DaBeardedOne and Thomas Vitti - thanks for following the blog!
Prior to 2009, my tomato growing experiences had only been about the same old boring varieties each year - as most of the big box stores only carry disease resistant cultivars like Better Boy, Big Boy, Better Beef, and Roma. So, I just got into line with all the other "gardeners" to purchase transplants, then planted them in my happy little garden. Well, most people don't know (including myself until 2008) that there are over 10,000 varieties available, but they must be grown from seed - by the gardener himself/herself.
Prior to 2009, my tomato growing experiences had only been about the same old boring varieties each year - as most of the big box stores only carry disease resistant cultivars like Better Boy, Big Boy, Better Beef, and Roma. So, I just got into line with all the other "gardeners" to purchase transplants, then planted them in my happy little garden. Well, most people don't know (including myself until 2008) that there are over 10,000 varieties available, but they must be grown from seed - by the gardener himself/herself.
So, I wanted to have "other options" from previous years, and decided to build a couple of grow light systems to propagate my own plants with from seed. They worked pretty good!
Anyway, last year I grew heirloom tomatoes for the very first time, and ended up growing a pretty decent crop by year's end. These varieties were Opalka, Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, and Cherokee Purple. Only 1 stood out as something that would be included in my garden for years to come, because it was the best tasting tomato I could have ever imagined.
Cherokee Purple (pictured below) - This thing is awesome, with it's sweet, complex flavors. You have gotta try this one, for sure!
And now, I will be growing several new varieties for the upcoming tomato growing season - A couple of which that are extremely rare. It's gonna be interesting seeing which one gets the "2010 Tomato MVP Award" in my 2010 garden, and I anxiously await the time to begin the propagation period for them. Yay! Here's the new additions for this years' garden. Let the salivating begin!!!!
Neves Azorean Red (aka NAR) - This is supposed to be one really awesome tasting tomato. Only 1 plant will be grown in the garden, mainly because I just don't have room for more.
Kellogg's Breakfast - since Granny gave this one high marks last year, I just had to give it a try. Again, only 1 plant will be grown in my garden, just for testing purposes.
Green Giant - I hope it's good, as I don't know anyone within my clique of online gardening friends that has tried it. Since most of the plants will be grown for the public, i'm hoping it will be a hit - especially because of the green color.
Amana Orange - another colorful variety that hopefully will catch the eye of my customers. This baby is supposed to get pretty dang big.....
Carol Chyko's Big Paste - Rather than having to wait on the little roma tomatoes (what seemed like 1,000) to collectively give me enough fruit to make sauce with, I'm gonna give this one a try. Working with the small size of Opalka and Roma caused me to spend countless hours of prepping for sauce, and I'm not doing that again! Sheesh......
Black Cherry - After reading rave reviews about this little fella, I have to try it. My hopes are that it will have the taste of a miniature version of Cherokee Purple, but only time will tell. I reckon at least 4 of these babies will be planted in swp's constructed from cat litter buckets. I hope that will give me enough leftovers to hand out to friends and family.
BTW - no harvest total for me this year, as it took too much time to weigh everything, and also got on everyone's nerves. That's ok, the deeper garden (and twice the amount of tomato plants) will easily surpass the 400 lb. mark from 2009. A total of 24 plants is gonna produce alot of tomatoes, I bet!
I'll also try "Stupice" for the first time, from seeds that Trudi shared with me recently. If I can find room for them, i'd like to grow "Giant Oxheart" and another tomato that Gary Isben gave to me a while back. It's supposed to be a big white tomato from Australia.....
Anyway, i'll start germinating seeds tomorrow. Yay!!!
Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
22 comments:
Farmers Almanac recommends the 20-21 as the best time to start seeds for above ground crops. Just a bit of trivia for you there.
I grew the black cherries this year. I was unimpressed. The flavor of mine always bordered on the edge of sour. Not tangy sour, but "Tell me if this tastes bad to you" sour. I'm trying them again just to be sure it wasn't my seeds. Bad seeds produce bad plants which produce bad fruit.
I'll be growing Cherokee Purple this year too. I've waited longer this year to start my plants. Last year I started them Feb 8 and had massive, blooming plants in mid April when they went in the ground. Trying to keep from having that mistake happen again, I'll be starting mine early next week, hoping they germinate by March 6-8. That's still more than 6 weeks til planting time and should get transplanted a couple times before they're ready to go into the garden.
I've got some unique ones this year from Trudi too. Should be a great year. The Almanac says our summer will be cooler than normal, so maybe we won't hit that wall where the plants stop producing.
Good luck! Can't wait to taste the first one of 2010.
I am so looking forward to seeing how these varieties grow for you.
Lots of good varieties in your mix. I just can't bring myself to grow a green tomato though. I think it is because I really need the color change to alert me that the fruit is ripe. I would probably leave ripe green colored tomatoes on the vine to rot because I did not register they were actually ripe! I am a traditionalist and like red or variations of red tomatoes. I am growing Cherokee Purple this year - seeds that Dan shared with me. Looking forward to trying them - hopefully they will do okay in my cooler climate.
Tom - Gosh, I hope the black cherry is better than you described. Maybe yours weren't ripe? We'll just have to try them out. You and I started seeds at the same time last year, and it was a problem for me too.
rachel - Me too!
kitsapFG - the green tomato will definitely be weird, I bet! Oh, you're gonna love cherokee purple - just make sure it's completely ripe before you cut into it.
I am growing the Cherokee Purple, Kellogg's Breakfast and Neves Azorean Red this year for the first time. I have read many great things about them.
I tried the Black Cherry last year and was also not impressed. It may have been mostly due to it being a cherry tomato and I like my cherry tomatoes sweet. But, I wasn't impressed by it even in salads.
Wonderful tometoes!
How to get seeds?
Wow,that a hell of a lot of tomatoes. What are you going to do with all of them? Are you selling seedlings? i though you said something like that. But i could be wrong.
I can't wait to read about how these varieties taste! I'm growing 20 different varieties this year (don't know how I'll fit them all) including Cherokee Purple and Black Cherry.
I'm not looking forward to weighing everything this year as I'm quite certain it will become a pain.
I'm starting a few tomato plants this weekend to transplant into one of my mini hoops sometime in late April...a bit early, but you never know whether something will work unless you try right?
Don't let that Kellogg's Breakfast hang on the vine too long, it's definitely not a keeper and gets too soft quickly. Delicious when it's still good and firm, though. Golly, I'm up to 21 varieties to try now, so it will have to be one of each, and I might have to buy more buckets!
That's quite the rainbow of tomatoes.
Snowmanxp - Dang....maybe i'll like the black cherry? I'll give 'em a try, and see...
l'ortolano - I get my seeds from http://www.tomatofest.com
zach - yes, i'm selling 90% of them.
Thomas - yeah, weighing AND taking photos before using the harvest is a real pain. I'm mainly doing it because of my wife. Those early plants just might turn out ok!
Granny - Thanks for the heads up on the KB. I'll definitely remember that. I'll only do about 15 varieties, and have plenty of containers for them...
Momma_S - oh yes, don't know how they'll taste, but they will definitely be colorful!
Aren't all the different tomatoes great. Who knew there was so many! Your selections look very tempting. I particularly like the sounds of the Carol Chyko's Big Paste. Can't wait to hear about its results.
You should try Pineapple some year. It won hands down at the tomato festival for taste. Sadly it takes forever to grow (over 90 days), so I'm not going to be growing it anytime soon.
This will be my first year starting my own tomatoes! I hope they turn out as good as yours always do. Maybe I'll get my brave up for next year and do other varieties as well!
But don't do totally away with the totals! I live vicariously through them.
Stupice didn't do it for me, but I agree with you about CP! So very very good. Your tomato salad is going to look like confetti!
This is a very good reference in deciding what I want to plant this year. I usually start tomato seed in March and I can't plant until April 15th.
I look forward to hearing how all those varities work for you. I have already made my 2010 seed selection but whenever I read about what others are growing, I'm tempted to buy one more variety. I'll be growing a green tomato for the first time this year and that should be interesting.
Dan - I'm really looking forward to the big paste.
Daphne - pineapple, huh? I may check that one out next year.
ribbit - oh, I know you're excited to grow your own for the first time! The harvest total is just too much to keep up with.
stefaneener - I just have to try stupice. I've heard it's kinda bland, but plentiful.
L.D. - I'm glad you liked this post!
Chris - Gosh...there are just too many to choose from!
Dan - I'm really looking forward to the big paste.
Daphne - pineapple, huh? I may check that one out next year.
ribbit - oh, I know you're excited to grow your own for the first time! The harvest total is just too much to keep up with.
stefaneener - I just have to try stupice. I've heard it's kinda bland, but plentiful.
L.D. - I'm glad you liked this post!
Chris - Gosh...there are just too many to choose from!
Beautiful tomatoes! Glad I'm not the only one trying a larger roma type this year. I just stuck seeds in the soil tonight for San Marzano Gigante. I'll be sure to let you know how it comes along. Also giving Black Prince a whorl. I hope you have success and I'm looking forward to your tomato reviews! I might have to give the Cherokee Purple a try next year too if all goes well for you too.
Mouth... watering... They look soooo yummy!
Jenn - oh my goodness, you've got to try Cherokee Purple!
Toni - thanks, there will be an abundance of colors!
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