2011 Tomatoes! Wha'cha growin'?!

Gilbertie
sweet 100
Purple Cherokee

Camprn's Gilberties, I hope!
More Purple Cherokee and Gold Medal, if I can get them to sprout... only a very few seeds left.

Amish Paste
Purple Cherokee
Brandywine
Juliets

Black Prince
Cherokee Chocolate
Black Krim
Green Zebra
Amana Orange
Zogola

The bugs, birds and squirrels will eat very well this season

I went to Territorial Seed Co in Cottage Grove yesterday. Had to go to Eugene, 100 miles away, and Territorial is on my way. :whistle: Spent two hours picking out seeds. Now I have more packages of seeds than I have planned squares in my TT SFG's.

Maybe that means I will have to make more TT's

At this moment I am planning the following tomatoes

Grafted Japanese Black Trifele, Heirloom
Transplant from TSC of Japanese Black Trifele
Japanese Black Trifele from seed
Grafted Brandywine, Heirloom
Transplant from TSC of Brandywine
Brandywine from seed
Black Plum from seed, Heirloom
Stupice from seed
Manitoba from seed, Heirloom
Black Krim from seed Heirloom
Chocolate Cherry from seed (seed exchange)
Gilbertie from seed (seed exchange)
Tomatillo from seed (seed exchange)
I also purchased some Aunt Molly's Ground cherry, also called a Husk tomato, which is a type of tomatillo, but you eat it like a fruit or make jam from it.

Edited: I forgot to add
Dixie Sweet seeds from our Miss Dixie
Some seeds from unknown "Heirloom" tomatoes I purchased at Trader Joes. One was Yellow and the other was Purpley-Red.

I am going to try to compare the Grafted to the plants I buy and the transplants I grow from seed.

If anyone else tries the Grafted tomatoes, I sure want to hear from them as they grow.

Oh boy oh boy!

There are so many varieties of tomato represented in this thread! Looks like we are going to have a very tasty summer.

I can't wait to see how the crops turn out for everyone.

I've got tomato seedlings!

Three of four seeds I planted have sprouted. I'm on track for my March Tomato experiment.

Apparently, these can set fruit at 38°F and they only take 50 days to mature. If all goes well, I should have ripe tomatoes in early May!

Wow, I'm a tomato loser. I'm planning to plant two plants - a Sweet 100 or similar and a Roma type. Last year I had so many from those two plants (and one volunteer Roma that came up on its own) that I pulled the vines up early cause I got tired of picking them!

Arkansas Traveler, White Beefstake, Thessalonika, Calabsh Purple and because of my name I had to try the Eva Purple Ball. These are the ones that have spouted. I also have a patio tomato planted later and not sprouted.

Kay

Reisentraub
Belarusian Heart
Vorlon (purple)
Black cherry
Paul Robeson

Smartchick wrote:Wow, I'm a tomato loser. I'm planning to plant two plants - a Sweet 100 or similar and a Roma type. Last year I had so many from those two plants (and one volunteer Roma that came up on its own) that I pulled the vines up early cause I got tired of picking them!

Not a loser at all, Smartchick. I remember the great tomato yields we got when we lived in Omaha. If two plants is all you and your family will use, why bother with more varieties? Like the old Row Type Gardener, planting a whole row of lettuce at one time, when you only need a few plants is a waste of time, money, and valuable space.

This year: (Up & growing well)
Isis Candy
Red Grape
Early Cascade
Dad's Sunset orange
Striped Roman
Dixie's Sweet
Opalka
German Pink
Pink Oxheart

I am so hungry for a decent tomato!

Okay - went overboard at Tomatofest since I still have seeds from them from last year, BUT had to try the ones I didn't have room for last year!

New:
Banana Legs
Gruschovka
Manitoba
Roughwood Golden Plum
Andes

and from last year:

Goose Creek - these were HUGE fruits but I had them in a bad spot, trying again
Purple Russian
Russian Big Roma

I have more varieties of seeds, but I doubt I have room even for these!

TC

Wow. And I thought my 5 varieties (and one bonus tomatofest sent me) was a little over the edge!

quiltbea, I have a question about your keeping your tomato plants 6 feet away from each other to keep your seeds pure from cross-pollination. Don't the bees just pollinate them anyway? And would 6' really keep them from cross-pollinating your tomato plants?

Where is everyone ordering their tomato seeds from?

I have seed of these varieties but don't think I can plant them all this year.

Bloody Butcher
Bradley (there are 2 Bradley's - this is a small early one)
Bradley (the other one - larger and later)
Latah
Polish Dwarf
Prudens Purple
Romeo
Striped Cavern

Any that I don't grow this year I will save for next.

I ordered Dad's Sunset & Striped Roma from Baker Creek.

NHGardener,
I tap my branches when they first begin with the flowers so they can pollinate those below. In my garden I rarely see bees until later in the season.

This year to be sure, since I'm thinking the bees now know I have said garden with lots of flowers, I'm going to make tulle and net bags to pull over a branch of as soon as I see a blossom forming and do some tapping before the bees know it.

Then when the tomatoes start to form, I can remove the bag, mark the branch with a piece of yarn or strip of cloth so I'll know which tomatoes to pick later in the season to save the seed. The bees can visit any of the blossoms because I'll have preserved particular ones with the bags earlier.

quiltbea, that's very interesting.

I doubt I'll go thru that much trouble. But then again, I could become a mad chemist and start creating my own tomato varieties...

Goosegirl, I can see how you went overboard at Tomatofest. I just visited their site - 600 varieties - WOW. Good thing I already have all my seeds for this year or I would have been in serious trouble.

[quote="NHGardener"]Wow. And I thought my 5 varieties (and one bonus tomatofest sent me) was a little over the edge!quote]

And that is without listing the 2 bonus packs I have received from tomatofest! The Russian Big Roma's were exactly that - BIG! And great flavor - the Purple Russian were a bit smaller, but still a big roma and made incredible sauce!

Ooh, goosegirl, you got 2 bonus packs? I only got one. Now I'm mad...

Thank you folks who recommended Tomatofest for seeds. As mentioned earlier elsewhere, my $27 order to TomatoBob, A/K/A Seven Acre Seeds, was a bust--evidently this seed company has a history of accepting money, then not sending out the seeds (learned this from Dave's Garden forum). I was one of those who did not get the seeds, just a run-around. So, today I have made orders to Tomatofest for some varieties, and to Territorial Seeds for others. Now perhaps I can get some started, then supplement varieties from the local farmers' market in May. AND, today there is some sunshine! Snow is almost gone. Gonna go play in the dirt! Nonna

NHGardener wrote:Ooh, goosegirl, you got 2 bonus packs? I only got one. Now I'm mad...

Don't be mad, just order from them again next year! I got one with my order last year and one with my order this year. Bad enough that I both years I ordered more than I really should have, then they have to go and send another yummy sounding pack with each order!

TC

Wow, how do you all plant so many plants? I only have six 4x4 and trying to do crop rotations to prevent the further spread of fusarium wilt. I want to try to plant 10 total plants this season (2 each of 5 varieties). Does everyone simply use the 4 boxes on the northern most side of a 4x4 for tomatoes? Is it possible to also plant in the second most northern row (ie plants north/south of each other)? I was thinking trellis the northern ones and cage the southern ones to minimize shading. My other thought was to use the 4 most northern boxes and only the outside squares in the next row and have them all trellised. Hoping for a full tomato season this year! I guess it helps that 2 of the varieties are fusarium wilt resistant, so let's see how that goes. Thanks in advance!

I'll have 6 boxes this year, but the way my yard is, I have the tomato plants in a U shape more or less. The sun rises at an angle in my yard so by the time the sun sets, anything that would be shaded for any amount of time is a nice break from it actually. I can't remember how many I'm planting exactly it's either 10 or 18. Since my puter crashed I haven't quite got all my files over yet and that goes for my garden plan.