Hello Jim, Yes, I could always cultivate tomatoes here in Berlin. With very few exceptions, like in 2017, when it did not warm up that much. In rest, they all get ripe, but usually by end of August. Some do come back the following year like weeds, these are ripe even later, by mid September. I do not grow them towards a brick wall or such, just in the garden away from the most intense afternoon sun or on the terrase in pots (the little ones). It is indeed surprising that up North here this is possible, but it is. In the last few years we always got days with over 30 degrees C and at least 4-5 weeks with 25 degrees or above (usually from end of July to beggining of September). On the other end, winters are pretty mild, we rarely get below -12 C. If I would consider my home country’s climate, at this latitude we would have cool summers and really harsh winters, so you can imagine my surprise when I moved here. I have grown plants and animals my whole childhood, back in Moldova. Even my in-laws grow tomatoes and they are even more up North, on the island of Rügen. There summers are less warm than in Berlin, but their tomatoes do get ripe. Breton area in France is completely different. First, they get much more rain. Then, they rarely get over 22 degrees in summer or below 0 C in winter (we have friends that live there). Berlin area is drier, warmer but also colder in winter. Cheers, Vlad Cheers, Vlad On Mon 28. Sep 2020 at 17:35 Jim McKenney <jamesamckenney@verizon.net> wrote: > > > > Vlad asked if it was surprising to me that tomatoes were grown in Berlin. > > Yes, Vlad, it is. My understanding of sumer weather conditions in Berlin > suggest that temperatures in the 22-24 C range (70s F) are usual. Here, > where I live (just north of Washington, D.C.) we routinely experience over > 30 days per year with temperatures over 90 degree F. We have, in effect, a > month-long season of extremely hot tempertures which you do not get in > Germany. Furthermore. during those hot periods, it does not cool off at > night very much. > We take tomatoes for granted here: they grow like weeds and self-sow. But > I've read about efforts to grow tomatoes in Britain, where at least in the > past they were grown under glass. Since Berlin is only about 60-70 miles > farther north than London, I wondered if growing conditions were similar > there. > Somewhere in an old book I read about a British grower who was unable to > flower Lycoris squamigera as a garden plant, but did have success growing > it under glass. > Jim McKenney > Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone7, 39 N, -77 E, where Lycoris > radiata var,. radiata is still blooming. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…