Tomato progress - a quick ketchup

Sunday, 7 February 2010

Four weeks on. Short of good sunlight progress is slow.

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Location:Milton Grove,Hackney,United Kingdom

Cold, work and mother-in-law induced hiatus

Sunday, 31 January 2010

It's been dificult to get going in the garden this weekend. It was lovely having the mother-in-law to stay, but labouring under a modest (belated) Burns night hangover meant we didn't really get going on Saturday. Plus work has been full-on this week (a semi-pitch and a quarterly review on a big account) - leaving me craving a bit of veg-time on the couch rather than in the garden. Besides, it's all justifiable with the ground frozen and a dusting of snow that hasn't shifted all weekend.

Notable signs of progress this week:

• The sun is just hitting the back of the raised bed for the first time in two months; we're in the shadow of a workshop when the sun's on it's lowest trajectory. I'm hoping that in two weeks' time the whole veg patch will start getting the sun. As soon as it does we're in business.
  
• Roots of the Garlic are visible when we unfold the bottom of the recycled paper pots. These are all lined up on the shed's workbench. As soon as we start seeing shoots we'll move them in to the light and will plant out as soon as we can get the ground ready.
  
• The first set of true leaves are appearing on the tomato seedlings, which have been moved to the more evenly-temperatured sitting room. This is just two weeks after sowing.
• The seed potatoes are sprouting nicely in the dining room and have proved to be an excellent talking point.

What we've managed to do this weekend:

• Started-off a mushroom kit indoors.
  
• Visited a Hackney Garden Centre called Growing Concerns. Nicholas will post a review.
• Bought some cool zinc plant labels and wrote-out the full set for the end of the rows in the raised bed (opposite).
  
• Bought organic potato fertiliser and blood and bone meal for the vine that I've been growing for the last five years. We had some lovely grapes off it last year.
  

Sowing Tomatoes

Sunday, 24 January 2010

We didn't mention it at the time, but last weekend we sowed Tumbling Toms from Thompson and Morgan, two/three at a time into 3" pots. We grew this variety very successfully in hanging baskets and hay troughs around the garden last year. As the name suggest they have a spreading trailing habit that suits this type of situation and therefore maximise space for us by using up wall space.

Used in salads and intense sauces throughout the summer the remaining unripe and semi ripe fruit were snipped off en-mass, ripened on trays in window sills for a week and then thrown into Nigel Slater's Green and Red Tomato Chutney. This turned out more like a rough ketchup, spicy and sweet, than a true chutney. It was great with cheese, dolloped into stews and given away as Christmas presents.

To germinate effectively these need to be kept at a constant 20 degrees, or there abouts, so we've had them on the radiator in our bedroom. We've had an almost 100% germination rate, with seedlings popping through in just four days rather than the seven to 10 days promised on the packet.

As soon as germination has taken place we moved the pots to the upstairs bathroom window. This is our only south-facing window and looks out onto our inverted-apex-style roof, which means it gets the best light at this time of year. As the bathroom is at the top of the house - five flighst up - it also stays fairly warm. This should be an excellent position for them to mature to planting-out time in May. At that point I would expect them to be 4-6" tall - let's see.

The Spitalfields Horticultural show 2009

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

Al's photos from last year's Spitalfields Horticultural Show are up on Flickr.

Where we missed out on the veggies, Sarah and Nicholas made up in the baking category.

Nine first all up, plus four seconds and seven thirds.

We were awarded first, second and third for Nicholas's tomatoes - lovingly dressed for the show by me.