Tomatoes for 2023

[Branching Out]

We are growing a Sub-Arctic Plenty for the first time. It's in a large 10 gallon container and I am most impressed with this plant. It is just loaded with uniform round tomatoes, with just a few ripening every few days. Siberian is another small tomato that is doing well for us. Of the large tomatoes, Nepal has taken the lead in terms of its beauty; the fruits are still green, but strikingly gorgeous.

 

[Branching Out]

This is Rosella Cherry Tomato, planted in the ground right next to our house, with very tall strings that will allow it to climb right up to the roof if it decides to. I had read that this one is super productive, so I let one sucker develop which gives it the appearance of two plants. The trusses are incredible to look at, and the tomatoes taste wonderful too. The first smoky red fruits are just beginning to ripen now, and should continue until the frost.

 

[SPedigrees]

I grew those in the '70's, @SPedigrees ! (And, I hope that it was okay to move part of your coffee post over here.)

There is absolutely nothing wrong with them so don't take this comment as suggesting that there is. Okay ?

Home and garden then was at a higher elevation of right at 2,500 feet. Now, the home and gardens are about 500 feet lower. There is also a home greenhouse for me to use instead of one South Window with shelves .

My sweetcorn choice was Polar Vee. These were successful but they represented limitations and that was aggravating to me. Polar? Subarctic. It was a relief to open a broader menu of possibilities.

BTW, after moving, my job was in a commercial greenhouse. We could make use of a wide walkway outside the packing shed and I still grew Subarctic Plenty ... until I went off on some U of Idaho releases, some of which are still out there.

Steve

No problem at all with migrating the "tomato portion" of my post over here (where it is right at home). I'm looking forward to the Subarctic Plenty based on yours and Branching Out's experiences. All the seeds I ordered yesterday, including these tomato seeds, have shipped!

 

[flowerbug]

the ability of cherry tomatoes to overwhelm has been well noted here as we used to grow one or two cherry tomato plants each season. we stopped growing them because we could not pick and eat them often enough and they were taking up valuable space where we could fit our beefsteak tomatoes. recently for those we've been happy with the Big Beef plants.

the early season heat seems to have done the usual BER for some of them and the brains are also in the first batch i picked but on the whole the remaining crop on the plants now look very good as uncomplicated and fairly round fruits. it sure takes way too much time to process those brains...

the flavor of a real home grown tomato is worth the challenges and we sure enjoy the results for the next year or longer.

 

[Branching Out]

One of the reasons that I like Husky Red Cherry, a 4' dwarf hybrid, is that only one or two of the large cherry fruits ripen at a time-- and they almost never split. Good qualities in a cherry tomato! A few others that I am growing this year produce in massive bracts and seem to hold well on the vine. I am hoping that may permit the harvest of entire trusses instead of having to pick individual fruits. Trusses are so beautiful; they could make lovely gifts from the garden.

 

[digitS']

Honestly, it is pleasing to me that varieties perform well and differently than the near failures that I have sometimes had ... okay, complete failures I have had .

Husky Red Cherry is supposed to be a 65-day variety but my plants produced not 1 red fruit until just about 1 week before frost. And Health Kick got booted!! That 72-day tomato never ripened right up until the night of frost.

 

[heirloomgal]

Took pics before I squeezed toms today.

Wanted to post this one because it was so good, from France, Remy Rouge. SWEET.

Zagadka aka Mystery Of Rose Valley. Super early, big, meaty.

Una Hartsack. So much plum cherries from one plant.

Yubilenyi Tarasenko. A solid handful. LOTS of fruit.

Long Tom, and it is.

 

[Branching Out]

I am making progress on keeping the different varieties of tomatoes straight as I harvest them for seed. A plastic cutlery tray has proved handy for separating them, as well as sticky notes that have the name and the number of the variety written on them. I find I can re-use the sticky notes over and over. Today I picked my first Jaune de Chardonne, which is the yellow tomato in the centre of the photo; just to the left of it is my first Homestoop, and the large flattened ribbed tomato on the far right is Yusupovskyi S Fergany. That one hails from Uzbekistan, and is apparently the bomb for making Uzbek tomato and onion salad. And the beautiful red peppers are Stocky Red Roasters-- another Frank Morton creation, from Wild Garden Seed.

 

[digitS']

plastic cutlery tray

Reminded me immediately of my "tray" that I will be using again soon (link) .

I very much tend to save seed late in the season which is not supposed to be the wisest approach. However -- I lose the plant markers every year in the foliage sprawl. This year is no different.

Interesting that Victory Seed has a Yusupov that is 95 days and Casey's has Yusupovskyi as "mid-season, 65-80 days." Same tomato? Different? Since "skyi" likely means "from" -- might it mean "derived from?"

Steve

 

[Branching Out]

Reminded me immediately of my "tray" that I will be using again soon (link) .

I very much tend to save seed late in the season which is not supposed to be the wisest approach. However -- I lose the plant markers every year in the foliage sprawl. This year is no different.

Interesting that Victory Seed has a Yusupov that is 95 days and Casey's has Yusupovskyi as "mid-season, 65-80 days." Same tomato? Different? Since "skyi" likely means "from" -- might it mean "derived from?"

Steve

Hmmm...my Yusup seed came from Casey's. It was started on April 17th, and transplanted out in the garden on June 8th. That would make 72 days. Astonishingly Homestoop from Wild Garden seed is listed at 72 days as well, which is exactly how long it took in my garden.

And I checked out the link; you keep tomatoes in your toolbox? And in your shirt pocket??