Thinking About Tomatoes Already

[thistlebloom]

I grew Abe Lincoln last year. Since everything I grew ripened late, and I didn't tag them well I have no clue what was what when I did harvest. Found the tags when I finally pulled everything out. A bit late for taste comparisons.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Steve, I tried Arkansas Traveler a couple of times. It never did well for me. The tomato itself was OK but it just never produced much.

 

[Smart Red]

I grew Abe Lincoln last year. Since everything I grew ripened late, and I didn't tag them well I have no clue what was what when I did harvest. Found the tags when I finally pulled everything out. A bit late for taste comparisons.

I wasn't particularly excited about Abe Lincoln either. I did get it planted late. It had no health problems, but the size and number of fruit underexcited my expectations. Not a lot of the tomato-ey ripe flavor either, as I remember.

 

[catjac1975]

@Carol Dee @baymule

This is how I used to support my tomatoes. This year I used T-posts instead of the wooden stakes and liked that better.

View attachment 5506



View attachment 5507



View attachment 5508

Raw materials
2x4’s ripped into 2x2’s and cut in half. One end sharpened.

16’ long cattle panels. Cut the bottom horizontal off so you have spikes to stick into the ground. I suggest cutting them into 8’ lengths with bolt cutters. This makes them a lot easier for one person to handle.

Wire from bales of wheat straw.

2’ long strips of 1x2’s with holes drilled in the ends. I ripped these from 2x4's also.

½” to ¾” wide strips of cloth torn from worn out old clothing, usually old T-shirts.

I drive the stakes about 10” to 12” on each side of the row of tomatoes. Space them maybe 6’ apart. Place the 8’ long cattle panel next to the stakes and push the spikes into the ground. Use the wire to attach them to the stakes. You probably have something about 4’ tall at this point. Continue on both sides of the row of tomatoes until you have one level along the length. You probably don’t have rows exactly evenly divisible by 8’. No problem. Leave some space between the panels so they are pretty evenly spaced. A one or two foot gap won’t hurt anything.

I grow indeterminates so 4’ is not usually high enough. I take another cattle panel and attach that to the upper half of the already installed panels. It’s probably hard to see, but overlap the two panels maybe 24”. Again use the wheat straw wire to tie them together. You wind up with something maybe 6’ tall.
To help stabilize it and hold the two sides apart, I attach the 2’ long 2x2’s at the top with yet more of that wheat straw baling wire.

I use the strips of cloth to tie the tomato stalks to the wire where necessary. Since I only grow indeterminate I usually prune back to two or three stalks. Some of these I can weave immediately but often I have to tie the stalks to get them started. But after they are started, I just weave them as they grow, at least when I remember. I don't always remember in time and have to tie some of these too.

You don't always have room to slip your hand inside to get the tomatoes, not in the overlap area, so you have to come at them high or low. You can do it, it's just inconvenient in that specific area.

What a great garden. Have any more photos of the garden in general? Great tomato structure!

 

[catjac1975]

The best new tomato I grew this year was sun peach that I got from Johnny's.It is a slightly larger cherry. The sweetest I ever had.If you are not a fan of cherry the one great thing about it is they are the first to ripen when you just can't wait another day.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@catjac1975 thanks but not many photos when it looked that good. Maybe two or three times a year I have it caught up and cleaned out. The rest of the time there are weeds and grass that needs to be cleaned out. Often there are several areas that are really out of control.

That was kind of expensive to set up, cattle panels aren't real cheap. T-posts aren't that bad at Tractor Supply. If you cut those panels into 8' lengths that isn't that hard not set up. Those 16' lengths were really hard to handle, mainly because they are both flexible and awkward. My soil is not rocky so the T-posts are pretty easy to take out. And is stores really well, just lean the panels against the fence.

Since you asked so politely here's a shot after I dug my sweet potatoes this fall. You can see plenty of areas with the grass out of control.

 

[catjac1975]

@catjac1975 thanks but not many photos when it looked that good. Maybe two or three times a year I have it caught up and cleaned out. The rest of the time there are weeds and grass that needs to be cleaned out. Often there are several areas that are really out of control.

That was kind of expensive to set up, cattle panels aren't real cheap. T-posts aren't that bad at Tractor Supply. If you cut those panels into 8' lengths that isn't that hard not set up. Those 16' lengths were really hard to handle, mainly because they are both flexible and awkward. My soil is not rocky so the T-posts are pretty easy to take out. And is stores really well, just lean the panels against the fence.

Since you asked so politely here's a shot after I dug my sweet potatoes this fall. You can see plenty of areas with the grass out of control.



View attachment 5570

Do you think that all of our gardens aren't weedy???? I believe that once things are big they are pretty much on their own. At the end of the season we hit the garden with the lawnmower. And I take pictures carefully leaving the weeds out of the picture. Huge lovely garden.

 

[digitS']

You may think that there are tons of tomatoes out there for the gardener. I have just spent couple hours convincing myself that it ain't so!

Okay, I've been searching with qualifiers: not Peto/Seminis/Monsanto, hybrid, larger than 8 ounces, 75 or less days, indeterminate, red, and new-to-me. I was hoping for cracking resistance. Who has seed? Think it should be easy?

Hours. I came up with 3:

Burpee's Burger

Better Boy

Jet Star

I have used Burpee in the links but both Better Boy and Jet Star are widely available.

There's also Jung's Goliath. It is a very nice tomato that I have grown for a good number of years. Also Ultra Girl at Stokes but I don't know about the Monsanto connection, or lack thereof.

I have a friend who grew Better Boy. They are just a few days later than Big Beef and do great here.

You think I just looked through a catalog? Ha! I looked through 4 or 5. Checked several university sites including my go-to, North Carolina State. And, Rutgers. Went to several major major seed wholesalers/developers.

I'm gonna look back at "greenhouse" varieties since they may be suitable for outdoors. Truck farms grow determinates but imma lookin' for indeterminate - more common in gardens and greenhouses.

Steve

 

[digitS']

These 2 may fit but I can't find the breeder:

Marbonne

Bolseno

I wonder if I could find enough to order for Seeds from Italy for this one. The description "mid-early tomato variety" sounds like a 72 day tomato. Pomona

Steve

 

[digitS']

Ultra Boy
Ultra Sweet
Ultra Sonic

Okay, the anti-hybrid folks can make fun of those . Big - Early - Better - Ultra! I'm trying to live with names I don't like. I'm trying to remember a name that Fedco seed claims killed a variety ... can't .

I've noticed that Stokes always picks the earliest days-to-maturity but they do okay. I'm not sure that those pages will open for you. Just remember name and search catalog.

Oh, and don't assume the boys and girls are Burpee's. They may have had the Big Boy but the Early Girl was from a French company.

Steve