After two really grotty years for tomatoes, things are finally looking more promising this year.  The relatively dry weather earlier in the summer has meant that so far there has been no sign of the blight that has tormented us for the past couple of years – even inside the greenhouse.  In early July the plants in the greenhouse were looking healthy and vigorous.

Greenhouse 1 July 2013

As the second photo shows the fruits are starting to ripen and here is a prize specimen.

Marmande tomato - as big as your hand

We have always grown one or two Marmande plants, but an emerging contender for a large fruit is a new cultivar that we have tried for the first time – Ferline.  We tried these this year as some blight resistance was claimed and we were thinking that in the event of another bad season we might at least get something.  We weren’t expecting to get such large and tasty fruit from the descriptions and the plants’ vigour and productivity were a very pleasant surprise.