hoodat
Garden Addicted
I never measured or weighed any of them but they were bigger than most beefsteaks and almost all of the fruits were well shaped. I had very few deformed ones.They are quite flavorful and solid enogh inside to be good slicers.
Heritage tomato suggestions, please.
- Thread starter Carol Dee
- Start date
momofdrew
Deeply Rooted
Thanks for the warning Hoodat...I guess I will have to give it an extra pole to stake it to...if it gets that big... right now it is tiny maybe 6 inches tall...late starting this year...
grow_my_own
Deeply Rooted
I got a 500-seed assortment of various heirloom tomato varieties all mixed up together, so I don't know what I'm gonna get until they grow! I haven't planted them yet, just started them today in seed trays. All my tomatoes for the year are planted in the ground and getting big already, so this is basically just to "play" and see what I get. We planted late tomatoes last August & had tomatoes in October, so I figured if I get my variety seeds going now, we'll have something by the end of the season & I will at least have seeds available that I can save for next year because I will know what they are!
SweetMissDaisy
Garden Addicted
Well Carol Dee, you already know this, but I'll mention it here anyway. 
This year, I'm pleased as can be with my Cherokee Purple plants! My largest tomatoes from the garden this year have been CP's. One I picked last night weighed in at 18.5oz! (Photo below)
I'm also growing Arkansas Travelers, and while they're TASTY (and I LOVE their dark red color) they are much smaller in size than I'd hoped for. Still, they are doing well in our heat, and I wouldn't hesitate to grow them again.
I'm also growing Lemon Boy very successfully this year. I wasn't going to grow this variety again this year, after dismal failure last year of the Lemon Boys in the garden, but then remembered just what a horrible growing season I had last summer for EVERYTHING, so thought I would give the old Lemon Boy another shot. Glad I did! Not a very "large" tomato (tennis ball size is about right), but when ripened on the vine, they're good. Not as "sweet" as the Cherokee Purples, tho ... but still, good.
This year, I'm pleased as can be with my Cherokee Purple plants! My largest tomatoes from the garden this year have been CP's. One I picked last night weighed in at 18.5oz! (Photo below)
I'm also growing Arkansas Travelers, and while they're TASTY (and I LOVE their dark red color) they are much smaller in size than I'd hoped for. Still, they are doing well in our heat, and I wouldn't hesitate to grow them again.
I'm also growing Lemon Boy very successfully this year. I wasn't going to grow this variety again this year, after dismal failure last year of the Lemon Boys in the garden, but then remembered just what a horrible growing season I had last summer for EVERYTHING, so thought I would give the old Lemon Boy another shot. Glad I did! Not a very "large" tomato (tennis ball size is about right), but when ripened on the vine, they're good. Not as "sweet" as the Cherokee Purples, tho ... but still, good.
hoodat
Garden Addicted
Cherokee purple is a wonderful tomato and I love the purple red tomato sauce you can make with them but their one flaw is they are prone to splitting.
Jared77
Garden Addicted
I second the Lemon Boys. They were a big hit around here as far as flavor and productivity. We grew them again this year after trying them last year. Green Zebras had a good flavor but I didn't feel comfortable without palpating each potential tomato before picking it to be sure it was ripe. That slowed down the process at harvest time (we have a LOT of tomato plants so time is a factor) but again another very good tasting tomato.
Collector
Garden Master
The only heirloom I have tried are Rutgers last year. Weather was not good last spring so it took forever for the plants to take off growing. Once they grew and set fruit it was late in the season so we only got a few vine ripened before frost came and we had to pick and ripen in the basement. There were a lot of tomatos on them though and they ripened in the basement fine. I am growing them again this year, maybe more willripen on the vine I hope.
The Crimson Cushion has been my choice for the beefsteak last season and failing to start another variety, it will be for this year also. Not sure if it is considered a heirloom but it is open pollinated. It seemed to mature late last year but the weather had some to do with that. Love them beefsteaks! Trying new varietiesof tomatoes that were originaly developed for short seasons and released by the North Dakota State University including Super Souix which I have been growing for 2 seasons and others which I have had a hard time finding including Bison, Dakota Gold (my mom raised these in the 60s) and Sheyenne. I have seen them listed in the Sandhill Preservation cataloge but they are either sold out or not available. Anyone can help me locate these varieties? My zone 4 garden is also graced with other open pollinateds like Large Red Cherry, Cherokee Purple and Roma tomatoes plus all non hybrids like Golden Bantam sweet corn, Pederovikc oil seeds, squash, pumpkin, peppers and much more, for seed saving is a large part of my gardening passion.
digitS'
Garden Master
My understanding is that dealing with Sand Hill Preservation takes patience.
They do have some hard-to-find old varieties like Kootenai, that I grew in the '70's.
Tatiana's TomatoBase is a place to look for varieties and who offers them. She has nothing listed for Bison in 2012 but I just looked in Heritage Harvest, on the 2011 list, and see that Bison is still being offered there.
Steve
They do have some hard-to-find old varieties like Kootenai, that I grew in the '70's.
Tatiana's TomatoBase is a place to look for varieties and who offers them. She has nothing listed for Bison in 2012 but I just looked in Heritage Harvest, on the 2011 list, and see that Bison is still being offered there.
Steve
