Organic Allotment

Introducing - This Year's Tomatoes

Once again I'm growing a variety of different of different tomatoes this year. I started them off about a month ago in a propagator at home and now they've been potted on and moved into the greenhouse at the allotment.

Purple Ukraine is a large purple vine tomato. They grow on tall plants which set trusses of really large, deep purple plum tomatoes the size and shape of a goose egg.

Costoluto Fiorentino is a vine tomato which produces large red ribbed tomatoes. Its is from the gardeners of Florence in Italy and is similar to the Costoluto Genovese from Genoa.

Gardener's Delight (Supersweet Irish Version) is a cherry vine tomato with a very sweet flavour. It is smaller than real "Gardener's Delight" but supposed to be very good none the less!

Both Pink Plum and Plum Lemon were seeds that came in my selection from the Heritage Seed Library. Pink Plum is supposed to do exactly what it says on the packet! Plum Lemon was originally obtained from an elderly seedsman at the Kalitnikovskiy Bird Market in Moscow. It  is supposed to do particularly well in cooler climates and shorter seasons

Amish Paste  is a giant plum tomato from the Amish community. It produces nice red fruit about the size of an apple that can weigh up to 1lb each.

Finally, Scattolone is an Italian plum tomato similar to San Marzano, which I have grown in the past. It is perfect for cooking, especially in pasta sauces.

I really like growing tomatoes - can you tell? The greenhouse is certainly going to be very crowded this year... And if you haven't planted any yet? Don't panic as you will still have time if you get them in before the end of the month. I'll keep you updated with how mine get on as they grow.

Art of the Garden

The plot (and this blog) have been rather neglected of late because I've been so busy at work directing a play. Unfortunately the nature of my job means that I have very busy periods of time where leisurely days on the allotment become an impossibility, swapped for long days getting things just right in a darkened theatre. Now the play has finished I can breathe a sigh of relief and get back outside to catch up with all the planting.

Despite times like this when there is a real conflict between work and growing, these two different aspects of my life normally run alongside each other in perfect harmony. When work is busy and stressful it only takes a short time on the plot getting on with jobs for me to feel relaxed and sane again! The routine of growing and the fresh air acts as the perfect tonic to the more unpredictable and hectic aspects of my life. A trip down to the allotment perfectly draws the line under a day at work for me, and the cycle of growing and picking places everything that may seem insurmountable at work into perspective.

Moving in the other direction, much of my work in the theatre is about discovering and creating structure and beauty in scripts and then translating this into a production on stage. I feel strongly that the same applies for me in the garden or on the allotment where my aim is to make selections from the available plants that will create a final result which is both functional and beautiful. In both the theatre and the garden some of these creative experiments are more successful than others but, when they work and everything comes together as planned, it seems to open a new door to the unexpected, and the results can take your breath away.