As temperatures drop a little during early autumn tomato ripening tends to slow down a little. If this has happened, then there are several ways to encourage your green tomatoes to turn a nice shade of red (…or yellow!)
- Pick them off the plant and leave them on a sunny windowsill for a few days.
- Pop vines of unripened tomatoes in a cardboard box lined with a layer of newspaper and cover with another layer of newspaper – this creates a nice warm environment for them to ripen in.
- Put green tomatoes in a brown paper bag with a ripening banana. This traps ethylene, a gas that helps them to ripen.
- If they’re in the greenhouse, cut the plants down and lie them on a bed of straw covered with a layer of horticultural fleece to keep them a bit warmer. The only problem with this method is pest damage.