Tomatoes 2021

[Pulsegleaner]

My tomatoes this year are rather meager (the great grow out two years ago wiped out my stocks* and the COVID seed rush kept me from replacing anything). I picked up a pair of Green Zebra starts yesterday (hopefully these are correct this time**) . Besides that, I have a quartet of (at the moment rather small) Purple Calabash plants.

* Though given that that massive planting resulted in only one plant, it wouldn't have made much difference if it hadn't.

** Two years ago I picked up two supposed green zebra starts at a nursery and NEITHER was right (one was brownish one was red, neither was striped)

 

[Artichoke Lover]

If you like any of these @Artichoke Lover, and I succeed this year, I'd be happy to send you seeds! I have a serious tomato obsession too.

I'm always curious about the kinds of tomatoes other people grow...do you have any favourites?

That would be awesome! And I would be happy to share seeds if there’s any in my collection that you are interested in.
For favorites I have two hybrids and two heirlooms. Jelly Bean Hybrid and Beefmaster Hybrid. Both of these produce very well and can stand up to the disease problems we have here in the south. The heirlooms are Black Cherry and San Marzano. Both were productive and showed pretty good disease resistance.

 

[digitS']

If we are talking about some favorites in my 2021 garden:

I'm with @Artichoke Lover and the Jelly Bean except - it's the Yellow Jelly Bean . I realized in recent seasons that something that I like about it is that it tastes like a red tomato. Ha! Yes, I have other yellows ...

Bloody Butcher will be one of my very earliest. What surprised me about Bloody Butcher is how this very early, small-size tomato has so much flavor. And, it keeps producing through the growing season.

Steve

 

[seedcorn]

Went to local green house Friday. I’ve noticed last 2 years no,Oxheart varieties. Why have they fallen out of favor? Never see them anywhere.

 

[Zeedman]

Went to local green house Friday. I’ve noticed last 2 years no,Oxheart varieties. Why have they fallen out of favor? Never see them anywhere.

That's a good question. Oxhearts are productive, flavorful, and have very few seeds. One of my all-time favorite tomatoes is Hungarian Heart. Perhaps it is because the oxheart tomatoes fall outside of the most-wanted categories... they are not wide enough to be good slicers, and too juicy to be (easily) used for paste. IMO they make excellent sauce, and are good chopped for tacos or fresh salsa.

 

[heirloomgal]

What surprised me about Bloody Butcher is how this very early, small-size tomato has so much flavor. And, it keeps producing through the growing season.

I had the same experience with a tomato called Bulgarian Triumph, very similar in appearance and growth habit to Bloody Butcher. Huge flavour in a small tomato.

 

[heirloomgal]

That's a good question. Oxhearts are productive, flavorful, and have very few seeds. One of my all-time favorite tomatoes is Hungarian Heart. Perhaps it is because the oxheart tomatoes fall outside of the most-wanted categories... they are not wide enough to be good slicers, and too juicy to be (easily) used for paste. IMO they make excellent sauce, and are good chopped for tacos or fresh salsa.

They also make excellent, meaty steak like slices when slapped in a pan and seared next to eggs. Makes a good breakfast.

 

[seedcorn]

They also make excellent, meaty steak like slices when slapped in a pan and seared next to eggs. Makes a good breakfast.

Green slices or red slices seared? Never been a fan of fried green tomatoes.

 

[ducks4you]

Seems like ALL of the old tomato seeds sprouted and are ready to be transplanted to their own 3 inch pots this week.
I don't regret buying new seeds. Thinking about waiting until next year to plant them, since I have them ziplock bagged and enclosed in a cleaned out, plastic applesauce jar.
Older tomato seeds Will sprout for you, as evidenced by the cheapo ones I started 2 months ago.
It is NEVER a waste of money to buy them. Just come FYI.
I think I saved the paper envelopes in my 2021 planting binder.

 

[Zeedman]

Seems like ALL of the old tomato seeds sprouted and are ready to be transplanted to their own 3 inch pots this week.
I don't regret buying new seeds. Thinking about waiting until next year to plant them, since I have them ziplock bagged and enclosed in a cleaned out, plastic applesauce jar.
Older tomato seeds Will sprout for you, as evidenced by the cheapo ones I started 2 months ago.
It is NEVER a waste of money to buy them. Just come FYI.
I think I saved the paper envelopes in my 2021 planting binder.

Old tomato seed - properly stored - will have at least fair germination for a long time. The oldest saved tomato seed I planted this year was from 2006, and still had 80% germination. I have great reservations though about buying old seed, for tomatoes or anything else. You have no idea what conditions the seed has been exposed to. Not to say that it shouldn't be tried; but it would be wise to have a backup plan in case of failure.

Sad to say, when it comes to seed packets, "garden" stores treat their seeds no better than supermarkets. Although some mail order seed houses treat their seed better (you can often tell by their packaging) IMO commercial seed in general can be unreliable, whether new or old. The two worst germination rates I had this year for members of the nightshade family were from "new" commercial seed... and more than once, I've ordered seed through the mail which had zero germination.