Ah!
The tomatoes.
The Il Pantano Romanesco - I'll recommend that highly.
It . . . ('they' would have sounded better) . . . was large with firm, succulent and tasty flesh. And it didn't have those huge cavities which turn into holes when the juice empties out - as most tomatoes have . . . especially, I find, the ones which turn up in salads in cafes.
Money Maker didn't do too badly.
Gardeners Delight - nice big trusses and tangy 
tasting fruit . . . though without much depth of flavour. I'll blame that deficiency on lack of sun.
tasting fruit . . . though without much depth of flavour. I'll blame that deficiency on lack of sun.
Perhaps the size of the crop can be glossed over?
I'm pretty tired today. Ceres was up all night trying on clothes for a party she's going to at the weekend and I was up all night telling her to go to sleep.
She'll be wearing a pair of sleeves. Other things too, of course - but it's the sleeves which 
fascinate me because they aren't attached to a clothe - just a pair of independently living sleeves.
What is even more fascinating, perhaps, is that she practises wearing them.
_ _ _ _ _
P.S.
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The picture at the top is of Castle Cove cliffs.
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The castle at the bottom is the 'castle' - Sandsfoot. It was built by Henry Vlll as part of his coastal defence. It was also used as a mint. Most of it has now fallen into Portland Harbour; all of it into disrepair.
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These photos have no relevence - but I took them this morning (22/09/08) and like them.
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The Tomatoes - I'm thinking if I put lots of photos of the same ones on my blog, it will look as if I managed to grow more than I did.
7 comments:
Those Tomatoes look great! Tell us more about the sleeves..maybe you could take a picture. I have never seen someone just wearing sleeves..maybe it is a new trend?
Hello, 'Far Side of Fifty' (!).
The tomatoes do look great, don't they? That's why it is so agravating when they turn brown!
See the two ripening at the top of the truss in the side panel? Well, I ate them this morning and they were fine.
But I've had to cut the truss below this away because, although it started off looking good, the fruits went murky-orange, then black.
The stems of the plant are turning black too.
In the kitchen, I have one of the Il Pantano Romanescos. It is cracked around the top (watering problem, I'd say, with shame) but it is also horribly hard, even though it is red. They're doing this - fossilising rather than softening as they ripen.
I had wondered about photographing it - but it's too embarassing.
Tomorrow, I'll cut it open and see what's going on inside. It may be ok for frying.
Meanwhile . . . I do recommend clustering lots of similar images of the same (good looking) thing on a blog to create the impression one is a better gardener than one really is.
Oh! And about the sleeves. Yes, it is a fashion . . . I don't know how new (even though it is new to me).
Ceres persuaded me to come with her to the shop and help her choose a pair from a stand but I let her decide. How could I judge? They all looked daft to me.
I was thinking of asking her to draw them for me this evening but she washed her hair instead. (School photos tomorrow.)
Best wishes.
Lucy
No tomato blight for you then - what's your secret? - did you cover them with sleeves?
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/tomatoproblemsolver/index.html
This is a good web site to help you out with Tomato problems! In my experience..It is either a fertilizer problem or a watering problem with most tomato plants. We use a special Miracle Grow for Tomatos and never top water..for the most part it works, but the Blights both early and late move in to the neighboring Potato fields. This year our gardens rested, cause we just needed a time out, I sure miss the maters! Garden on!! How much longer can you grow there?? :)
The tomatoes don't do much for me (I'm allergic to them), but I love the ruins of the castle. Very romantic.
It's interesting that the castle built by Henry VIII has been left out of all of your previous descriptions of Portland Harbor. If it were in America, it would be enclosed within a state or national park, with interpretive center, gift store (key chains, T shirts, etc) bouncy castle for the kiddies, and ice cream vans (: What an amazing place to live, with 'extra' castles piled about, falling into the sea.
I didn't do too well this year with tomatoes. My favorite yellow pear cherry produced its usual bounty, but everybody else seemed too confused by the uncertain weather.
Your castle is lovely too. If I lived there, I'd probably try to put in a roof...
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