Tomato 2013 Season.

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NLDPS 5 February 2013 Tomato seeds.
Starting tomatoes for the 2013 season 9 January 2013. Selection is: Black Russian, Tomato Blue P20, Belaris Orange, Dora, Black Krim, An orange type name unknown. Some seeds were sent to me last year and were grown too late in the season to get a good crop, so are being grown this year. There is a total of around 30 plants, five of each type. The Seeds were started on damp kleenex to verify germination. Then were planted in separate containers. The containers are on a heating pad and will be utilized as required on very cool nights. Artificial lights are never used. Light is any convenient place until the plants can be placed in the small greenhouse, when it gets warm enough.

 

[digitS']

There doesn't seem to be a red tomato in the group, unless there is a name you haven't mentioned, Durgan.

I'm not so sure about Dora. I grew her sibling last year: Gary O Sena. I've communicated via the net a little with Keith Mueller, the originator of these Brandywine & Cherokee Purple crosses. I was inspired to try Gary O. It seems to be a little more commonly available seed than Dora.

The color wasn't far from red and they were just excellent. The plants were kind of too large for the production of fruit but I'm almost thinking that excess foliage just puts more flavor into what fruit shows up. For a few years, I have had Rainy's Maltese in the garden (almost a true-pink). But in 2012, the splitting was just terrible on that one. There were 4 or 5 plants and it was real discouraging to have so many lost. I will go with Gary O Sena this year as my near-pink beefsteak.

I've long grown the golden cherries and greatly enjoy the sweetness and the flavor. I had a lot of fun last year with a whole bunch of yellows & oranges, even one called "Pure Yellow" which sure looked orange to me! Nevertheless, I think that my appreciation of tomatoes has only broadened as I've played around with more and more non-reds. Now, if only DW would develop an appreciation for the blacks . . . & blues (?).

Steve