Well my plans for the big plant out got washed out or blown away.
The only activity in my garden last week was like one of those elaborate figurine clocks where different animated characters come out and do different things at different hours. The activity was me going in or out of the French doors and the tomato plants going in and out of the growhouse.
I did start leaving the front of the growhouse rolled up overnight as well as in the day and the Cream Sausage and Darby Stripe bought from the plant sale have continued to flower. But that’s about the only changes.
So now the guttering has been fixed back up (another weather casualty) this week I am going to plant what ever weather gauntlet is thrown down.
What was the week like for other tomato growers ?
In East Yorkshire A Year in the Garden has planted out Moneymaker and Super Marmande . But in a style of gardening I recognise, got them muddled up and is now unsure which is which. They are installed underneath individual plastic bottle cloches which I have seen with lettuce but not tomatoes so that was interesting. ( See entry for 18 May.)
In the experimental corner of East Yorkshire Vegetable Heaven got the 1st fruit on the ‘own brand’ tomato plant that is a cross between a heritage and F1 hybrid.
In Sutton Coldfield Hazel and Jane’s allotment has insprired me to think about taking even more out of the recycling bin. So far, for tomato related purposes, I have retrieved plastic water bottles and jars. Now it looks like I could save my newspapers and try my hand at Origami to produce newspaper pots.
France has been getting its own share of rain. In Living the Life in Saint –Aignan, more rain fell from 7 to 16 May than had fallen for nearly the whole 3 months previous. If you want to know more about the French approach to tomato pruning that got a mention here last week there is now a full illustrated post to read on it.
I don’t know how US tomato growers have been fairing weather-wise but in Coastal Virginia, My Island Garden declares herself addicted to tomatoes and each year pledges to plant less than before. An impressive roll call of heirlooms and hybrids in greens, blacks, yellows and reds tells its own story!
I hope your tomatoes have been unaffected by the washout weather.
