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The first tomatoes

It’s been a few months, but I thought another herb update was way overdue. Six months ago they were all tiny seeds, and we’ve already harvested one container full of basil leaves, and chopped up and frozen one batch of chives, but still the plants keep growing.

Admittedly, the basil must be nearing its end, as the stalks have gone brown where the leaves have been removed, while most of the leaves are a much lighter green in colour. They still smell strongly and taste very much like basil, though.

The chives started to grow again as soon as we chopped them down to only an inch high in the summer, and are no as tall as they were before, if a little limper. Ripe for harvesting again, they will be added to the previous freezer stock.

There’s no coriander to harvest this time, though; all of those leaves were used for the summer batch of carrot and coriander soup. The pepper tree was a casualty, though; added to the growing rosta when we planted more at the house; it was obviously never destined to be happy indoors, and has now been sent to the big compost heap in the sky.

Six months on, the basil is still growing

It’s much better news for the tomatoes, though. The two plants I have in my spare room are the same age as the herbs, and I took them on after they had germinated and started their horticultural journeys back in the late spring.

Now nearly seven feet high, and trussed up like climbing triffids to my pendant light, I finally took off the two yellow fruits which had been hanging of the vines for the last few months this morning. Resolutely refusing to do anything other than stay green, they suddenly changed colour this week and let me know what varieties of tomato plant I had.

What’s more encouraging is that the flower heads around them on the same branches are sprouting more fruits – very tiny, but all much quicker than before.

I’ll start feeding them now, and see if I can encourage yet more growth. Tomatoes like a warm and humid climate in which to grow, so I think I’ve done quite well growing them indoors to even get two. Are there lots more to come? Only time will tell.

It’s a case of flowers, finally, for the crop-bearing plants growing at the flat. Which is both a blessing, and a curse.

After 5 weeks of waiting, and seeming to be much further behind than the crops at the house, the tomato plants that are growing in my sunny and warm study are now bearing the tiniest flowers. Unopened of course, but flowers none the less, or at least that’s what I think they are. All of which means, the fruit can’t be far off from appearing either.

I also now have a quite impressive row of delicate white blooms on the top of one of the basil plants, which will mean that it will go to seed unless I pich them. Trimmed 3 weeks ago when we made the soup, the leaves of the four plants that I have left are slowly turning yellow (especially in the lower reaches). If the flowers are pinched and they don’t pick up, then I think their work must be done. (Apparently the leaves must be pinched, too, for a healthier, bushier plant). So, tonight I trimmed all of the canopies which were still mid-green and popped them in the freezer, to use at another time.

Basil flowers

It seems a shame to think that I may not get any more useful foliage off them, but they have provided me with two plastic boxes of leaves which will be used for cooking. Growing them all from seed makes the whole process a little more meaningful, though, and gives me the slightest of self-sufficient feelings.

While the basil stems are very much alive (and still smelling strongly of basil, despite the yellowing leaves), the same can’t be said of the coriander plants. Moved outside when the tomato stems arrived – and to keep the new pepper tree and strawberry plants company – they now look very sorry for themselves. I’d been warned that coriander is one of the most difficult herbs to keep alive, and so they’ve proved. Limp, dry, and brown, it’s definitely time for them to be cleared and maybe some new seeds sown.

And I thought they was picking up this week, due to new stems (or ones that I’d missed when I trimmed it the first time around) reaching for the sun on my balcony porch.

It’s still all go for the chives, though. Cut and frozen the same week as the basil and coriander, the plants have since regrown, and are almost as tall and lush as they were before. Maybe they are an easier variety to keep, if you can find enough uses for them in the kitchen.

Finally, the lavender seems to be getting larger at a slow but steady rate, and the strawberry plants, while healthy enough, just aren’t doing anything. As at the house, they seem to want to concentrate their efforts on replicating themselves, rather than producing any fruit. So, after we got rid of the Chelmsford plants last weekend, maybe these will have to go, too.

It’s all go for the indoor herb garden. Three new arrivals from the Chelmsford horticultural happenings have even been welcomed, in the shape of two tomato plants and one baby lavender sprig. I can’t see much change in those since they arrived just over two weeks ago, but for the rest of the herbs, it’s certainly a case of onwards and upwards.

The basil has undoubtedly been the biggest success. Now at least 12 inches tall, the plants still try to escape through the kitchen window, straining to get to the sun. The chives are equally as tall, with their wispy and withery fingers still reaching for the sky. A few of the lower leaves have died, most likely due to lack of water or overcrowding, but otherwise, they are very green and seem to be enjoying life on the window sill.

Even the coriander has perked up, although I should have planted more. There is enough to make a handful of meals, but then the pots will be empty. They will need harvesting soon though, as the edges of the leaves are turning a deep red or brown. I’ve been told that coriander is one of the hardest herbs to keep, so I’ve done quite well. Once it’s been cut, it will be interesting to see if it regrows.

Harvest time will come soon, for the basil and chives, too, and I’ve been looking at ways to store all the crops I have. I’m not going to be able to use all of the cut plants at once, so I need to find ways of keeping them fresh to cook with in the future. They can be dried, which involves hanging the cut stems in pierced paper bags in a dark place for quite a few weeks, while others can be placed in ice cube trays or other trays placed in the freezer, once water has been poured onto them, to encase them in ice.

We’re going away next week, so I’ve got to find another keen grower to water and look after them for me, which could be easier said than done. I hope they’ll be okay – I’ll be keeping my green fingers crossed.