Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 1 JuneA tomato stem close at the soil line, its base thickly furred with white hairs and studded with root bumps, beside a bamboo skewer in dark compost flecked with perlite.Week of 8 JuneA young tomato plant in a black fabric grow bag on tarmac, its compost pale with perlite, a small handwritten label set in front, with a terracotta-coloured barrel and grass behind.Week of 22 JuneA tomato seedling in a small square plastic pot balanced on the lid of an orange bucket in a timber-framed shed, two canes propping its stems, bags of compost stacked at the left.Week of 22 JuneA leggy tomato plant sprawling out of a black fabric grow bag over the rim of a terracotta pot, a small white desk fan and coiled cords on the timber wall behind.Week of 22 JuneA tomato plant in a black fabric grow bag with dark serrated leaves and one yellow flower, a handwritten label at the front, mown grass and woodland beyond.Week of 22 JuneA tomato stem wrapped in clear plastic film over a long vertical split, pale hairs and root initials bristling from the green stem below, dark perlite-flecked compost at its base.Week of 22 JuneA tomato plant tied to a green metal stake in a black fabric grow bag, a handwritten label in the compost, more grow bags and rough grass behind.Week of 22 JuneThe base of a tomato staked to both a bamboo cane and a green metal rod, plastic ties and a white collar around the stem, a handwritten label in the corner.Week of 22 JuneA handwritten label in blue ink hooked among the leaves of a tomato plant, a weathered stake crossing in front, dry grass and black grow bags behind.Week of 29 JuneA green tomato hanging beside a green metal stake and a bamboo cane with a printed label, straw mulch and bleached grass filling the background.Week of 29 JuneA tomato plant in a black fabric grow bag mulched with straw, one small green fruit hanging at a joint of the stem, a green metal stake rising through the foliage.Week of 29 JuneA young tomato plant in a black fabric grow bag of dark compost, staked with a bamboo cane and marked with a small handwritten label, taller tomato plants in bags behind.Week of 6 JulyA tomato plant tied to a green metal post in a straw-mulched black fabric grow bag, a handwritten label lying in the straw and a second bag of green fruit beside it.Week of 6 JulyA single small green tomato on a thin stem among thick pale stalks and a green metal stake, with straw mulch and one orange flower at the rim of the grow bag below.Week of 20 JulyTwo small green tomatoes on hairy stems either side of a dark green stake, tomato foliage above them and red-orange mulch spread out of focus below.Week of 20 JulyA tomato plant reaching past a green stake with one small cluster of yellow flowers, black fabric grow bags and red-orange mulch below, a split-rail fence and grey barn beyond.Week of 20 JulyGreen tomatoes on a truss in front of a split-rail fence hung with wire mesh, a green metal stake at the right and mown grass, trees and a distant building beyond.Week of 17 AugustA green tomato beaded with rain hanging under a hairy stem and calyx, its skin still matt, with orange marigolds and a green stake blurred behind.Week of 24 AugustA truss of six round tomatoes on one hairy stem, most still green and one at the front turning through yellow to a pink blush, on a plant in a straw-topped grow bag.Week of 24 AugustA large round tomato resting on a red-and-white checked kitchen towel, still mostly green but flushing bronze across one shoulder, with a long healed split curving down one side.
