The Tomatoes I Planted This Year And My Opinion Of Them...

[digitS']

@bobbi-j , it's fun reading your happy posts as you discover your new and newly ripened tomatoes.

I have been just as encouraged, often.

Save some seed and welcome those varieties back like the friends that they are. They are counting on you to keep 'em goin' for more seasons of fun.

Steve

 

[buckabucka]

I've also never heard of many of these varieties! I make a garden map every year, and since the tomatoes and peppers are in a hoop house, we make a copy of the map and clip it to one of the cages to identify everything.
All my seeds are from Fedco:
Old favorites: sungold, cosmonaut, Amish paste, Cherokee purple, opalka, principe borghese.
New-ish repeats: Juliet, bobcat, sweet treats, orange banana, mountain magic, black prince.
New to me this year: San Marzano (we'll see if that ripens), San Diego, hog heart, blue beech, and Weisnicht's Ukranian (I recommend that one!).

This makes me realize that I haven't tried a blue beech yet. I've been busy working, and DH is busy picking and making sauces. He only likes cooked tomatoes, so I know he didn't try it either!

 

[bobbi-j]

@bobbi-j , it's fun reading your happy posts as you discover your new and newly ripened tomatoes.

I have been just as encouraged, often.

Save some seed and welcome those varieties back like the friends that they are. They are counting on you to keep 'em goin' for more seasons of fun.

Steve

I've been having a blast this year! I grew up eating store-bought tomatoes (er, trying to avoid them, actually, because I didn't like them). Single, full-time working mother didn't have much time for gardening. Anyway, married my farmer, moved to the farm, and started growing tomatoes. I thought those were good. They were hybrids - the typical Early Girl, Better Boy, etc. Then the past couple of years, I have kind of dabbled with heirlooms. WHO KNEW?? They have SO MUCH flavor! They don't even compare to the hybrids I thought were so good! And so many varieties! I've been reading on the "Let's Talk About Heirloom Tomatoes" thread. I've never even heard of most of them! Looking forward to trying new things next year, too.

 

[baymule]

@bobbi-j I can appreciate that. My earliest memories are of toddling behind my Daddy in his garden. His father was a share cropper and put him to work in the fields as a small child. He loved growing things. But like many gardeners of his time, Daddy embraced hybrids. He was organic, but the hybrids dazzle was too much for him to resist. I gardened off and on during most of my life, but bought seed packets at the store.

When I decided to plant a garden 10 years ago, I bought plants. Those Celebrity hybrid tomatoes were the best tomatoes! Then as I read more and more, studied GMO's, hybrids and heirlooms, I turned away from hybrids. I am having a blast with "named" vegetables! Purple cauliflower! Who knew? The stuff at the store is so boring! Try German Johnson tomatoes, you will be glad you did.

 

[bobbi-j]

Bay, I have some Old German tomatoes - do you know if they're similar? I don't think any of them are ripe yet, though. They need to hurry - it's getting late in the season and we sometimes get frost by the end of the month.

 

[baymule]

I think Old German and German Johnson are different varieties. Is yours supposed to be pink, red or bi-colored? German Johnson is a pink tomato.

 

[bobbi-j]

Hmm, I don't know what color it's supposed to be... If they ever get ripe, I'll let you know.

 

[digitS']

@bobbi-j , take a look at

Tatiana's Tomatobase (link).

You will find lots of varieties with some pictures, descriptions. Tatiana even provides seed source information.

It looks to me that those 2 "Germans" are quite different and need too long a season for me to worry about...

Think I'll go slice up one of @marshallsmyth 's lemon boy "dehybrids" for a snack. I still don't understand what he did to have seed for "red lemon boys" and the one packet of seed for a yellow. Unlikely they were part of the same experiment.

I'm thinking of sending a supply of seed back to Marshall. They should make him famous!

Steve

 

[bobbi-j]

Oh, thank you! I will check that out.