Need recommendations! :)

[injunjoe]

This was a bad Tomato year!

Joe

Oh, not for me! The plants I started with in March are still blooming even as this cold front and soon-to-be-snow is spelling out certain death for them. Yesterday I finally picked all my tomatoes and ended up with three 5 gallon buckets and five 3 gallon buckets overflowing with various-staged tomatoes.

I just had to baby them a bit thru July and August. But once I figured out my lack of attention was killing them I got that all straightened out right quick!

I would not even begin to pretend to know how to garden in a colder zone than mine. I'm afraid I would be to selfish to live somewhere colder unless I was rich and could have a big fancy-smancy greenhouse

I would like to say, It was a bad Tomato year for me!
I must agree with you on, " lack of attention was killing them".
This I am sure to be guilty of.

As far as what kind to grow, I have found also very important.
Journey makes a wonderful point! Your local county extension agency is tried and true!

Joe :bee

 

[obsessed]

I use my extension service a bit. The only thing I don't like is it tends to recommend the varieties that producers are using for large fields rather than the home gardener. I don't see alot of heirloom seeds being recommended. That is not to say the what is recommended can't be found in seed catelogues. I just happen to want something different that the market something a little bit more unusua

ETA Heirloom is the wrong word. How about different. I would like to save seeds but different is more important than heirloom to me.

 

[Rusty]

Conditions are always a kick in the pants for me, too. The only successful gardens I've ever had were all in Florida. What worked there does NOT work in Alabama! We don't really have that huge growing season we appear to have. I got rotten weather all the way into May and by September an early frost caught me with my pants down, so to speak. In between--in July and August--everything practically croaks from the heat and the heavy clay soil, so growing ANYTHING successfully here has been a sheer accident for me.

This year I tried my tomatoes in pots and had the best crop yet. No disease. No bugs. Nice, tasty fruits. By comparison, of the 50+ strawberry plants I put out this spring, only 2 made it to September. I'm gonna rework that bed yet again and try my Sugar Buns in there, I think.

Lots of good ideas here! Thanks, all!




Rusty

 

[digitS']

Sweet Baby Girls were the nicest container tomatoes that I've grown. They aren't of the "beefy" persuasion, however. And, it sounds like you'd like to make more use of your open ground, Rusty.

Here are a couple of growers in your neck of the woods:

The Tasteful Garden in Heflin, AL

Selected Plants in Hamilton, AL

I've heard real good things about Darrel Jones, the owner of Selected Plants. There are some very knowledgeable growers who think a lot of his expertise. When you get to his "Varieties Available" page just keep moving down the page - it's a huge list. Scroll down to Darrel's "detailed descriptions of some of the best varieties" for some ideas.

Obsessed, I think you should grow sweet cherries. Sweet Baby Girl is delicious but so are SunSugar and Sungold. They should make "believers" out of your little garden helpers. Hybrids all . . .

Steve

 

[NurseNettie]

Indeed it was. Of the 60 heirloom plants I started from seed, planted and attempted to nurture- I got ZERO tomatoes. The volunteers out of the other garden grew like weeds.

This was a bad Tomato year!

Joe

 

[HiDelight]

I gloated everywhere on this board about my tomatoes ...so I will not do it again ... I know not everyone did as well and it is not nice to gloat!
You have such good advice here but I love tomatoes and any time I can talk or read about them I glom on
so my few cents

San Marzano for paste and sauce ..no other tomato can compare and they are really not hard to grow ...and they bunch so they would be ok in the wind

for a nice slicing tomato the black krim took a lot of abuse and did very well! it is a very nice tasting tomato that is for sure! great on sandwiches

I had a really nice persimmony tomato and it had "persimmon" in the name ..looked like a persimmon and had a very nice not acidic but lemony essence to it ..outstanding salad tomato imho (so obviously Ron I never take notes!!! I wish I did!) Steve do you have an idea of what this tomato could be please?

my whole reason for being a gardener is so I can eat tomatoes!!! I love to grow anything but tomatoes are the reason for me!!!.. and I have paid my dues ..this year it was brilliant and I have this foolish notion now that I am in control of my tomato destiny!

this year I am going to try a few suggestions for a roasting tomato..I know there is something better than a roma for one but not as watery as the slicing or salad tomato
I am looking for the seeds folks told me to try now and btw did you guys see your mailboxes ..omg the catalogs are pouring in ..the heck with online I love my paper seed catalogs

Corn ..omg I can not even tell you how dismal that is for me I am almost going to quit ..one more try next year then I am tossing in the towel
eta
OH I know I wish I could remember but I had one cherry tomato that was just like a mini Roma it was very good it was like a pop of spaghetti sauce in each bite ..very very tomatoey and I am going to do better this year I swear!!!

 

[digitS']

We don't have folks from the upper Midwest and New England weighing in to complain about the terrible blight problems that swept thru those areas this year? This stuff was in the same family as the Irish Potato Famine blight - and it was really a sorry situation.

Well, there is a tomato known as Persimmon. But see, I try not to even look at a tomato that claims to need more than 75 days to ripen.

HiD, I have seen Black Krim listed as something less than an 80 day tomato! It surprises me that there's so much variation on these days-to-maturity designations but, since I think the seed companies mostly just make 'em up, most any number is as good as any other . . .

No, now I'm being cynical.

But, it's real discouraging to have a variety with plants just loaded with green fruit and stand there looking at 'em as the sun goes down behind you and know that it's going to freeze by the next morning. And, you've never even had 1 ripe fruit off those plants! You don't know whether to pick the dang things because they might be okay ripening in the kitchen or just turn and walk away. I've turned and walked away a couple times . . .

Steve
Who keeps keeps his digits crossed with a 74 day tomato and trusts an honest 68 day tomato.

 

[ducks4you]

HiDelight , don't worry about the apology. USUALLY tomatoes grow like WEEDS in my yard--2009 was a just a BBBAAADDD growing year.
I'm letting the rain wash away my tears, like water under the bridge, and planning on my 2010 crop.

 

[HiDelight]

Steve I always thought those numbers were made up LOL!!!! seriously!!! thanks for the validation!

I forgot my favorite this year for everyone just eating as garden trail mix!!! the Isis Candy!!! wow it was pretty ..very productive .STURDY PLANT!!! my dogs liked it too and harvested them ..and they still kept cranking out the tomatoes!!!....sweet but had a lovely tart too ..not at all acidic in falvor but tart ..if you can understand what I mean ..I think a little lemony tart is nice to even out the sweet in an out of hand tomato ..but do not care for a truly acidic one to eat fresh ...I do however like to grow acidic tomatoes pasta sauces and also to add into my mixed tomato salsas ..acidic tomatoes have their place for sure imho.. hands down you need a bit of acid to get the perfect marinara!!! ! cooking the tomato correctly is key in making an acidic tomato shine ..as in a sofrito..or to make a nice rice pilaf ...a good marinara ...you need that slow cookdown melting the tomato into your oil ..with that very slight caramel ..so acidic for me for cooking sauces and sweet bursting with flavor and lemony tart for eating out of hand is nice for an out of hand tomato

mind you this is just me in my word but I think the Isis Candy (it is a cherry) rocks for just picking and eating ..and it stands up to even bad years here!!!

here is a good google image of what they looked like and mine looked like this!
http://www.bh-froe.com/ZC/images/isis_candy.jpg

the only thing is they never look quite ripe!

 

[Beans & Corn]

From my expierience you cannot go wrong with heirloom tomatoes the ones I suggest would be Cherokee Black, Cherokee Purple, and Ponderosa Pink these can be found in the Totally Tomatoes Seed Book. For Sweet Corn I recomend the Serendipity variety and I think can be found in the Gurney's seed book this variety it is very sweet and is a bicolor.