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igenlodeThe towel-tomatoes are now fruiting heavily, and I am trying to harvest them regularly before the fruits plunge to their doom! I must remember that I need to keep back the seed from at least one tomato this year in order to provide a 'towel' for next year's plants; I am extremely pleased with this year's results, where the plants have flowered prolifically, set quantities of fruit, and produced tomatoes of a very good flavour about an inch and a half in diameter :-)
I think the towel-tomatoes, sensible plants that they are, have more or less finished flowering now and are concentrating on filling out their existing fruit -- the heritage tomatoes have begun to change colour but have yet to produce a single ripe 'cherry' tomato. They are still heading skywards and I had to stake them last week (pulling up the stick from one of the towel-tomato pots which really wasn't using it, as those plants are busy rambling all over one another and the surrounding pots at only about 12 inches high!) They are still flowering and not setting particularly well.
I bought a job lot of reduced strawberries at the market and made about 8lb of jam, using some ancient pectin I found in the back of the cupboard. (The powder had hardened into a solid block, but still apparently worked.) Due to my inexperience the fruit rose horribly -- not too apparent in the 'crushed strawberry jam' recipe, but very evident in the batch where the whole fruit were simmered gently in syrup!
I was surprised to discover when I was up in the loft looking for empty jars that I apparently made plum jam last year -- I had no memory of having done that at all! (And I evidently didn't eat it...)
I think the towel-tomatoes, sensible plants that they are, have more or less finished flowering now and are concentrating on filling out their existing fruit -- the heritage tomatoes have begun to change colour but have yet to produce a single ripe 'cherry' tomato. They are still heading skywards and I had to stake them last week (pulling up the stick from one of the towel-tomato pots which really wasn't using it, as those plants are busy rambling all over one another and the surrounding pots at only about 12 inches high!) They are still flowering and not setting particularly well.
I bought a job lot of reduced strawberries at the market and made about 8lb of jam, using some ancient pectin I found in the back of the cupboard. (The powder had hardened into a solid block, but still apparently worked.) Due to my inexperience the fruit rose horribly -- not too apparent in the 'crushed strawberry jam' recipe, but very evident in the batch where the whole fruit were simmered gently in syrup!
I was surprised to discover when I was up in the loft looking for empty jars that I apparently made plum jam last year -- I had no memory of having done that at all! (And I evidently didn't eat it...)