late tomatoes

Today we finally stripped the greenhouses of tomatoes.  It’s been so mild, and the tomato harvest was not halted by the usual autumn cold, and have kept coming.  I don’t think I recall picking tomatoes as late as this before.

We could have kept going too, but they have slowed down, and are suffering with the onset of blight.  That’s partly my fault as the regimented lines of tomatoes with side shoots pinched out fell by the wayside, to be replaced by a jungle – as they climbed out of my reach, but also out of my interest.

In reality, I’m pretty much bored of this harvesting marlarky by September – I know that’s bad, that this is the fruit of our labour etc, but it can go on so! And I want to turn to wintery things.. like more cooiking, and hedging and logging and hibernating indoors by fires with craft things.   However, I have continued to pick  and roast and blend and freeze tomatoes. The tomato plants have grown and side shooted like mad, and the air flow decreased as the windows stopped opening – with no summer sun to warm them, and the foliage and humidity increased to rainforest scales…. and blight arrived finally. So time they were gone.

Now I have boxes and boxes of tomatoes in various stages of ripening and I shall make green tomato chutney if I get to them before they turn red.