Tomato update

Aiming off for the possibility of blight, I sowed some seeds for “Mountain Magic”, a variety with strong blight-resistance. It produces small red fruits, bigger than cherry size, but not much. I have two of this type – one in a pot in my main growing area and another (which was intended as a reserve) which has been squeezed in at the bottom of the garden, in the soil in a less-than-ideal spot.

Last year, one of the varieties that did best for me was “Red Pear”, so I’m growing it again this year. Actually, it has produced rather less fruit than I had hoped for, but they look as if they are going to be big ones.

Another of the large-fruited varieties is this “Cherokee Chocolate” one. The Cherokees are usually big vigorous and very prolific plants, but this one seems to be small for its kind (which is actually a bit of a relief because it will be easier to keep it under control!)

Tucked away in a corner next to my water-butt (it was another Reserve that I couldn’t bear to part with) is “Little Lucky”, living up to its name by avoiding being given away! This variety produces golden yellow fruits flushed with pink.

Out at the front of our house, in smaller pots, I have four more tomato plants… This is “Divinity”, a very compact red-fruited variety.

Two of the others here are “Montello F1″, and they demonstrate very clearly the problems with self-saved seeds from F1 varieties: they seldom come true next time round! One plant has very round fruits:

The other one has very pear-shaped fruits:

To be honest, I don’t really care what they look like; I just hope they taste OK! Possibly compounding the error, or maybe seizing a good opportunity, I have found three self-seeded “volunteers” from out there in the front where “Montello F1″ grew last year, and I’ve potted them up to grow on. Two of them are still very tiny, but today the biggest one seemed OK to put into a large pot, one of those recently freed-up by harvesting new potatoes:

Who knows what these ones will turn out like, but hopefully it means that I will be harvesting a late second crop when all the others have finished, which would definitely be a good result!