New Fruit Loot from the Tomato Patch

[digitS']

Two new-to-me varieties: Dr. Carolyn cherries & Woodle Orange.

The Woodle Orange shouldn't be set beside ivory-yellow Dr. Carolyn - makes it look red. I don't think that it is "woodle" as in "little" - probably someone's name. There are larger fruits on the plants. In fact, there was good size one that i couldn't find . . . until it was over-ripe and the slugs and sow bugs found it 1st !!

I am in the process of sampling and saving seed . . . Dr. Carolyn has been producing for a couple of weeks. As one might expect, the flavor is very light but there is some tartness that lingers, kind of citrus in nature.

Now, the 1st nibble of Woodle Orange: . . . light, simple but equally fleshy tomato. Hints of tea notes, dried snowberry and glacial clay. . . . no, no - just kidding! Ummm, oh that's nice! Somehow, it does taste a little like an orange - as in fruit, not color. Try some more . . . take some time to remove a few seeds . . . very mild. Nice ! I'll need to have one on another day to come to more of an opinion.

What new varieties are YOU sampling from the tomato patch this year . . . and, saving seeds from??

Steve

 

[Carol Dee]

Steve I love the way you critique the tomatoes

 

[digitS']

This was the year when I thought I might try the "paper plate" method of tomato seed-saving. I am still working up to the idea of the "fermentation in water, then bleach" approach. Perhaps, I'll never get to it.

Instead, I just slap the seeds down on a paper towel, set it out under a cover but in a lot of direct sun, and that's it . I will also use a sunny window indoors. After a couple of weeks, I'm willing to move the seeds out of the sunlight. I'll scrape the seeds off the paper before winter or sowing, anyway. Lazy sort, ain't I?

I hasten to say that I have something of an ideal climate for this. It rained today! We had all of .03" of rain . Since June 21st, a total of .56" of rain has fallen . Yeah, it may have been a cool first half of summer but that didn't mean rain. With a lot of sunshine, humidity is low thru the summer. More humid climates may require a more sophisticated approach to seed-saving.

Steve

 

[NwMtGardener]

We had real rain!!!!!!!!!!! like, from 3:30 ish to 6:30 ish! Amazing, may have to go back to mowing the grass!

I have some Big Boys that started blushing nicely on the vine, so I brought them inside and put them together in a paper bag. I thought it might encourage them to ripen faster!! I have no idea if that works for tomatoes, I've heard it does for other fruits. I also just wanted bring them inside to get them out of danger, had some splitting starting on a few (I think I'll blame DH for that, watering while I was out of town ).

And my tomatoberry cherries are awesome, producing like crazy. We've used the "car drying" method on a 2 small batches of them.

 

[digitS']

And moments after I wrote the above, Heather, the Heavens opened and it poured rain!

Remarkable! Maybe you will have some more in MT!

I reported on Jared's thread (click) a week and a half ago, how much I enjoyed Kellogg's Breakfast. They are delightful and there just might be quite a few on my 2 plants!

Steve