How and when is the best time to pick tomatoes
A gardening expert for Homebase UK and head of horticulture and landscaping at Capel Manor college in London, Tom Cole, shared how to harvest tomatoes.
In a Youtube video for Homebaseuk, the pro said that the crop can be ready to harvest from early summer and throughout the season, depending on when they were sown and planted.
The expert explained: “Pick fruit that is firm to the touch and slightly orange. They need not reach full colour as they will continue to ripen once picked.
“Early picking also reduces opportunity for insects and disease to damage them. The size of your tomatoes will depend on your particular cultivar.”
Popular varieties include cherry tomatoes which are small in size or giant beefsteak which are perfect for adding to salads.
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Tom continued: “When your plant has approximately six to eight trusses, the fruits will start to grow and turn the appropriate colour which is usually a bright red but can be a pale orange or yellow for rarer varieties.”
When you are ready to harvest your fruit, simply pluck the tomatoes from the plant with your fingers, leaving the flower-shaped leaf on the top.
According to the expert, this will help to ripen the fruit at the “correct” rate. He added: “It is important to prune your plant properly to get the fruits to mature at a correct rate for the best harvest.
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“Once picked, keep out of direct sunlight to ensure even ripening. Place them in a cool, dark place in a single layer until fully ripe and refrigerate for a few hours before eating.”
To ripen tomatoes quicker, place them in a drawer with a banana which will release ethylene, a hormone associated with the ripening of fruit, which will help to speed up the process of ripening.
Apples also give off the same gas, but bananas tend to work better and are cheaper to use in case they go bad.
Gardeners should check the drawer regularly and remove the tomatoes as soon as they have ripened.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) said: “Tomatoes are best eaten as fresh as possible. But if you have too many, then fully ripe tomatoes can be kept in a fridge for a week or so, to prevent them going mouldy.
“Try not to keep them refrigerated for long though, as the texture can deteriorate. Bring them back to room temperature before eating, to enjoy the full flavour.”
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