Archive for July, 2012

Tomato recovery after hailstorm

Last month’s hailstorm had a horrible effect on my tomato plants but they’re now doing nicely thank you, although due to the rubbish summer we’re having they are lagging behind somewhat. Plenty of flowers, but no fruit yet. On this exact day last year, I was picking the first of my hanging basket tomatoes, so that puts it into perspective. The tomatoes on the steps (see pic immediately below) are Moneymaker and Brandywine. The ones in the pic below are Gardener’s Delight and the basket just visible to the right of them has Tumbling Toms (even those are still just at the flower stage – it really is a late year). The dried straw-like husky things you can see in the top pic are the Green in Snow Oriental mustard seed pods I mentioned in the previous post.

Gardener’s Delight

Saving Green in Snow Oriental mustard seeds

Saving seeds appeals to my frugal tendencies (if the seeds on the right grow OK, then I’ll have saved myself £1.50 – woohoo!) On a more serious note, I reckon it’s something all vegetable gardeners should get into. Being able to grow beans, tomatoes or salad leaves from seeds you’ve saved yourself won’t save you a fortune and it won’t fend off starvation if we ever go down the same economic route as Greece, but it will help. A bit. I spent a rare sunny afternoon this week getting these seeds out of the dried pods of the “Green in Snow” Oriental mustard that I’d grown in a trough this spring. I will probably plant them in early August, to give a steady supply of salad into September and early October.