I am having a pretty good year too. I got nervous after all of the rainfall, and the plants started showing some signs of disease, but with all the advice I got here, they have pulled through pretty well, and are producing a lot of tomatoes. I have given away alot of tomatoes too, but am still waiting on all of the fall tomatoes.

We have had a really good tomato year, considering the weather.

Due to really early planting, and lots and lots of extreme measures to help the plants survive the late freezes, we had our first ripe tomatoes April 25th and have had a continuous supply every since. We had 140 spring-planted tomatoes, about 70% heirlooms and 30% hybrids.

For the fall, we have about 60 plants, most of which are about 2 to 3 feet tall and have blossoms/fruit already after being planted out in June and July. Some of the June-planted cherry tomatoes have already produced fruit. With luck, and if we don't have an early freeze, we'll have tomatoes through at least November. Some years we still have fruit ripening into December if I can cover the plants and keep frost off of them.

I am a tomato maniac and love growing and sharing them.

Some of the better tomatoes this year have come from the following plants: Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Earl's Faux, Marianna's Peace, Aunt Ginny's Purple, Black From Tula, Druzba, Cherokee Chocolate, Little Lucky, Livingston's Gold Ball, Better Boy, Better Bush, Sungold, Ildi, Dr. Carolyn, Sweet Million, Orange Santa, Rosalita, New Big Dwarf and Black Cherry. (If you ask me my 'favorites' on any day, the answer probably will vary depending on what yummy ones I've eaten most recently.)

Dawn

I'm having a good tomato year, too, in my little backyard patch. I can't keep up with the sweet millions that I have growing on cheap arches from Big Lots - a very good idea that I got from someone here last year. All my plants did well and produced way more than I could eat, so I have been giving them away to anyone who will take them. I planted several plants on chicken wire around my compost pile and really liked the way that worked, too. I planted Cherokee purple, Celebrity and Arkansas Traveller this year, all with good results. My garden is a lasagna garden, and I think the heavy mulch helped keep away the disease others have mentioned.

Hi Pat,

Don't you love Sweet Million? They are just so realiable and so disease-resistant and, of course, so terribly productive AND tasty. I always used to grow Sweet 100s until I tried Sweet Million.

I also am hooked on Cherokee Purple, having grown it for about 8 or 10 years now, and am also becoming addicted to Cherokee Green and Cherokee Chocolate, which I have been growing for a couple of years.

This year's biggest surprise might be Kellogg's Breakfast, which I've been 'meaning to try' for years. It has been incredibly productive, completely disease resistant and tasty. So, I am thinking that it is going to go on the 'permanent' tomato list. After 20 or 25 years of searching for truly tasty and reliable tomatoes, I am about ready to stop experimenting with lots of different varieties and just stick with the most consistent proven producers.

I love lasagna gardening, and am getting ready to start a new lasagna bed this fall on the north side of my back yard. It will be a really big bed, about 15' deep and 60' long. One reason I am starting it in the fall is that I will have so many leaves and other debris available from the woods, as well as compost from the big pile that has been 'cooking' all summer. I wanted to start it this past winter or spring, but the rains made it impossible to do anything.

It is finally raining here right now, and it is about 85 degrees, and the wind is blowing hard out of the east. Yippee!

Dawn