What tomatoes are you growing this year?

[Beekissed]

Just my old standby favorites...Brandywine(red) and possibly yellow, Yellow Stripey, and sweet One Million cherry maters. Saved seed from last year and hope they germinate well this spring.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

my usual Roma's will volunteer every year like clockwork. i never have to start those-they just take over a corner with the ones i missed cleaning up when the plants die back after the killing frost takes them out.

Korol Sibiri-an oxheart yellow. If i can get a couple of Linnie's Oxhearts growing they will be in the garden too. i'd like to get some Snow White cherry toms going too. maybe some Egg Yolk cherries too, they have been good & i found they don't split as much as reds for me here.

i haven't looked over the tomato section of my spreadsheet yet & i still need to update that with a couple new ones i got this year, so i haven't finalized my list yet. i won't be going as crazy as i have in past years.

 

[Zeedman]

Mostly paste types, although I am still working on the list.

• Tiffen Mennonite, a good pink potato-leaf
• Grushovka, an early pink (I've seen alternative spellings)
  
• Nicoviotis Orange, a good orange slicer
• Roughwood Golden Plum, a very good yellow/orange paste (sounds like an oxymoron, I know. ) Had some crossing in this one, so will be cleaning it up this year.
• Elfin, an outstanding OP grape tomato, and the only tomato I grow every year
• Quebec 1121, an extra-early red paste
• Santa Maria, paste. Trialed last year from a swap, that seed was very heavily crossed (about 50%). I hope to try it again with good seed from Remy. It appears to be similar to Amish Paste, but perhaps even larger.
• San Marzano Redorta, paste, this strain has extra large, very meaty fruit
• Sojourner South American, very large red oxheart
  
• Black Pepper, paste, more brown than black, similar in size & shape to San Marzano Redorta
  
• 2-3 others, TBD (waiting for SSE Yearbook)

There are 3 versions of "San Marzano" that I've grown. The basic (original?) strain had tons of oval paste tomatoes that were a little larger than Roma, on determinate vines. San Marzano Nano (indeterminate) had small 3-ounce tomatoes in large clusters. San Marzano Redorta (indeterminate) has elongated tomatoes mostly in the 8-ounce range, and is one of my favorites for flavor.

 

[lcertuche]

I always plant Arkansas Travelers because they do well with our heat and humidity when others quit blooming they keep going. I do want some paste type this year if I can squeeze in a spot. My family also likes little cherry type of some kind just to snack on in the garden.

 

[digitS']

I do want some paste type this year if I can squeeze in a spot.

Paste types ... I need to squeeze them into what is often an uncooperative and short season. One that is too often not very tomato-friendly.

@Zeedman , that list of paste tomatoes is almost completely unfamiliar to me! I can count the number of seasons that I have grown a paste on the digitS' of one hand. It is because I most appreciate a tomato fresh and that I may freeze surplus but do no canning. That all may be changing with my developing interest in tomato soup .

Are there any on your list that are especially early to ripen?

@lcertuche , those golden cherries I mentioned, Sungold and Sun Sugar, are nearly essential to my gardening. A couple years ago, I discovered the Yellow Jellybeans, also. All, so good for snacking!

@ChickenGrass , what do you think of salsa sauce? DW makes the simplest salsa sauce with red cherry tomatoes. In fact, it only has 5 ingredients and 4 are from the garden - the tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, and a hot pepper. Ingredient #5 is garlic salt.

She starts off by charring the tomatoes and pepper a little under the broiler in the toaster oven, so she can remove the skins. The green onions go under the broiler until they are thoroughly wilted - don't char them! The cilantro is wilted just a little.

These 4 go in the blender with the garlic salt. We can also use a little mortar and pestle since it's usual for us to make just a little sauce at a time. We like it fresh ... uh ... even if it is all charred and wilted . Sure tastes and smells fresh! Of course, you would have to like the flavours of the ingredients but the tomatoes are sure not the dominant one, even if they amount to the largest portion.

Steve

 

[ChickenGrass]

Well I got my tomatoes planted tonight,
2 of each variety.
I didnt plant the gardeners delight yet though.
Did anyone else plant their tomatoes today?

 

[ChickenGrass]

Hi Steve.
I like some salsas.
The recipe you gave me sound delicious!
I will try it this year.

 

[ninnymary]

Steve, aren't you planting Orange Woodle (or something like that)?

Mary

 

[Zeedman]

Paste types ... I need to squeeze them into what is often an uncooperative and short season. One that is too often not very tomato-friendly.

@Zeedman , that list of paste tomatoes is almost completely unfamiliar to me! I can count the number of seasons that I have grown a paste on the digitS' of one hand. It is because I most appreciate a tomato fresh and that I may freeze surplus but do no canning. That all may be changing with my developing interest in tomato soup .

Are there any on your list that are especially early to ripen?

Quebec 1121 is very early, and has 3-4 oz. red tomatoes very similar to Roma, on compact determinate plants. These have had consistently good yields for me. Salus is another very early paste, smaller than Quebec (about 2" wide), red plum shape, with a dense set on determinate plants. I wouldn't really categorize Grushovka as a paste, but it matures at roughly the same time as the other two, around 80 days.

Elfin is also very early, so early that I usually let a few volunteers grow, and those will ripen a fair amount before frost. They are very dry & meaty, more like a miniature Roma than a cherry tomato.

I'd offer you seed, but good grief, looks like you already have your DigitS full! 13 varieties are the most I will grow in a given year, one for each plot (but 6-8 plants of each).

 

[aftermidnight]

Haven't given this much thought yet, I'd better get the lead out as it is almost time to start mine. Last year was a disaster due to a cool summer so not planning on putting many in this year, more room for beans.
I think three cherries, a Yellow Pear, seed I got from a fellow in the UK, Cherrio a red and Cherokee Green Grape.
Other than those the others I will probably plant are
Celebrity (Always does well for me, well almost always) the rest heirlooms
Rio Fuego
Goldman's Italian American
Mrs. Schlaubaugh's Famous Strawberry
Provenzano
Before this list is written in stone I have to go through my seed stash and see if I still have seed for these.

Annette