PP's Tomato Frame - as requested!

It is too hot to grow tomatoes indoors down here, with summer temperatures in the high thirties, but it can also be pretty wet, so the local way to keep the blight at bay is to grow them under a roof. More fancy structures also have sides that you can roll down when it rains, which probably would help.

The frame gets dismantled and packed away each winter - the wood was reclaimed form a fruit cage which we found we didn't need and the perspex sheets were donated by a friend who was replacing a roof. The plastic is very brittle now, so 2021 will probably be the year we'll have to replace it. It goes on a different bed each year.

This is the frame in place and just planted up in 2019.
     
The soil under the straw was lovely, but still very cold and an absolute haven for voles, so not an experiment I'll be repeating.

This photo is from 2016 in mid August and with fruit just starting to be ready to harvest. 
   

And the final one is from late November last year. Blight had finally infected all the plants so I was just about to take it down.
   

I should add that MrPP is an engineer so never happier than when designing, building and making things, and is pretty good at it, too!

It is too hot to grow tomatoes indoors down here, with summer temperatures in the high thirties, but it can also be pretty wet, so the local way to keep the blight at bay is too grow them under a roof. More fancy structures also have sides that you can roll down when it rains, which probably would help.

The frame gets dismantled and packed away each winter - the wood was reclaimed form a fruit cage which we found we didn't need and the perspex sheets were donated by a friend who was replacing a roof. The plastic is very brittle now, so 2021 will probably be the year we'll have to replace it. It goes on a different bed each year.

This is the frame in place and just planted up in 2019.
 
The soil under the straw was lovely, but still very cold and an absolute haven for voles, so not an experiment I'll be repeating.

This photo is from 2016 in mid August and with fruit just starting to be ready to harvest. 


And the final one is from late November last year. Blight had finally infected all the plants so I was just about to take it down.


I should add that MrPP is an engineer so never happier than when designing, building and making things, and is pretty good at it, too!

Thanks for the pics PP.

What a lovely looking place, I can picture myself with a cold lager watching the world go by

It is too hot to grow tomatoes indoors down here, with summer temperatures in the high thirties, but it can also be pretty wet, so the local way to keep the blight at bay is too grow them under a roof. More fancy structures also have sides that you can roll down when it rains, which probably would help.

The frame gets dismantled and packed away each winter - the wood was reclaimed form a fruit cage which we found we didn't need and the perspex sheets were donated by a friend who was replacing a roof. The plastic is very brittle now, so 2021 will probably be the year we'll have to replace it. It goes on a different bed each year.

This is the frame in place and just planted up in 2019.
 
The soil under the straw was lovely, but still very cold and an absolute haven for voles, so not an experiment I'll be repeating.

This photo is from 2016 in mid August and with fruit just starting to be ready to harvest. 


And the final one is from late November last year. Blight had finally infected all the plants so I was just about to take it down.


I should add that MrPP is an engineer so never happier than when designing, building and making things, and is pretty good at it, too!

Thanks for the pics PP.

What a lovely looking place, I can picture myself with a cold lager watching the world go by

Ha Ha - it's so quiet here you'd get through a lot of Oldarki between cars, and many of them would stop for a chat

PP It does look a lovely place to live.

Fabulous! I'd be join you Broadway - and I love it when people stop for a chat. Missing that at the moment.

Love the frame!

Looks idyllic PP, need a lodger?

Once the borders re-open and the pandemic is behind us I would be more than happy to host a G&G working holiday   (all participants must bring teabags and marmite)

That’s a brilliant tomato frame. Love it.
I like the work party ideas to, I’ll come help you, you come help me on the build   . I’ll bring tea bags & marmite . You have to pick up a click & collect from the supermarket before you get on the ferry   .

Very happy to do that SC.
One of my mother's oldest friends used to live in Fionnphort and I remember stunning blue'green water, pure clean (sinking) sand and a blistering cold wind, in August. Loved it.