Tomatoes 2020

[flowerbug]

It is wonderful @Zeedman , that we are both salvaging the late harvest.
NEXT YEAR, I am starting early, put out early "tomato soldiers" covering Early and getting Earlier harvests!
I am Not happy (with myself) that 3 years in a row I have depended upon late harvested green tomatoes to fill up my canning larder after they turn.
Definitely NOT thanking my past self for this.

i dunno as i don't think there is anything to complain about when you're actually getting harvest instead of less of one or none at all. to me that's just making use of what nature has provided.

we haven't looked to forcing groups of tomatoes to ripen all at once we just put them on the table and as they ripen we eat or canned whatever was ready. i'm sure some were ripe enough to give off fumes that may encourage others to ripen too, but we didn't consciously manage it that ways nor were they enclosed other than closing the garage door in the evening.

now we just have squash out there and i suppose i'll have to do something with some of those soon because we've eaten all the cooked squash up and it's time to eat some more. i think we're about out of onions and i have the garlic set aside for storage or i have the rest of it in here and i should be doing something with it but i've been a bit distracted the past few days.

 

[Zeedman]

we haven't looked to forcing groups of tomatoes to ripen all at once we just put them on the table and as they ripen we eat or canned whatever was ready. i'm sure some were ripe enough to give off fumes that may encourage others to ripen too, but we didn't consciously manage it that ways nor were they enclosed other than closing the garage door in the evening.

Same here. If anything, I'm trying to discourage ripening, so the tomatoes will ripen gradually over a long period. Cool, well-ventilated storage leads to gradual ripening, even when large quantities are stored together.

 

[Artorius]

You grow some really interesting tomatoes, @Artorius - especially your paste tomatoes. To me, a walk through your tunnels would be like a trip to Tomato Candyland.

Coincidentally, I grew Black Pepper this year as well. I was fortunate to receive it in a swap (along with a similarly-colored variety called "Snickers"). Unfortunately, weeds choked them for much of the summer - and pulling those large weeds out may have damaged the root system. The bushes recovered, but only about a dozen tomatoes ripened before frost (which at least allowed me to replenish my seed stock). They keep poorly, so DW & I made the decision to leave the green ones for the frost. Probably my biggest tomato disappointment this year, because I love their flavor & had looked forward to mixing them into sauce with San Marzano Redorta. The bushes were very vigorous with heavy leaf cover; the foliage is a very dark shade of green, almost bluish.

@Zeedman
I also really like the taste of this tomato. It's a bit specific, kind of herbal (?), but very pleasant. I used all of them to make a thick sauce of baked tomatoes.
I found this variety sensitive to large fluctuations in soil moisture and air temperature, then the fruit bursts. However, I think they are worth the little effort.

 

[baymule]

@Artorius I love the tomato pictures you post. So beautiful!

 

[pjn]

Thank you for sharing. Enjoying

 

[Artorius]

Today I'm going to show you some of the beefsteak tomatoes that grew in my tunnel this year.

Bizon Cherniy / Buffalo Black

Bizon Oranzheviy / Buffalo Orange

Malinoviy Slon RL / Raspberry Elephant Regular Leaf

Tomat Zuraba Kukhinidze / Zurab Kukhinidze's Tomato

 

[Artorius]

We agreed on the Polish gardening forum that this year we will grow tomatoes with the word "grandma" in the name. Just for fun. I had the following:

Baba Nadya / Grandma Nadya

Serdtse Abakanskoye Baby Poli / Grandma Pola's Abakan Heart

Babushkin Med / Grandma's Honey

844 grams

I also planted one "grandpa" so that tomatoes wouldn't accuse me of sexism
Dedushka Grisha / Grandpa Grisha

 

[baymule]

What strikes me about your tomatoes is how meaty they are, without large seed pockets. And you have so many varieties! They are all beautiful plants, healthy and bearing lovely tomatoes.

 

[Zeedman]

Babushkin Med / Grandma's Honey

844 grams

That is an impressive variety, very few seeds for a tomato that size.

 

[Artorius]

@Zeedman
This is really a great tomato. Very, very tasty. Importantly, the tomatoes do not shrink on the upper floors. I think that if their number in clusters were very limited, the specimens would be huge.
There is a magnesium deficiency in the leaves due to high soil moisture and low temperatures. Spraying with magnesium sulfate helped. This year the summer was exceptionally wet and cool.