Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Tomatoes.......what a sorry sight they are.....lots of questions for you.....

Finally I have a beefsteak tomato that is ripe, but look at it?



I cut it in half, expecting it to be bad right the way through, but it wasn't.



There'll be enough for me for a couple of cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.



I am over run though with cherry tomatoes and have been for a while.



Here is another beefsteak tomato, which is a long way from being ripe and it looks as though it has quite a bit of bad on it that will have to be cut out. Does anyone know why this happens?



These are "brandywine" I think possible yellow brandywine tomatoes, and they feel quite soft, so not to sure what's going on here, as they don't look ripe to me. Now I have just been looking online at brandywine tomatoes and they don't look like mine, also mine seem to be stripey? Any ideas?



One thing I know for sure its been a horrible year for tomatoes.

16 comments:

Lindsay said...

Correct me anyone if I am wrong - tomatoes can pick up potato blight - or then it may be just that the weather has been very wet in your part of the world?

Gill - That British Woman said...

I didn't plant potatoes.......so maybe it was the rain, as we have had a lot of rain this summer. Thanks Lindsay for your answer.

Gill

akalittleeva said...

When I grew tomatoes, I always called them stretch marks lol...my grandfather told me they were from the tomatoes growing too fast, usually from lots of rain after a dry spell. And he said Beefsteaks were very common to crack like that. Some varieties are more crack resistant than others. It doesn't really hurt the flavor, just the look.

Gill - That British Woman said...

thanks Cheryl...........you need to start your own blog!!!

Gill

Mary said...

Beefsteak tomatoes always seem to look a bit like that. But I love a good ripe meaty one! They are usually still very good even with the cracks and such. We grew them when I was a child. I'm too lazy now.

Sandi McBride said...

Too much water, is what I was told by our county extension agent. And they need LOTS OF DIRECT SUNLIGHT...hope that helps for next year...
Sandi

Lib said...

Hi,
Hope next yrs. crop is better. I had problems this yr. also.
Have a great day!
Blessins;',Lib

Gill - That British Woman said...

I think a lot of people have had the same problem, here's hoping for a bit dryer summer next year. Even the Ontario lettuce I from the store yesterday was not as compact as it should have been and the produce guy said it was because of the weather.

Gill

Janet said...

Too much rain after a dry spell will cause tomatoes to split like that. It's happened with ours a lot this year, but it doesn't affect the flavour.

My hubby did a post about this last week on his gardening blog at
http://oklahomegrownveg.blogspot.com

A Busy Mommy said...

HI Gill,

One of my farmer friends told me that when your tomatoes are splitting it's from not enough calcium in your soil. Maybe next year add a little calcium powder to your soil and see what happens.

My tomatoes were splitting too, that's why I asked him.

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

Can't hep with an answer to that problem Gill but if they don't ripen you could make green tomato chutney (I have a recipe if you need one) and I have heard of Fried Green Tomatoes!. Have you a whistle stop near you?

Good luck with it anyway.

A x

CannedAm said...

Cracking is from it being such a wet summer. Beefsteak are prone to it, but it's just been so darned wet this year here. Next year will be perfect!

(awful dry last year, awful wet this year, it has to be perfect next year, right????)

Also, if your brandywines are going mushy at the bottoms, look into blossom end rot. I believe that is also common with the heavy rainfalls.

Gill - That British Woman said...

thanks to every one for all your comments.

Gill

Mary said...

Gil, I just got an email from Bruce in SC and she intends to answer your questions, but she is having computer problems at the moment. She said to tell you that she should be back on-line the middle of next week. She thought your list of places to go looked good.

Robin said...

There's nothing like a fresh ripe home-grown tomato. I'm trying to grow one myself and its very much a Charlie Brown type of plant with one dorky green golf ball of a tomato. Farmers Market here I come....

nippercatshome said...

Hi, I'm sure all the rain we have been having accounts for a lot of veggies not turning out very good. I like your blog, first time here, will be back, take care mary

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