Tomatoes! Looking Forward

My hands down favorite is Cherokee Purple. For cherry tomatoes, Tommy Toe is the one I'll always plant. For a paste tomato, this year I planted Sicilian Rosso or maybe it's Rosso Sicilian...... :idunno I still don't have a favorite paste tomato. I also planted Mortgage Lifter and German Johnson. I have planted German Johnson before and we really liked it. I am trying Sleeping Lady, a patio type tomato.
 
I had a nice surprise this morning. Cane and Chickie both sent me seeds for white tomatoes, a client started them for me. 12 plants where waiting at door, this weekend is when all the old timers planted their tomatoes here. My aunts would never even think about planting a tomato before Memorial day no matter what the weather been.
 
Mama planted Tommy Toes in the corner of the house and they would be a huge jungle of tomatoes, died down in the winter and then show back up the following spring. I would like to find a protected area where this happens. Winters are warmer now so it would probably work better. We just picked what tomatoes we wanted to snack on so many fell to the ground hence the recurring tomato jungle.
 
My husband's father planted Tommy Toes in his garden. As a little boy, DH would go to his father's garden and eat the ripe Tommy toes. years and years later, he could still recall how good those Tommy Toes were and I finally found seed for them. I'll never forget seeing my husband pick the first ripe Tommy Toe tomato and eat it. For a moment, there was a little boy, eating his father's tomatoes in the garden.
 
Fruit is a wonderful gift of nature.

Whether it is a pear from a decade old tree, a tomato, a melon, a green cucumber ... whether we enjoy it fresh or cook it like an eggplant ...

It's like the plant world says, "Here it is, enjoy. Now save some seeds and grow more of us."

digitS'
 
I planted my tomato seedling tray on May 1st and left it outdoors for germination. Usually I do that indoors on a sunny windowsill with a heating pad under the tray but this year I wanted to mimic the volunteer tomatoes in my garden and how tough they always seem to be.

It's taken all month long but finally nearly all the seeds have germinated and made an appearance above the soil. We've had a pretty cold and wet spring, with only a few days that were really warm enough for good germination, so I expected the slowness of it all...but am still amazed to see how the seeds still germinated and grew after all that time in the soil and wet.

Most of those little plants are about 3 in. tall now, so the whole tray will now go into my low tunnel in the garden to get more growth on them. Would like to set them out in the garden soil in mid to late June.

I'm doing everything a little later this year so as to get them in the garden when they will actually grow instead of stand there in a dormant state, weak and waiting for pests and disease to attack.
 
I have had next to no positive experience with volunteer tomato plants in the garden. One or two are often allowed to grow through the season but maturing more than 1 or 2 ripe cherry tomatoes is too much to hope for. The volunteers are nearly always cherries but require just a few more weeks of good growing weather to amount to anything. They don't get it.

The exception the last 2 seasons has been Coyote volunteers. The little plants grow, bloom, etc., so quickly that they have really done fairly well at having a good number of ripe, tiny yellow fruit. Of course, the volunteers turn up in inappropriate locations. But, even moving them has proven okay with Coyote.

This year, the tractor guy may have done too efficient of a job and eliminated any and all seeds from the soil. It's still very early but I haven't seen a single tomato volunteer, Coyote or otherwise. Not to worry -- I have shown Coyote seed in a good location for 1 or 2 plants!

This is an absolute first for me ... I have never direct-sown tomato seeds in the open garden. In recent years, nearly all my tomato transplants have been well over 2 months old. I can assure you that I do not believe that I get 2 months head start with them. Each were transplanted twice in their young lives, and I imagine that they gain about half of the time spent in containers, on their way to the open garden. Transplant shock takes out the other weeks for them.

Half but, nevertheless, necessary weeks are needed to get a jump on their days-to-maturity. Coyote doesn't need many of those days. I can imagine that something like Gold Nugget may not either ... but, I have saved seed for Coyote and not blazing quick Gold Nugget. The fruit won't be quite as early as it could be with greenhouse starts but I just bet sowing Coyote seeds will turn out in a satisfactory way :).

Steve
 
@ducks4you the only reason I have a favorite tomato is because in the heat of summer the only fruit that will set fruit is Arkansas Traveler in this part of the country thus my fav. I have been thinking about trying some other heirloom varieties though. Maybe when I have more space. I have such a miniscule garden. Mostly just fresh eating. I do hope to get some green tomatoes too. Last year something ate all my tomato plants but this year with the fence up maybe that won't happen again.
 
I can see that. I guess we are SO WET most years and mostly cool nights which tomatoes like for setting fruit, that many varieties do well here. I prefer heirloom and the beefsteak that I planted from seed this year Are Beefsteak type. Have you considered using a really big pot? I have a 2 1/2 ft tall plastic planter that I have used as a temporary home for purchased fruit trees that I don't want to put into the ground and have to water every day (during the summer I transplant them in the Fall.) It has a hole in the bottom and a tray. ALSO, I have discovered planting soil that retains water. I bought it to tranplant a clearance palm tree--$5.00 at Lowe's last November--that I have in the north facing window of our office. The soil never seems to dry out and the palm is opening leaves, growing slowly (probably would do better with a south facing window but we have none there), but flourishing. A few heirloom tomatoes in a few pots like that should do very well.
Right now my pot is in DD's back yard with two grape tomatoes (my eldest DD's favorite for salads) and a zucchini, which I HOPE will survive. Don't know if there neighbors have squash bugs and squash vine borers. If they do, and the zucchini dies I will start a few more at home and replace it. Seems like every zucchini seed I put in the soil sprouts.
Chicken wire 4 ft tall will probably help. :D
 
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