A Golden Touch

Some small compensation in light of yesterdays news about the potatoes is that the tomatoes have started to ripen off! I was getting a little worried as these fellas here have been growing for about eight weeks now. We still can't remember whether the ones in the hanging basket are the yellow or red variety but I would say from this picture maybe the yellows? We had trouble last year with the tomatoes not ripening but it seems that all is good this year.

If you do have trouble with your tomatoes not ripening there are a few tricks you can try;

• Put them into a paper bag with a ripe banana. The ethylene from the ripe banana will start them off.
  
• Store them in a cardboard box, in a cool moderately humid room. Cover them with newspaper and they should start to ripen off. Try not to overcrowd them as this might cause bruising and they'll start to rot.
• You could always make green tomato chutney, never tried it but is meant to be delicious!

So, hopefully the news this week will continue to be good, we'll have some lovely juicy tomatoes to eat with the lettuce that looks due to harvest this week and the potatoes will make a miraculous recovery? We shall see, watch this space.