19 Comments

It is bonkers. We grow and sell tomatoes and as yet have not found a market for all of them. I find it hard to understand why, as they are simply so superior to any supermarket grown ones. Of course they are more expensive but we price as low as we can. We are madly canning and preserving them and feel very lucky to have them!

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Madness. Where do you grow Karen?

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Also I think I am going to make a reel today telling people we have about 6 weeks left of tomatoes. I hope you don’t mind if I use some of your stats. It is fascinating

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Please do,& link to me so I can share. Sounds like more people need to know what's on their doorstep!

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Thank you!

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We are in Shropshire. A wonderful rural county with almost no vegetable growers

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I drive to this local organic Italian-run nursery to buy tomatoes that actually taste of something. I realise this is not something everyone has the resources to do. I am absolutely furious about that. My adult kids and grandkids eat pesticide sprayed poly tunnel grown cheap shitty tasteless tomatoes and I am boiling about that. USA and UK have the shittiest food cultures and dear God when will we act on that? https://www.instagram.com/foschininursery/?hl=en

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The nursery looks stunning, tx for the link.

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That's exactly what I'm talking about. The food system is totally wrong.

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Congratulations on becoming a fellow member of the Guild of Food Writers.

Last year I started to grow a few tomato plants of my own, because there never seemed to be any UK produce available locally. I've done the same this year.

I never used to like the smell of tomato leaves until I grew them. Now I look forward to watching the fruit ripen, as they are doing just now, and of course eating them, on their own, with a dash of sea salt.

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Thanks Lynn. Growing your own is sometimes the only way. Whilst it's life affirming to garden, it's so wrong that you can't buy UK produce in season.

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I think I'll be growing a few more plants next season.

And don't get me started on the subject of Strawberries, which are often tasteless and are as hard as bullets. I'm trying to get a crop growing again for next year. The birds got to the few I managed to grow this year.

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Thank you for the education on greengages. And, because I am here in the US I can't rightfully comment on the state of tomatoes in the UK, but I will say that I too savor the "magical smell of tomato leaves." Congratulations of becoming a member of The Guild of Food Writers--you certainly belong there. I look forward to the market reports from France. Have fun!

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Thank you very much indeed

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Prices, as they say, are bound to rise ...

https://hortnews.com/tomato-prices-reach-new-heights/

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Yes, it's happened in previous years

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Thank you for the lovely shout-out! 😊

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My tomatoes are all green. In September. I assume this might also be an issue for tomato farmers??

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It's been a difficult year for many of us. Our tomatoes have only just started to ripen.

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