Thinking About Tomatoes Already

[digitS']

Eeewww! Pulsegleaner.

You may not believe how my spellchecker tries to change "eeewww."

It decided on "needless!" (Sometimes that thing is smarter than credit usually given. )

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

Actually, that is sort of the semi plan. We don't actually HAVE a community garden around here (or to be honest anywhere to put one, most of the houses in my area have my sort of space issues). But when I get some personal matters taken care of and have the freedom and ability to do so, I am looking into going to a local place that DOES sort of do the kind of stuff I do and might be willing to work with me, which would also have the bonus of giving me the labor I need for some of the larger projects, the kind best done with BIG fields and equipment I don't have and cant afford (like full sized greenhouses with internal heating)


You think that's bad, there's a blackish tomato of German origin called Indishe Fleish (literally, Indian's Flesh). Sounds like a tomato for cannibals (not to be confused with a Cannibal's Tomato, which is a different species of Solanum) and racist ones at that.

Not that I'm much better at names. A while back I stumbled on a pair of white tomatoes in one of those heirloom mixes really fancy supermarkets and farmers markets sell. I made a point of saving them as they were the sweetest tomatoes I ever tasted; sweet enough that they really HAD crossed the line between vegetable and fruit, these could ONLY be used as dessert (it's the only time I ever found a tomato that the flavor of vinegar or salad dressing destroyed) And when I tried to make up a name for it (not knowing what it actually was, with its near transparency and visible internal veins, the only name I could come up with was......Peeled Eyeball.

And of course there is my semi serious breeding plan with regards to creating a black peach tomato (a black tomato with a fuzzy skin) Since I feel that there are already too many fuzzy tomatoes with peach in their names, should I ever get it to work, I plan to honor my cat with it and call it.....Cassia's Hairball!

I have never seen a fuzzy tomato.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

They aren't a common as smooth skinned tomatoes but there are a decent number. A lot of people don't like them for varios reasons. Not everyone likes the feel on their mouth, and the fuzz can make them harder to clean (personally I think the fuzz is great for tomato salads as it "catches" more of the dressing) They also often have a rep as not being good keepers.

The "base" one most people find is Garden Peach (which is yellow) but there is a White peach, Pink peach, Red peach, Speckled peach and a Peche Jaune (another yellow). Wild boar farms also has quite a few, usually with some variation of "Fuzzy boar" as part of the name (there also had a fuzzy purple Cherokee at one point, but that never made it to general sale. I got it in trade with them when they were starting out.) A few cherries as well. I know Ghost Cherry has fuzz but there are probably others.

At the moment, the closest thing to a named green fuzzy tomato I know of is one called Green Velvet, which is only lightly fuzzed and only partly green (it's really more of a green and orange streaked, heavy on the orange) But amongst my seed collection are three packets of Tom Wagner's "Looking for the Blue Mammoth" breeding experiment (to make a tomato with a fuzzy skin and the "blue" skin trait) and I'm reasonably sure that there are probably a few fuzzy green fleshed tomatoes without the blue trait in there (actually given what he crossed there's probably a furry version of green zebra in there)

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Being in MN there must be a greenhouse. Any photos posted? I want to see.

 

[catjac1975]

Niiiice.

 

[Lavender2]

Oh there we go... a tomato that's black AND fuzzy ! I think I would name it 'Lost Leftovers' or "Back o' the Fridge' ... hairball works good too.

Sorry @thistlebloom .. just ignore me.

 

[Lavender2]

Nice setup @SprigOfTheLivingDead !
Dh has bugged me to try some indoor growing, but I get so busy with my craft business in fall I run out of time.
You are an inspiration!

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh there we go... a tomato that's black AND fuzzy ! I think I would name it 'Lost Leftovers' or "Back o' the Fridge' ... hairball works good too.

Sorry @thistlebloom .. just ignore me.

That's funny! I think we should have a "Name That Tomato" contest....

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Actually with that fuzzy purple Cherokee, I'm already probably more than halfway there. I haven't planted any of it yet, so I cannot confirm this but when I got it I was told that, because CP is NOT a clear skinned tomato (or at least, does not have to be) the fuzz has color pigments in it as well. According to them this tomato is actually BROWN fuzzed which should give a very hairball-esqe appearance. I'm just going for something a little darker, a little smaller, and probably a little rounder (though, like most cats, Cassia's actually hairballs look more like turds, so I should probably be looking to make a sausage shaped tomato.)

 

[thistlebloom]

eeewwww you guys! You can stop now!