Another good one is malachite Box tomato. It was voted as one of the five best tasting tomatoes on the Russian tomato forum. It is very vigorous tall plant, productive and early. The fruits are soft and very juicy, do not keep very well. It is also resistant to septoria and black spot.
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I am cutting back on varieties this year! (I have been saying that for the past five years⌠Lol!!)
Favorite returnees:
Brandywine
Marmande Rouge Garnier
Couilles De Taureau
Margaret Curtain
George Distkas Italian Red (New last year, plants got nipped back early, frost.Trying again)
German Johnson
Red Barn
New to me:
Orange Russian 117
Anna Herman
Russian Lime
Carbon Copy F7
Not Purple Strawberry
Girl Girls Weird Thing
Goldmans Italian
Rozovyi Myod
Chinese Purple
Palmiraâs Northern Italian
McKinley
MoCross Elgin #9
Aunt Swarloâs Polish Plum
Kickapoo Creek
Slankards
German Johnson Benton Strain
Mayoâs Delight
Iraqi Heart
Chrisâs Greek Mama
Dix Doights De Naples
Jade Beauty: Dwarf
Summertime Gold: Dwarf
I have about ten others that the name has slipped my mind for the moment. I will get my seeds out tomorrow and add to the list. I am also still thinking about returning a few more from last season. Still unsure about them at this moment.
Ginny
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Persimmon was my third favorite tomato. It was vigorous plant, but with less than average production. Late ripening, but the taste was the best, mild and sweet, very meaty.
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Fabulous! And beautiful!!!
I love orange tomatoes! That looks really luscious !
OK, thatâs moved up on my grow list, I have seeds.
Great photos, good job ladies! Itâs really great to have you guys here on this site.
The Podpiper came over last week and gave me some Persimmon seed, cool to see it!
Another favorite of his he gave me was Omarâs Lebanese.
He is a member here, but right now was bitten by the fig bug. I gave him 3 plants! He has been researching the fig sites. Nice to have a fellow gardener so close. He is growing 170 peppers this year! He lives 35 miles from me. He has an acre of property to work with. It is all suburbs or city between us, He is âdownriverâ Iâm on the âeast sideâ⌠Detroit isnât a super huge city, but the surrounding suburbs in every direction, east side, west side, downriver are massive.
I canât remember the song title, but Journey did a song where it is mentioned the singer grew up on the south side, funny as their is no south side! Well the Detroit river! Detroit is so north Canada is south of us (Windsor is the south side on the other side of the river).
Detroit is about cars, but to me itâs always been the music. Motown, Stevie Wonder, Alice Cooper, Kid Rock, Smokey Robinson, Eminem, Bob Seger, Aretha Franklin, Grand Funk, and White Stripes to name a few. Comedians too Tim Allen, Jeff Daniels, Lily Tomlin, and Gilda Radner.
To get back on subject, I never grew them but we have local heirlooms too.
Early Detroit and Early Detroit no 17. Victory seeds carries them.
Funny for me Cherokee is a much better producer than black Kris.
Brandywine from my 2015 garden⌠1 1/2 # whopper. I have been growing Brandywine for over 25 years. One of my favorites for taste. Very meaty.
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A plate of freshly sliced heirloom tomatoes. L to R: Kellogs Breakfast, Aunt Rubyâs German Green, Old German. I have been growing these beauties for over 25 years in my garden. Always a favorite.
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Wow, ok those are added to my want list! I have seeds to some not Aunt Rubyâs and Old German. So are these 25 years of saved seed in our state? If so I would love seeds to all of them! Different strains make a difference!
Need figs? Tomato or pepper seeds? Garlic bulbs? I have extra onion seeds from this year.
Yes, they are from my garden and saved seed for over 25 years from the same varieties. I am low on seed supply at the moment since I already shared seed, but remind me after the growing season, and I will send you some. I believe I still have your address.
Ginny
Black From Tula is really good. It does well here in my garden. Black Krim and Black from Tula, have been mainstays in my garden for over 25 years. Some of the first blacks I ever grew.
Really good info here, thanks.
This is my favorite too. Itâs the best of all the âGreen When Ripeâ tomato varieties I have tried which include Aunt Rubyâs German and Green Cherokee. Too bad I donât have space to squeeze it in this year. Too many new ones to try.
OK, I will remind you , victory seeds has these plus a couple I really wanted, so I may order them. They have Old Detroit and Old Detroit no 17. Extremely rare tomatoes from MI. So I think I will order them just to keep the heirlooms growing. They also carry plants from the Dwarf Tomato Project. i wanted to try Mr Snow and others.
I want to try Green Giant too, I heard it makes an unreal green ketchup!
All the same save extra seeds anyway! What I really need to do is grow out a bunch, but I donât have the time or the room. Maybe if you want to grow some out for both of us, that would be helpful. I have about 25 varieties where I only have about 5 seeds. Of course I know you have your own you need to grow out.
Maria send me a few seeds of a bunch of Russian tomatoes, and I asked Marsha for some too. Those tomatoes should work well here.
Could you list those top five?
Iâm going to try Green Giant. It is the favorite green of Craig LeHoullier, the founder of the dwarf tomato project, and author of 2 books so far. I also want to try malachite Box tomato too. Maybe next winter I can trade one of you guys for Green Giant.
Green Giant
90 days, indeterminate
â âGreen Giantâ is a sturdy, potato leaf type plant producing large (up
to 32 ounce), oblate-shaped, beefsteak type fruits that are juicy but
meaty and with very small seed cavities. They are green with a slight
yellowish tinge on the blossom end when at the eating stage. The flavor
is intense and not what youâd expect judging it by its color. It is
great for slicing.
this variety is from heirloom tomato
collector Craig LeHoullier who received them from tomato collector
Reinhard Kraft of Neukirchen, Germany.
History
Craig LeHoullier identified Green Giant as an unusual variety while perusing Reinhard Kraftâs tomato database web site,
in that it is the first known potato leaf, green fruited variety.
Reinhard indicates that he selected Green Giant as an unexpected potato
leaf seedling in a regular leaf Green variety (name unknown, but he
indicated he thought it was from Canada). Upon request, Reinhard shared
seeds with Craig in 2004. Craig obtained a mix of potato leaf
(predominant) and regular leaf seedlings, and grew out a potato leaf
plant which matched the picture on the web site. It was the best
tasting tomato of Craigâs garden that year, and it was clear that this
would become a popular variety once it made its way into commerce.
Craig shared the seeds with others, and it found its way into the SSE
yearbook and seed catalogs.
If you could only grow one which would it be? I usually only plant one tomato in a little hill in the yard. I used to grow a large garden but now focus more on other things. I still must have a tomato, homegrown they just canât be beat.