Was there a question?
That sure is a lot of plants.

Wow! I can't imagine growing that many plants. You have a great selection there.

And to think that last year my family thought I was crazy because I had 60 tomato plants. What do you do with 1100 plants when they all start producing?

80 Riesentraube? I hope you have several bushel baskets handy as well as people to help pick them. I had one plant last year that did very good - at one time it had about 300 tomatoes on it.

Unless I missed a couple of varieties, I total up about 750 - that's still a lot of plants.

Mike

you sell them at a farmers market? that is more than one household could eat and preserve. how bout some pics of this?

well what to do with tomatoes from 1,100 plants?

first we have six families to share with. however there are 5 gardens among us. my garden is not the largest one.

we also have 4 green houses.

we are mostly retired folk and we give to our community. that is after we store as much as we can.

we also gave away about 25,000 seedlings this year.

another factor is our short season. 3 months from last to first frost. if we can get through that first frost we get 1 - 2 months more production.

i didn't mean to have 80 riesentroube plants however on planting day i had help and that is what i got.

we would rather people grow their own food but not all can.

the bottom line is it does not go to waist.

last year i could not keep up with my sweet pea crop and i invited my neighbors to come pick. well you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. one of my neighbors showed up for pea and two months later another one can a picked a cabbage.

it would surprise some folks what you can do when you work together.

i have approx. 50 plants in a row and i have 21 1/2 rows of tomatoes.

i live in a small town. about 500 people counting all the cats and dogs. i can put my extra produce on the post office steps and others will pick it up. try that in the big city. i wonder how any law that would break.

we also have chickens and they love the frash garden produce. turn all that extra zucchini into eggs.

i live two hours away from a town big enough to have a supper store. the biggest stress in my life is the weather.

also i confess i have some great help. i have a new neighbor with three teenage girls that are great workers.

i guess i would like to hear from some one about Mountain Princess tomatoes.

Dean

WOW, great job Dean! That is ALOT of tomatoes!

Mountain Princess was first introduced by Tom Hauch who owns heirloomseeds.com and I cut and pasted his description of it below:

#109 - MOUNTAIN PRINCESS 68 days- This early tomato from West Virginia has been grown for generations in the mountain climate of the state. Bright red and mildly flavored, the 8 ounce fruit is round, smooth and solid. A good short season variety that is also very productive. First introduced in the United States by Heirloom Seeds. Determinate vines.
PKT. - 20 seeds - $1.50

Those who list it in the SSE YEarbooks also have mostly good things to say about it and below is a link to Tania's tomato base for this variety where she also describes and pictures over 3000 varieties and it's a great place to check out varieties and also where seed sources are for those that are commercially available. For some varieties you have to scroll down to see the seed sources.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Mountain Princess ( Tania's data base)

"the bottom line is it does not go to waist."

good to see you still fit in your old jeans.....congrats on the garden...