Lola at the Coffee House

I used to get depressed at how late the sun rose in UK and Ireland during winter.

Id seen lotsa greenhouses , well designed and built (Id ventire to say that the Brits had as many greenhouses as we have swimming pools).

So what month in the year do you set your plants out into the garden?

Do you get over 300 tomatoes per plant over the summer?

Then you have a good tomato growing country. In our country, in places like MAine, for example, tomatoes are a tender crop where in house or greenhouse starts are necessary and, even in the full summer, they only get about 1/3 of the full amount of tomato "sets" and ripe fruits.

We usually plant "indeterminate" varieties because they will set fruit all summer and into the fall, whereas "determinates" will set most all of their fruits at once and deliver up a big crop per plant).
Growers choose determinates for market growth and they plant several crops of these big bearers for farmers markets or canning.

Last year I had a "celebrity" tomato that produced over 500 fruits.

My grandmother would start her tomatoes in the house, but for only about a week before setting them out. They then needed almost no tending, and we gave them room to spread. They would produce tomatoes almost continuously until the first frost. She'd make ketchup, stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce for canning, and we could eat just as many tomatoes as we wanted all summer once they started producing. Out behind the shed by the garden there was an old "Hoosier" cabinet, and an old salt cellar we kept in there for eating tomatoes. We'd pick a big juicy one, put a little salt on it, and eat it like an apple.

cha cha chaaa

I just posted "bump" because it was the only way to read your post.

It depends on whether or not I grow tomatoes from seed or get a plant from a garden centre/friends/relatives, but normally around April/May depending on frosts.

Sometimes I get self seeded plants from the compost.

I don't get that many tomatoes per plant which is just as well because there's only three of us in the house and my son doesn't like salad. I've never bothered counting them, but I get more than enough for my needs. I would estimate probably about 50+ per plant, maybe more.

I do however, get shitloads of raspberries every year

For those who don't know, a Hoosier cabinet is a kind of all purpose kitchen storage cabinet and work space . . .



On the right, you can see the flour bin (that's the first time i've seen one with a glass flour bin, though). These often came with a sifter attached to the bottom. You could just put a bowl or whatever item you wanted to flour under the flour bin, crank the handle, and voila, sifted flour. Very handy items, and very big sellers in the antique market.

According to Wikipedia, who are never wrong, the name comes from the fact that the items were all manufactured in Indiana, and in particular by the Hoosier Manufacturing Company of New Castle, Indiana. Them Hoosiers, i'll tell ya . . .

I love just sitting and listening to the conversations going on here. Learn a lot too! Just enjoying my Earl Grey and the start of my day.

Have a happy one folks!

Hoosier daddy?

What a vile pun-dit you are!

Tomatoes are the fruit of a plant that grows only in New Jersey. The fruit (or berry for some) is ugly as sin...but it is one of the most tasty delights ever imagined.

It can be had only during the months of (late) July, August, and September...and is for sale for the most part only in New Jersey and immediately adjacent areas.

For some reason, the best of Jersey tomatoes can be found at road stands at the Jersey shore...or in New York City (of all places.)

Anything else called a tomato that is grown anywhere else and which ripens at any other time of the year is an impostor...possibly plastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqbWKu0HhkA&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Baker was hot, Spendius. I understand she was a terrific performer and I'm sorry I never got to see her. Paris must have been a hell of a place when she was there.

I had not heard the "Don't touch my tomatoes" song before, but it must have inspired the writer of "Shake Sanora." Very similar.

Whatever that plant is that I grow in my backyard that they call a tomato tastes pretty good during the summer months...never tasted a Jersey one though...so no way to compare. Maybe a good thing though. I would be forever disappointed with my whatcha-ma-call-its...

Thanks! Encouragement appreciated.

<wondering how you make a jellybean aquarium door, fun to think about>

I imagine it was a private joke osso.

Don't be discouraged Ragman. You're welcome here. Coffee or scrambled eggs with toast?

There are kiddie pools named Jellybean Aquarium, it turns out. For a shed door, I can imaging taking a regular 1 lite door found at a recycle wood place, knocking out the glass (easiest if safety glass), cleaning edges up, buying two plexi panels, drilling holes and attaching on one side, adding a world full of jelly beans (hmm, should they be varnished to deter critters?), then closing the "window" with the second plexi panel.

Not private, but a joke, I'm sure. Let's ask Bernie what in the world he was talking about. He's been telling me that it was snowing where he is yesterday and it was also lightening. So strange weather probably brought on a jelly bean joke. I'm not sure how they're related, but I remain certain that they are somehow.

I Googled Jellybean Aquarium and found the kiddie pool. But I still haven't a clue what Bernie meant. You may be right. Only Bernie can tell us. Bernie, are you here?