This is what we want!
Autumn seems to have arrived here in west Wales – it’s not cold, but it’s foggy and raining. The garden is still productive: I picked a couple more courgettes the yesterday and we have fresh peppers for our pizza this evening. However, the change in weather does herald the beginning of the end of the summer vegetables.
This year the tomato plants have produced abundantly, but most of the fruit have not yet ripened up. I know that people will tell me to make green tomato chutney but if I did it would never get eaten… we are not fans of chutney or pickles. What I want is a big heap of ripe tomatoes so that I can make some more passata.
So, once the temperature drops and the days get shorter, I will pick all of my tomatoes, irrespective of colour, and place them gently in a cardboard box with an apple. I will close the lid and I’ll put them somewhere out of the way. The apple will produce ethylene, the chemical that encourages fruit to ripen, and the tomatoes will change colour. I will check them every few days, remove the ripe ones and put those to one side ready for use in the kitchen. It’s magic!
The Snail of Happiness 
davidprosser
/ September 11, 2013I think the Autumn has sneaked in unnoticed to North Wales too.It’s been quite a wet day with bits of mist here and there. Still, we’ve had the best run I can remember for years and the youngsters did benefit from lots of sunshine during their holidays.
You can tell it’s time for change as the shops are filling up with either Halloween goods or in some cases Christmas stock and you just know that will fill every shelf as soon as Halloween passes. I swear someone is stealing months. The older I get the more they steal so that Christmas gets here sooner every year.
I hope things go well with your tomatoes so you get the passata.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 12, 2013Yes, autumn seems to have arrived very suddenly, but wasn’t the summer glorious?
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metan
/ September 12, 2013I had the same problem with my tomatoes earlier in the year. They seemed to take forever to ripen on the vine and I ended up picking whatever was left and spreading the lot of them on a table on the front verandah in a sunny spot. Over time they all ripened slowly and I could just go out and get one when it was needed.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 12, 2013No more sunshine here, I suspect to ripen the tomatoes… ah well, it was good while it lasted!
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katythenightowl
/ September 12, 2013What a great idea, and one I’ll be using next year, if needed 🙂
Living in West Wales, too, I’m looking out of the window, and seeing that fine, fog-like, misty rain we get here so often as Autumn approaches – and I wonder where our summer went to! 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 12, 2013Yes it’s really turning into a season of mists, if not so much mellow fruitfulness – no autumn raspberries this year 😦
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