FRUIT > TOMATOES > HARVESTING
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love apple are one of the most popular garden , greenhouse or polytunnel crop to acquire in the UK and they can be a very satisfying harvest to grow .
“ I consider Lycopersicon esculentum are a really rewarding plant to grow because they are very tight - produce and rich , so you may become fairly ego - sufficient on tomatoes , whereas that ’s unvoiced to do on certain craw , ” shares Lucy Hutchings , Gardener Designer and Co - Director of She grow Veg .
However , due to the variation in British summers , it can sometimes feel as though growing tomatoes in the UK is a airstream against sentence , as we direct to glean right yield before the oddment of the growing season .
know when to harvest your love apple is significant , but it can also be utilitarian to think about the stride we take during the harvesting stop to insure we get as many right fruit from our Lycopersicon esculentum plant as potential .
take on to find out everything you need to know about harvesting tomatoes :
When To Harvest
When you will be capable to start harvesting tomatoes will of track depend on the variety or varieties that you have chosen to turn .
Some type will start to ripen far earlier than others , and others will take far longer to mature .
small , cerise - type tomatoes and early Lycopersicon esculentum type are among the fastest to ripen , while larger tomatoes , like beefsteak love apple , for example , will take a peck longer .
It is worthwhile when choosing Lycopersicon esculentum , to familiarise yourself with the sentence - to - harvest for the special cultivar that you have chosen , so you have some idea about when you may expect your yield .
Naturally , the harvest full point for tomatoes also depends on when you sow and engraft your craw .
To brook the best chance of a worthwhile harvest before the final stage of the grow season in the UK , it is a safe idea to commence seeded player early , indoors .
If you are growing in a glasshouse or polytunnel , rather than outdoors , this will also typically think of that you are able to begin harvesting tomatoes just a little bit to begin with .
This way you may start sowing as betimes as February .
You may be able to set out harvesting tomatoes from July and should unremarkably be able-bodied to bear on to do so until September , or perhaps even October if you are growing them secret .
How To Know When Tomatoes Are Ready
Many tomatoes will be quick to harvest when they are amply red , but , of course , not all tomato plant turn red in chromaticity when they are ripe .
tomato plant get along in a range of dissimilar colours and not all will become red when they are ready .
With some types , identify the ripe yield will not be as easy as looking for the bright red hue .
You are front also , for firm , plump and shiny fruit that are almost but perhaps not entirely matured .
Fruits that are exit to altogether ripen on the vine will typically be the sweetest , but tomato will continue to ripen off the flora once they near the ripened stage .
pick them just a little before they reach peak adulthood ( and before they pass this summit ) can help make certain you in spades do n’t waste any yield .
The Harvesting Process
The real process of harvesting tomatoes could not be well-heeled .
Make trusted that you check up on over your plants regularly to identify any fruits that are nearing full ripeness or that are fully mature .
Whenever you see ripe fruits on the plants , just surcharge these from the plant , breaking them off through the stem just above the calyx at the top of the yield .
This is usually leisurely to do by hand , but if you wish you could practice a duo of gardening scissors hold .
“ harvest tomatoes is a delicate affair , as heavy trusses laden with fruit are easy to accidentally snap , ” enjoin Horticultural Consultant Peter Lickorish .
So if , like me , you do n’t have the hand of a operating surgeon , keep a brace of discriminating garden scissors for the job . I find this is preferable to plucking yield , to make it easier to keep the calyx and help them to be hive away longer . ”
Place the fruits you harvest into a collection vessel , ensure to put them cautiously so they do not get contuse .
Make certain that you glean ripe fruits as they look so production will continue .
Encouraging Green Tomatoes To Ripen
As tomatoes ( and many other yield ) mature , they give off ethylene flatulency , and this aid other tomatoes to ripen.1Sargent , S. ( n.d.).Ripening Tomatoes With Ethylene . University of Florida . call up March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/IR/00/00/46/98/00001/CV20600.PDF
rank any other ripen fruits , such as apples from an Malus pumila tree diagram or piece of banana , below Lycopersicon esculentum will further green tomatoes to ripen on the vine before the ending of the season .
To mature unripened tomatoes you’re able to also :
What To Do With Unripe Fruits
Though you could potentially get a few more advanced tomatoes by hire the steps above , you will likely still be left with some green fruits at the end of the growing season .
You do n’t need to worry , however , because you’re able to still harvest slightly under - advanced tomatoes and have these ripen indoors .
you could also use green tomatoes to make gullible tomato salsa or use them in a turn of other recipes.2Fennell , L. ( n.d.).Green tomato salsa / smoked tomato ketchup . BBC Food . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/green_tomato_salsa_53906
“ I would n’t be without tomatoes ( always a blight resistant variety ) as they are indispensable for pasta sauces , ” says Janice Shipp , a Garden Writer .
If you have works with quite a few greenish fruits nearing maturity but not quite there , you may also , at the goal of the season , pull up the whole vine and add it indoors for the fruits to ripen .
Somewhere comparatively warm with honest lightness , but not strong direct sunlight , is idealistic . Plants could be hang in a porch , for example .
target the love apple off the vine in a warm , blue place with ripening fruits that give off ethene gas will better the chances that these rest fruits will mature successfully .
Traditionally drawers or paper bags are used .
Storing & Preserving
The good tomato that you glean throughout the season are best used as speedily as potential when their flavour will be at its best .
“ Sometimes , tomatoes will split when wash away after find fault , in which case , you should attempt to practice them as soon as potential , ” lend Peter .
Of course , how on the dot you use your tomatoes will bet on which varieties you are growing .
“ At this time of the twelvemonth , we ’re eating everything , ” shares Gerald Stratford , the writer ofBig Veg .
“ My partner take a shit Indian relish and jams with all of the fruit and vegetables , but if there ’s a surplus , as there will presently be with tomatoes , we will store them . ”
“ Over the last couple of days , we ’ve started using a dehydrator . You slice the tomato , put it in the machine for around 12 - 14 hour and it dry out them without taking aside the taste .
“ We put these tomatoes in a small jar , top it up with olive crude and drink down the hat on .
We will then use these tomatoes to make the base of pizza that we like to eat every hebdomad . It ’s divine – there ’s nothing like it . ”
If you have too many , you might also :
“ With tomatoes , you’re able to jostle them in the freezer without having to sauce them , ” shares Lucy .
“ This means that you could grow enough tomatoes for a family of 4 to be ego - sufficient for the whole year , which is exciting .
“ With most crops , that experience quite unachievable , but with tomatoes , it ’s quite prosperous to do . ”
