I’m enjoying The Ivington Diaries; Monty Don’s account of creating his personal and family garden. At the moment it’s February and I’m immersed in frost and flood. Which given the weather has thankfully this week, seasonally corrected itself, seems as faraway as a trip through the back of the wardrobe to winter, might.
But of course I’ve also had to peek ahead to see how and when tomatoes feature.
They first appear on April 14th when they get sown (in plugs). By May 13th, when they make their next appearance, they are in 3″ pots and ‘getting leggy and need planting out‘. Just over 2 months later, August 15th they are ripening and the slugs are munching.
And then on September 9th Monty declares, ‘ It’s the high point of the tomato harvest‘. Which I found very comforting. It means that for one of our best gardener’s, the best had – come the beginning of September – yet to come !
I think his tomatoes are all grown in greenhouses. Varieties include:
- Black Russian
- Andine Cornue
- Brandywine
- Costoluto Fiorentino
- Roma
- Shirley ( Ideal for frying)
- Black Plum
- Britain’s Breakfast
- Tigerella ( good, lots of flavour – I agree ! )
- Marmande ( disillusioned with taste)
- Burpee Delicious ( his favourite)
And their curtain call ? November 7th: ‘cleared greenhouses of tomatoes‘. A pretty, long run !
