Price Points: Tomato supports

A couple of months ago, we planted out a few packets of tomato seeds, including some that were sent to us by Heinz. Fast-forward to June and we have about 3 dozen plants that are fast outgrowing their pots and need to be planted out on our allotment.

Last year’s crop was very disappointing; some of it was down to the weather, but if I’m being truthful, they were a little neglected and were in dire need of some tomato supports.

We’re really impressed by the plant halos (#2). They’ve had lots of good reviews and it’s claimed that they can boost your yield as it encourages two sets of roots to develop.

We didn’t really think about using tomato grow bags on the allotment, the tomato plants have always gone into beds – in which case frames #1 or #2 would work well. However, if planting into the ground isn’t an option – or you’ve had good results with grow bags, there’s currently an offer on a set of halos with an eco-friendly reusable grow bag for £17.00. We don’t have a greenhouse ourselves, but we might actually try one on a windowsill to test and compare results.

Tomato support cage: £7, Wilko
Tomato plant halos (set of 3): £10.95, Harrod Horticultural
Fold-a-frame: £19.99, Suttons

Home-made tomato sauce

Justin doesn’t normally get involved with the Thursday recipes – well, apart from taking the photos! However, this week, he’s actually done the cooking too. Don’t worry though, you’re in safe hands – as he was a chef for about 15 years before re-inventing himself as Mr H is for Home – and he does most of the savoury dishes in our household anyway.

We mentioned this lovely all-purpose tomato sauce in last week’s pizza post. Most people list tinned tomatoes in their store cupboard essentials, but we always have batches of this home-made tomato sauce in the fridge or freezer.

It’s quick – only taking about an hour – and very straightforward too.

It’s so flexible. The addition of ground black pepper and Parmesan makes for a simple yet delicious pasta sauce. It also provides the base for a myriad of other recipes. You can add all sorts of ingredients to it for some wonderful dishes – meatballs, chicken, fish, olives, roasted aubergines & peppers to name but a few. If you reduce it down and concentrate it a little further it makes the perfect tomato sauce for pizza topping. The recipe can be scaled up to suit requirements. You can also tweek quantities to suit your own taste – more garlicky, more olive oily etc… and add other herbs if you like too.

We make up a batch of home-made tomato sauce every few weeks and put a couple of two-portion containers into the freezer – ready to grab as required.

Click here to pin the recipe to Pinterest for later!

Home-made tomato sauce

2018-08-09 06:42:54

Ingredients

4 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
6-8 tbsps olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1 tbsp tomato pureé
1 tbsp granulated sugar
bunch fresh basil
salt to taste

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Instructions

Put the olive oil in a thick bottomed pan with the chopped garlic
Gently heat until the garlic starts to colour
Add tomato pureé, tinned tomatoes, torn basil leaves, salt and sugar
Simmer very gently for approximately 1 hour
Remove from the heat and strain.
Put through a second, finer sieve for an even smoother consistency

Notes

Quantities of ingredients such as the olive oil and garlic can be adjusted according to strength preference
Other herbs such as oregano, rosemary, thyme and parsley can also be added if desired

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Gimme Five: Tumbling tomatoes

Our potatoes have been chitted & planted out, the first of our veg seedlings have sprouted, it’s time to start thinking about getting some tomatoes started.

Our garden (and allotment for that matter) is really shady, a definite no-no for sun-worshipping toms. The sun only hits our back garden from around 1pm, and only at a height of 4 foot and above. We have a tall, south-facing fence so we’ve decided to try growing tumbling tomatoes along it. We have a couple of hanging baskets and just bought some hanging grow bags.

Mark Ridsdill Smith aka the Vertical Veg Man recommends ‘Cherry Cascade’ for hanging baskets. In a Telegraph gardening trial ‘Hundreds and Thousands’ came out tops. After some research, we’ve come up with this short-list of tumbling tomato contenders.

Tomato ‘Tumbling Tom Yellow’ (10 seeds): £2.25, Marshalls
Tomato ‘Gartenperle’ (25 seeds): £1.49, Crocus
Tomato ‘Cherry Falls’ (15 seeds): £3.19, Mr Fothergill’s
Tomato ‘Romello’ F1 hybrid (6 seeds): £3.99, Thompson & Morgan
Tomato ‘Hundreds and Thousands’ (8 seeds): £3.99, Suttons

Growing our own

This year we decided to grow more of our own – and we’ve got no excuse, as Todmorden‘s the home of Incredible Edible.

We have a variety of crops to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Most of them are growing in containers as much of our garden is paved with stone cobbles. It also makes protecting them from the ubiquitous slugs & snails much easier.

We use lots of the old galvanised metal ‘dolly tubs’, buckets and bins.

The plants seem to like it!

Potatoes, beetroot, carrots, tomatoes, rhubarb, strawberries, broccoli, courgettes, squash, peashoots, salad leaves, a variety of herbs – and yes, those are figs.

There’s still a little room for some flowers.

Perennials like the hostas, astilbes and lupins return each year like old friends. Although this year’s harsh winter saw a few losses.

To these we add a few annuals – osteospermums, lobelia and the like.

We’ve enjoyed working in the garden this year, growing our own. We don’t think self-sufficiency is here just yet – but hopefully we’ll reap some rewards!