from any special gardening advice.
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Wow, your Black Cherries are ripening quicker than mine; they’re maturing nicely but no blushes of red. Neither is there any more reddening of my G.D., so you’re doing really well. Some positive tomato-news at last!
Thank you ! I was really surprised to see the Black Cherry doing so well. They are ‘slow to burn’ so I hadn’t expected it to be the 2nd variety to make it ! I’m really pleased though – I love the varieties with different hues – those are the ones that really aren’t in the shops – so to have them come good in the garden is a real treat. Someone said to me last year they didn’t think black was a natural colour for a tomato – which I guess it’s not ! but when they tasted it they were bowled over by the flavour -so it looks like I’m going to be able to win over some more doubters this year if all continues well – fingers crossed !