First Report...

15 years ago

Taking a break from canning salsa... house smells wonderful! Overall, this has been a very challenging year garden-wise. Wet, rainy spring helped the weeds get a big head start, and the raccoons and I are not seeing eye-to-eye on a great many things... sweet corn battle is on.

But... tomatoes. 44 plants out, 14 varieties, 11 heirlooms. Mixed results so far. Weather & human laziness impacted it I'm sure, but...

Don't try the "Florida Weave" if you're not wanting to spend a lot of time (and frustration) learning how to do it right. (Anyone want to buy a roll and 3/4 of bailer twine??.

Blight hit hard early on, but the plants have come through it fairly well. Weather impacted the crop primarily with blossom drop early on, then most recent heavy rains and hot temps are causing splitting almost across the board. At least blossom rot was almost non-existent this year.

Now, varieties.

LAST year for Brandywine! (I've said that before). Just not worth the effort for half a dozen nice fruits. German Pink lost out too.

Hillbilly won't get another try either. Picked it up for the pretty pictures. One pretty fruit from three plants, and only a "so-so" flavor.

Wisconsin 55 has been a mainstay, so I'll blame it on the weather and give it one more chance. But it's on probation.

I LOVE OPALKA! First year and I'm a believer. This will be my "bread and butter" tomato from henceforth (at least that's what I'm telling the plants so they'll keep producing"). Never have seen tomatoes like this. If you put up tomatoes, this is the one.

San Marzano is a close runner-up. Smaller "Roma" style, but much better yields than my usual Roma plantings. So easy to process. Love 'em.

Golden Girl (yes, I know... a hybrid), again, the overall best producer out there. Blew Better Boy (my other hybrid) out of the water. I'd love to find a reliable red hybrid in the 8 oz range that can do double duty as slicer and canner... and one to have to give away to my non-gardener friends. Brandy Boy was my third hybrid (a few seeds left over from last year), and it out-performed both its parents. And "close enough" to Brandywine to make it do just fine.

Black Krim still a favorite for bologna sandwiches. Pleasantly surprised by Powers Heirloom (a freebie), although the weather split them badly. Mortgage Lifter "so-so" at best. Cream Sausage, still a little "niche" favorite of mine did OK, so it'll be back. Forget Stupice. Not early enough to make a difference, and those itty-bitty 'maters only taste good the first week their ripe. Then they're too little to process, and can't keep up with the rest.

I also know I'm going to rethink the mix. Too many slicers to get the perfect one, so you end up using a lot of them to go in the pot with the paste and canners, and what a mess to process. But you can't just toss 'em out.

Oh well. Time to get back at it. I reserve the right of course to (as usual) forget everything I learned or decided come next March when the seeds are going in.

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Comments (6)

t-bird
15 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Interesting report pastor steve!

I have a huge rambling brandywine that must have about 20-30 toms on it by now....it was a real slow starter, and grew and grew without any fruit, now there are about 6 large toms, loads of babies and new flowers. Sampled the only one blushing this am because it was a bit split on top. Only half way ripe and really tasty.

I'll be saving seed off this one. First time with brandywine. seeds said suddath strain.
tsheets
15 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Nice report!

Things are really slow at my house this year...only had 2 varieties ripe so far out of 8. First year trying most of them, a couple hold overs from last year.

I haven't had any Opalkas ripen yet, but hopeful. I tried it for canning and hopefully munching on. Last year's paste tomato was a determinate variety that worked well for canning, but, had nasty texture / taste when eaten fresh.

I gave up on Brandywines after trying a few years.

Stupice - that one surprised me. It's one of the only ones I've had so far this year, and have already gotten "orders" for planting it next year. :-)

I have also had a few Costoluto Fiorentino so far this year (one of the only repeats from last year). Have a Purple perfect that is blushing now...that's my other repeat.

I'm thinking of adding back in some determinate / hybrids next year. This year I searched for what everyone was calling their favorites / best tasting, and ended up with all indeterminates.

Is that bad....barely getting started with this year's crop, and already planning next year! haha!
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instar8
15 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Glad to hear the San Marzano is doing well for you, i had my doubts about trying it in Indiana's humid summers. Mine are loaded, but not ripe, same with Opalka and all the other pastes, thankfully, even with the uneven rainfall, i'm not seeing any BER. What I do have is this weird hairy white mold that's getting a lot of the beefsteak-type fruit that is sitting on the ground. Ick...

Good ol' Stupice is making piles, and the Skorospelka is keeping up. Flamme is good, of the bigger tomatoes, Berkeley Tie-Dye Pink was a surprise first-blusher, my Black Krims are red, so musta got bad seed...got a couple Cherokee Purple, some Northern Lights, Chapman and NAR. Tons of cherries and currants, though no Black Cherry yet...I'm prolly gonna do a batch of juice tomorrow...too hot for sauce!

Was gonna do Florida weave this year, but the t-posts are just crazy expensive all of a sudden, so once again i just have Indiana tangle...oh well...
tsheets
15 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
LOL @ Indiana tangle!
jtmacc99
15 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
I've got a couple thoughts for you pastor steve. First, I think Opalka is great as well.

Second, have you ever tried growing a great heart shaped tomato like Anna Russian or Russian #117? Those two, especially 117, do double duty for me as slicers first and fine addition to the paste tomatoes when processing. I find them easier to deal with when canning than other large tomatoes.

Third, try Aunt Ginny's Purple as a Brandywine replacement if you are keen on growing something that is just a more productive version of the same thing.

Lastly, look into Box Car Willie for your 8 ounce round red to do double duty as slicer/canner. Box Car Willie edges out Druzba and Red Brandywine for me, but I mention all three because any of them would be my choice over Better Boy.
dunnn57
15 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Hello Pastor Steve,
I don't normally post here, but had to say that I'm encouraged by the good weather and fair amount of rain we have had here in eastern up-state N.Y. There were several nice humid days in late July ,which I believe helped the tomatoes grow well. I'm replying to you because I am also growing Wisconsin 55 this year,...my first year for them. I had a few Rutgers already;the BLT's were delicious! My Wisconsin 55's are doing fairly well,large and still green. I'm expecting the harvest to start mid-aug due to the good weather. I usually get a harvest at the end of august. I also grew a salad variety called "Gardener's delight" , which grows to golf-ball size and are very nice for salads. No Brandywine this year,but a few hybrid beefsteaks.
One problem that I have had this year is small "bore-holes" in my toms which I surmise is from the locusts sampling my green maters.
How is E-1 else doing?