More tomato drama

This post is a tale of danger, excitement, daring and rescue on the high seas (or balconies). My tomatoes have put on a growth spurt in the last week and had reached the top of the greenhouse so it was time to take them out. They look great - the stems are thick and strong and they smell AMAZING. I love that earthy smell of tomato plants. This morning began as a beautiful sunny day, so I moved the tomatoes out and supported them with canes as so:

I was happy, and they looked happy so I came indoors and got on with some other things. That's exactly when the wind decided to make an appearance - typical. Met Office were saying that there would be a strong north easterly wind today and tomorrow and the tomatoes weren't looking so good. I had a bit of a panic because the leaves were getting battered and I could see them snapping off soon. Luckily my other half was around and came up with an ingenious engineering solution to the wind by using both of the covers for the greenhouse (I managed to buy only a cover rather than a greenhouse the first time round from Wilkinson online). We created a space for the tomatoes which means that they are protected on the sides but open at the top to let them grow. And we didn't loose any leaves along the way!

It ain't pretty but it works!

Tomato Disaster

Bad news folks. It's been really windy here since last night and the balcony has been taking a battering with gusts up to nearly 40mph:

The plants have been standing up to the wind really well up until now, but I'm afraid today one little guy didn't make it. 

It was snapped clean off - you can still see the stem in the growbag. I love how the sun went in just as I took this photo! So there was a rather hasty trip to Wilkinsons and now there's a new accessory on the balcony and two very relieved tomato plants. 

I've put the strawberries in there as well as they are not looking too happy and have also lost a few leaves to the wind. Very very luckily I have one spare tomato plant inside that I hadn't thrown away because I couldn't face it. And don't worry, the greenhouse is very well tied down!!