I have had my first handful of tomato sungold of the season!They were
gorgeous.This is the first season I have grown fruit & veg,I can now say
that the toms are loads tastier than from the shop bought ones.

--
Thanks Keith,Nottingham,England,UK.

"keith ;-)" wrote in message
...
I have had my first handful of tomato sungold of the season!They were
gorgeous.This is the first season I have grown fruit & veg,I can now say
that the toms are loads tastier than from the shop bought ones.

That has always been the consensus round here ;-))

Enjoy.
Steve

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 15:29:17 GMT, "keith ;-\)"
wrote:

I have had my first handful of tomato sungold of the season!They were
gorgeous.This is the first season I have grown fruit & veg,I can now say
that the toms are loads tastier than from the shop bought ones.

No comparison, is there!

If you can, try growing some carrots - they're not difficult, and the
flavour is superb.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

Hmm. I grew tomatoes for the first time last year (admittedly not the
best of summers). They had to be in grow-bags positioned at the front
of the house because the back garden didn't get enough sun. I was
disappointed to find that the tomatoes my plants yielded were fairly
tasteless. I suppose it's partly the variety (these were "Red Alert")
and maybe also a lack of enough decent sunlight, but presumably the
soil (or compost) they are grown in will also affect flavour? This
year we've had a couple of sycamores cut down in the back garden, so
I'm trying three plants in the veg plot there, along with one in the
greenhouse and three more in grow-bags in the hotter, sunnier front
area (all are 'Gardener's Delight').

On 9 Jun 2005 03:38:25 -0700, "Ornata"
wrote:

Hmm. I grew tomatoes for the first time last year (admittedly not the
best of summers). They had to be in grow-bags positioned at the front
of the house because the back garden didn't get enough sun. I was
disappointed to find that the tomatoes my plants yielded were fairly
tasteless. I suppose it's partly the variety (these were "Red Alert")
and maybe also a lack of enough decent sunlight, but presumably the
soil (or compost) they are grown in will also affect flavour? This
year we've had a couple of sycamores cut down in the back garden, so
I'm trying three plants in the veg plot there, along with one in the
greenhouse and three more in grow-bags in the hotter, sunnier front
area (all are 'Gardener's Delight').

I've found Red Alert to be rather variable when it comes to flavour.
Some years it's been find, others quite bland - even with access to
plenty of sunlight.
I don't know what the trick is to get it to perform consistently, so
I've given up!

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

"keith ;-)" wrote in message
...
I have had my first handful of tomato sungold of the season!They were
gorgeous.This is the first season I have grown fruit & veg,I can now say
that the toms are loads tastier than from the shop bought ones.

--
Thanks Keith,Nottingham,England,UK.

Do you grow in a greenhouse?....might sound like a stupid question but when
I had a greenhouse five years ago I used to sow my seeds in the
October/November time frame so that I could be picking around
Feb./March.....because the daylight hours were limited to nine hours per
day in mid winter used a growlight prior to dawn and after dusk to 'lenghten
the day'......have just sown some seeds for a late crop to start picking
around October and into the winter months.....will be grown outdoors in pots
and then into the cellar in September under lights.....H

On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 08:15:13 -0400, "Harold Walker"
wrote:

Do you grow in a greenhouse?....might sound like a stupid question but when
I had a greenhouse five years ago I used to sow my seeds in the
October/November time frame so that I could be picking around
Feb./March.....because the daylight hours were limited to nine hours per
day in mid winter used a growlight prior to dawn and after dusk to 'lenghten
the day'......have just sown some seeds for a late crop to start picking
around October and into the winter months.....will be grown outdoors in pots
and then into the cellar in September under lights.....H

Did you find that cost effective? I tried growing under artificial
lights but decided that the cost of the kit an electricity didn't
justify the extra early and late crops.

JB

"JB" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 08:15:13 -0400, "Harold Walker"
wrote:

Do you grow in a greenhouse?....might sound like a stupid question but
when
I had a greenhouse five years ago I used to sow my seeds in the
October/November time frame so that I could be picking around
Feb./March.....because the daylight hours were limited to nine hours per
day in mid winter used a growlight prior to dawn and after dusk to
'lenghten
the day'......have just sown some seeds for a late crop to start picking
around October and into the winter months.....will be grown outdoors in
pots
and then into the cellar in September under lights.....H

Did you find that cost effective? I tried growing under artificial
lights but decided that the cost of the kit an electricity didn't
justify the extra early and late crops

JB
The bottom line is that....cost effective absolutely not....gardening is my
main retirement hobby so I do not look at the cost...once the lights are
isntalled tho the cost is relatively small...(a 125 watt set up costs
around 70 pounds)....I use a 125 watt compact fluerescent grow light and
keep it on about 16 hours per day.....it works out at about five pounds per
month....for me that is an inexpensive expense for the pleasure I get from
growing them....incidentally I do not eat tomatoes and wifey eats perhaps a
couple or so per week....some years ago when dad visited me over
here.(USA.) I grew some toms. just as a show thing to "impress" dad....had
them growing over the garage roof and was giving toms away daily....for
those toms I built a 14 feet long box about 14 inches high and the same
width and filled it with real good growing stuff.....a huge crop with a
ladder required to pick the toms off the roof...for the fun of it
calculated the cost of the tomatoes....at that time I figured each tomato
cost about 60p each and that was some 30 years ago so at todays prices
would be at least 1pound fifty each....was it worth it....you can bet your
sweet 'whatever' on that ...certainly was from the pleasure....I wonder how
many grow things that are not cost effective...perhaps a better one is....I
wonder how many grow things that ARE cost effective.......H

On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 10:38:11 -0400, "Harold Walker"
wrote:

Did you find that cost effective? I tried growing under artificial
lights but decided that the cost of the kit an electricity didn't
justify the extra early and late crops

JB

[long description of growing setup deleted]

....I use a 125 watt compact fluorescent grow light and
keep it on about 16 hours per day.....it works out at about five pounds per
month

I don't mind the capital cost, I'll quite happily bear that, but
its the running cost that I object to I was working on the assumption
that in order to compensate for a lack of summer sunlight I would need
to provide the equivalent of about 1 kw / m2 which rapidly gets too
expensive. How large an area can you grow under a 125w setup?

JB

On Thu, 09 Jun 2005 13:43:09 +0100, JB
wrote:

On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 08:15:13 -0400, "Harold Walker"
wrote:

Do you grow in a greenhouse?....might sound like a stupid question but when
I had a greenhouse five years ago I used to sow my seeds in the
October/November time frame so that I could be picking around
Feb./March.....because the daylight hours were limited to nine hours per
day in mid winter used a growlight prior to dawn and after dusk to 'lenghten
the day'......have just sown some seeds for a late crop to start picking
around October and into the winter months.....will be grown outdoors in pots
and then into the cellar in September under lights.....H

Did you find that cost effective? I tried growing under artificial
lights but decided that the cost of the kit an electricity didn't
justify the extra early and late crops.

Interesting point though - can home grown veg ever be cost effective?
For sure, the material costs don't often amount to much ( seeds,
potting compost etc. ), but in terms of 'man hours' the old scales
must surely tip in the balance.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

"JB" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 10:38:11 -0400, "Harold Walker"
wrote:

Did you find that cost effective? I tried growing under artificial
lights but decided that the cost of the kit an electricity didn't
justify the extra early and late crops

JB

[long description of growing setup deleted]

....I use a 125 watt compact fluorescent grow light and
keep it on about 16 hours per day.....it works out at about five pounds
per
month

I don't mind the capital cost, I'll quite happily bear that, but
its the running cost that I object to I was working on the assumption
that in order to compensate for a lack of summer sunlight I would need
to provide the equivalent of about 1 kw / m2 which rapidly gets too
expensive. How large an area can you grow under a 125w setup?
JB

With my set up I can cover an area of 2 1/2 feet by 8 feet when connected to
the overhead track which moves the light back and forth....when in this mode
I use 20 hours per day...when stationary it covers 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 but a
little more if using the outer zone for low light stuff like lettuce....H

"Stephen Howard" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 09 Jun 2005 13:43:09 +0100, JB
wrote:

On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 08:15:13 -0400, "Harold Walker"
wrote:

Do you grow in a greenhouse?....might sound like a stupid question but
when
I had a greenhouse five years ago I used to sow my seeds in the
October/November time frame so that I could be picking around
Feb./March.....because the daylight hours were limited to nine hours per
day in mid winter used a growlight prior to dawn and after dusk to
'lenghten
the day'......have just sown some seeds for a late crop to start picking
around October and into the winter months.....will be grown outdoors in
pots
and then into the cellar in September under lights.....H

Did you find that cost effective? I tried growing under artificial
lights but decided that the cost of the kit an electricity didn't
justify the extra early and late crops.

Interesting point though - can home grown veg ever be cost effective?
For sure, the material costs don't often amount to much ( seeds,
potting compost etc. ), but in terms of 'man hours' the old scales
must surely tip in the balance.

Regards,
--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations

Shudda mentioned before....cost effective? ....growing toms in a
greenhouse???? how many pounds sterling to buy the
greenhouse????????plus.........how many hobbies are cost effective?

On Thu, 09 Jun 2005 16:14:51 +0100, Stephen Howard
wrote:

Did you find that cost effective? I tried growing under artificial
lights but decided that the cost of the kit an electricity didn't
justify the extra early and late crops.

Interesting point though - can home grown veg ever be cost effective?
For sure, the material costs don't often amount to much ( seeds,
potting compost etc. ), but in terms of 'man hours' the old scales
must surely tip in the balance.

If you count the time then there's no way this gardening business is
cost effective! Surely the point though is that the time is freely
given so any produce at the end of it is a bonus and effectively free.

JB

On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 11:16:15 -0400, "Harold Walker"
wrote:

I don't mind the capital cost, I'll quite happily bear that, but
its the running cost that I object to I was working on the assumption
that in order to compensate for a lack of summer sunlight I would need
to provide the equivalent of about 1 kw / m2 which rapidly gets too
expensive. How large an area can you grow under a 125w setup?
JB

With my set up I can cover an area of 2 1/2 feet by 8 feet when connected to
the overhead track which moves the light back and forth....when in this mode
I use 20 hours per day...when stationary it covers 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 but a
little more if using the outer zone for low light stuff like lettuce....H

Sounds like a good setup! The overhead track sounds like a
particularly good idea to triple the area the light covers. I may
resurrect my early and late season produce.

JB

"JB" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 09 Jun 2005 16:14:51 +0100, Stephen Howard
wrote:

Did you find that cost effective? I tried growing under artificial
lights but decided that the cost of the kit an electricity didn't
justify the extra early and late crops.

Interesting point though - can home grown veg ever be cost effective?
For sure, the material costs don't often amount to much ( seeds,
potting compost etc. ), but in terms of 'man hours' the old scales
must surely tip in the balance.

If you count the time then there's no way this gardening business is
cost effective! Surely the point though is that the time is freely
given so any produce at the end of it is a bonus and effectively free.

JB
But, that so "freely given time" could be devoted to a part time job
earning good money....H