We always grow far too many tomatoes. Packets of tomato seeds seem to be one of the favourite choices for gardening magazines to give away and we sow all of these free seeds. Unfortunately, we then forget to keep the packets or to label the pots, so we are never completely sure of what varieties we are actually growing.
In the two greenhouses there are a total of 49 tomato plants: cherry tomatoes, stripey tomatoes, beef tomatoes, ordinary round medium-sized tomatoes, tomatoes with ridges, some that are shaped like large strawberries and some pale red tomatoes that you never see in the shops.
We're coming to the end of the season now and the tomatoes that don't ripen in the greenhouses will be brought inside and left to redden up on a sunny windowsill. We rarely end up with any green tomatoes.
Meanwhile, we're sending out plastic boxes full of tomatoes to friends in London and everyone at Field Cottage is busy making passata, pasta sauce and numerous versions of tomato soup to store in the freezer.
