The Tomatoes I Planted This Year And My Opinion Of Them...

[bobbi-j]

This year has been an amazing one for gardening! I don't know if it was the early (and frequent) spring rains, the old, "cured", 20-year old manure that DH took out of the pole barn and tilled in, or what. But it's been an adventure! I planted several different types of tomatoes out there, and here is what I think of them:
Bloody Butcher (Heirloom) - Early, lots of fruits on the plant, but very small. Just over golf ball size. I'm not impressed.

Supersweet 100 - My favorite cherry tomato. I don't know what got into me, but I planted 3 of them. Really, any more than one is entirely unnecessary unless you plan on preserving them, giving them to everyone you know, or eating a steady diet of just cherry tomatoes. I will plant these every year.

Old German (Heirloom) - Huge! I have one out there that is bigger than my two fists put together. Slow to ripen, though. They're all green as grass yet.

Cherokee Purple (Heirloom) - One of my favorites. I love their flavor and color.

Roma and Summer Salsa - These seem to be one and the same. Abundant, fair sized, firm fruits that work well for salsa and canning.

Health Kick - These seem similar to the Romas and Summer Salsas.

Burpee Beefsteak - Not too impressive this year. Not many fruits on the vine, very slow to ripen.

Mortgage Lifter (Heirloom) ) - I know I planted some, I just can't figure out which ones they are yet. I have over 30 plants (I may or may not have gotten a bit carried away) out there. I did mark them. I used white plastic markers that I poked into the ground right next to the plants. The plants have overtaken their part of the garden, and I have to search for both tomatoes and their markers. I've found a few by groping around under the plants. I will come back and share my thoughts on these tomatoes if I ever figure out where they are.

 

[Hal]

This year has been an amazing one for gardening! I don't know if it was the early (and frequent) spring rains, the old, "cured", 20-year old manure that DH took out of the pole barn and tilled in, or what. But it's been an adventure! I planted several different types of tomatoes out there, and here is what I think of them:
Bloody Butcher (Heirloom) - Early, lots of fruits on the plant, but very small. Just over golf ball size. I'm not impressed.

Supersweet 100 - My favorite cherry tomato. I don't know what got into me, but I planted 3 of them. Really, any more than one is entirely unnecessary unless you plan on preserving them, giving them to everyone you know, or eating a steady diet of just cherry tomatoes. I will plant these every year.

Old German (Heirloom) - Huge! I have one out there that is bigger than my two fists put together. Slow to ripen, though. They're all green as grass yet.

Cherokee Purple (Heirloom) - One of my favorites. I love their flavor and color.

Roma and Summer Salsa - These seem to be one and the same. Abundant, fair sized, firm fruits that work well for salsa and canning.

Health Kick - These seem similar to the Romas and Summer Salsas.

Burpee Beefsteak - Not too impressive this year. Not many fruits on the vine, very slow to ripen.

Mortgage Lifter (Heirloom) ) - I know I planted some, I just can't figure out which ones they are yet. I have over 30 plants (I may or may not have gotten a bit carried away) out there. I did mark them. I used white plastic markers that I poked into the ground right next to the plants. The plants have overtaken their part of the garden, and I have to search for both tomatoes and their markers. I've found a few by groping around under the plants. I will come back and share my thoughts on these tomatoes if I ever figure out where they are.

Cherokee Purple is a brilliant tomato.
I'd be curious to see what you think about the flavour of Health Kick, how does it taste to you?

 

[bobbi-j]

I haven't tried the Health Kick specifically yet. I've just been picking and putting them all together when I do. I will make a point of trying one, though, and let you know how it tastes!

I also forgot to mention Ace 55 - the seeds were 5 years old, but I decided to try them anyway - what did I have to lose? The plants are vigorous and were the healthiest seedlings I started. They have nice, round, medium to large sized fruits on them. I would plant this again if I could find the seeds. A friend was cleaning out some of her cupboards and gave them to me. (They were old when she gave them to me, but I figured I had nothing to lose.)

 

[journey11]

I love it when people review their varieties on here. Such a helpful thing to do.

I usually give them two tries and look online to see if what I got was standard for the variety because I have had a couple over the years that didn't come out true to type. My Amish Paste this year were just terrible, so given their reputation, I think I should try them one more time with a different source for the seed.

My DD7 picked up a packet of Romas at Walmart when she was planning her little garden. I let her plant 18 of them...not so little anymore. But they turned out awesome and so super productive, so much fruit per plant they flattened themselves to the ground and couldn't hold to their stake. We've made sauce and ketchup for days now and they were so nice and thick they didn't take long to simmer to a good consistency. I decided to quit with San Marzanos because they couldn't hold a candle to the Romas. Always good to try something new.

The Mortgage Lifters are a flattened, ~12oz. fruit with thin, tender skin and a pinkish-red hue. Hope that helps!

 

[Hal]

I love it when people review their varieties on here. Such a helpful thing to do.

I usually give them two tries and look online to see if what I got was standard for the variety because I have had a couple over the years that didn't come out true to type. My Amish Paste this year were just terrible, so given their reputation, I think I should try them one more time with a different source for the seed.

My DD7 picked up a packet of Romas at Walmart when she was planning her little garden. I let her plant 18 of them...not so little anymore. But they turned out awesome and so super productive, so much fruit per plant they flattened themselves to the ground and couldn't hold to their stake. We've made sauce and ketchup for days now and they were so nice and thick they didn't take long to simmer to a good consistency. I decided to quit with San Marzanos because they couldn't hold a candle to the Romas. Always good to try something new.

The Mortgage Lifters are a flattened, ~12oz. fruit with thin, tender skin and a pinkish-red hue. Hope that helps!

Journey get yourself a good seed source for Amish Paste then save your own seeds when you find a good one. I've had it grow through blazing hot summers and even had self sown plants surviving frosts and fruiting in an open field during winter. It makes a good sandwich tomato and a good paste tomato so it is a perfect tomato for me.
Hang in there!

 

[bobbi-j]

Journey, thanks for the pointer on the Mortgage Lifters. I will keep an eye out for them. As I go out to pick, I do kind of look/grope around for the labels I put under the plants. I found a few. Some aren't marked, but those are the "Mystery Heirlooms" I bought from the local greenhouse. It was just a 6-pack of mixed heirlooms. So far I've found the Cherokee Purple for sure. Not positive what the others are.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I used to use stakes about 16" long and write on them with magic marker to mark my tomatoes but even those sometimes get lost. I still use those stakes when I set them out but when I put up my cages I cut a strip from a chicken feed bag and write the name of the tomato on that. I attach that strip with wire at the top of the cages. The writing lasts all season. I use wire to attach them because they became untied when I tried string. They blow and twist around in the wind and that unties them. It might also help keep birds away. I seem to have fewer bird bites on the tomatoes since I started this.

 

[Smart Red]

That sounds like a good idea, @Ridgerunner, if just to keep the birds away. It might be a good addition to my paper planting plan. . . or a safety option if I lost the notebook.

 

[bobbi-j]

Good ideas, Ridgerunner! That's going in my notebook for next year. I have NEVER had tomatoes as big as these plants are. Some of them are taller than me (although my sons would tell you that's no big deal since I'm only 5' 2 1/2") Our squash has gone crazy, too. I went into the squash jungle on a treasure hunt the other day, and my DH said, "Whatever you do, just keep moving or they'll swallow you whole." It's been a fun year to garden.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes this has been a strange year here. The grass is still green this late in August, usually its early July when it turns brown. It's not that we've had a lot of rain, we haven't. I'm still well below average rainfall. But we had several days where I got maybe 0.1", just enough to do the grass a tiny bit of good if not the garden crops. But the big difference is that we have had a lot of cooler than normal weather. Instead of highs in the mid to upper 90's if not hotter with bright hot sun, we had several days with highs in the 70's or low 80's and cloud cover. The sun and heat just hasn't dried us out the way it normally does. My Chocolate Stripes and Hillbillies are performing better than I ever expected because the nights have cooled off enough for new tomatoes to set on. I've never had corn this good. Several things are doing really well. It has been a fun year to garden.