I’m not an expert on tomatoes. This is my first time growing them – I have seen them grown when I was a kid at my gran’s greenhouse and have fond memories of the hours spent messing in there with the plants, but I wasn’t allowed to touch the tomatoes.

I got 4 plants off Frank at the allotment and went wild and planted a few seeds at home too. I’ve reared 7 plants myself and these are in big tubs too at the allotment now. The ones from Frank though are getting quite tall and one has started setting fruit.

There it is! The tomatoes are tiny and green at the moment but I hope they’ll soon be red and delicious!

The mess in the background is the anti-rock measure we need on our allotment site due to youths loving the sound of breaking glass.

Most of my tomatoes are gardener’s delight – a favourite amongst everyone on the allotment plot apart from Hazel who loves to grow heritage tomatoes for something a bit different!

I think there’s a lot to be said for buying different seeds from what you normally eat – for instance – it’s not too late to buy some of these tomatoes Tomato Tomazing™ at Thompson and Morgan

They’re deliciously sweet cherry tomatoes – now I adore cherry toms but they’re usually quite dear, especially if you’re making a big salad with them, so it is a good plan to think about what things you’d appreciate in the kitchen!

I know our tomatoes are going to be enjoyed – but what if you don’t have a greenhouse – buying the plants now and perhaps having a hanging basket with some of these in would do the trick! Tomato Tasty Tumbler

Think how little space a couple of hanging baskets take up – and how almost everyone has room for some!

Tomatoes seem to be fairly easy up til now – water regularly, pot up into either large pots or directly into the border of the greenhouse and from now on feed once a week. And pinch out the side shoots. If you miss them when they’re tiny then cut them off. You can do it with your thumbnail when they’re tiny but if they’ve got too big you’ll have to cut them with a knife or cutters.

Not experienced any pests or problems yet, but I’ll be having a read up on this this week to see what I should be looking out for!

When it’s as hot as it is today there’s a few jobs that definately need doing.

Watering newly planted seeds, and plants that are developing fruit need lots of regular water. Potatoes that are growing need plenty of water too – so don’t forget them!

Hoeing the weeds away when it’s this hot is really effective. The poor things shrivel up and die in the sun – so it’s well worth spending some time doing this where you can.

Chickweed seems to be especially active this year and is everywhere. Several plot holders are blaming it on it being in the compost from last year and are refusing to compost it this year. Old timer Percy is quite happy to accept all compost material donations though – the bigger the heap and the faster it’s put together the more heat it generates and should kill all the seeds.

We’ve filled one side of our double compost bin already. Partly through some old uncomposted stuff being put back in and all the new lovely weeds.

Watered the tomatoes today as usual and added some plant food to the watering can. They’re doing really well – the initial four plants and the extra ones are coming on pretty well too.
We planted out about half the leeks – they were as fat as pencils and getting far too tall so we decided to put them out now. We dibbed holes 5-6 inches deep and put the leeks in. They’d been in pots of compost so we rinsed most of this off to get them into the hole – the book I’d read said nothing about this – but seemed to think you’d just have roots (as did the man on gardeners world!). I’ve not trimmed the roots or tops of them – my book says this old way isn’t really needed.

I also planted out the cucumber plant – I’ve only got one as I know we don’t eat a lot of them. It’s pickling type which should be ok for salads peeled (they’re a bit spiney apparently) and good for pickling! I adore pickles so am looking forward to doing these.

The onions are coming on nicely. Weeded them again today and they’re nearly clear of chickweed. I have very much learnt the need to put them in very straight rows as it makes hoeing so much easier.

A word of advice – wear a hat in such hot weather! and you should put on sunscreen too!