Tomatoes - A colorful history

I tried Green Giant a couple of years back. It had lots of lush growth but wasn’t productive for me. The taste didn’t seem to stand out. Perhaps I need to give it a 2nd chance. Keep us posted on your experience with this variety.

Ginny,
you have beautiful tomatoes! Maybe next season we’ll trade some?

Drew,
the top 10 for 2014 were 1. Rozovyi Med, 2. Malachite box, 3. Chocolate stripes, 4-5. Yablochniy Lipetskiy and Babushkino, 6-7. Black krim and Orange Russian 117, 8-9. Orlinyi kluv and Mazarini, 10. Orange German strawberry

Top ten for 2015 were 1. Chocolate stripes, 2. Malachite box, 3. Orange German strawberry, 4. Yablochniy Lipetskiy, 5. Babushkino, 6. Orange Russian, 7-8-9. Wolford’s miracle (I am not sure about the right translation here), Zagadka prirody (nature’s riddle), Chudo zemli (earth’s miracle), 10. Rozovyi med (pink honey).

As you can see they go in circles. There were many other varieties, those were the most voted for.

Sounds like a plan Antmary! :smile:

Drew, I grow out tomatoes for a lot of family and friends, so I really don’t have the time to grow more than I can handle at the moment. I cut back on varieties a bit. So many tomatoes, so little time… I need to nip it in the bud soon because I am not getting any younger, and I feel mid way through the summer that it feels more like a chore rather than something I should be enjoying. I garden on my own, but my husband will rototill. Last year, and in previous years, I grow around 300 - 400 tomato plants. I give half away, and grow the rest for tomatoes for canning, family and to give away to the senior center etc… This year I am only growing a few favorites and trying a number of new ones. I am hoping to find a few more tomatoes that do well in my zone, taste great for slicers, canning, and have good production.(Even though I have a number of heirlooms that fit this description, I cannot resist new to me varieties) I am growing more greens, winter squash and garlic. More fruit, figs and citrus. I need to stay off of the tomato forums as they are addicting. :grin:

1 Like

Derby, can you tell me what you are looking for in a tomato? Are you looking for a great tasting, productive slicer?? Do you want a sweet tomato or a well balanced flavored tomato? One with a nice old fashioned zing with a zippy flavor? What zone are you in?

Ginny

Zone six, mid west, south west Missouri. A big meaty slicer, with a strong tomato flavor, soft and juicy.

Yeah I know, I’ll get it done eventually! I have some extra rooted figs, if you need them. Excel, Sal’s GS, and Hardy Chicago. Otherwise I’m giving them away. Just send some tomato seeds next winter if you want them.

Well sometimes tomatoes perform well in one region and not another. I think I’m going to try Malachite Box this year too. Aunt Ruby’s German Green, may just taste better in MI than it does in CA. I rely more on reports from my region. A good example is Brandywine is often reported as a poor performer in the west, although not here. Many heat loving tomatoes do poorly in MI. Always exceptions. Some in CA do well with brandywine. Don Shorr a radio garden guy, owns a nursery in Davis CA, Is a master gardener. He can spell any genus-species name of any plant you can name. A true plant nerd, says don’t grow brandywine in CA. Farmer Fred also thinks brandywine sucks. He is out of Sacramento.
I like Farmer Fred. He has 10 rules of gardening. One is “All gardening is local!” Another is “Everything you know is wrong.”

Sorry for late response…

Here are a few really good meaty slicers with good tomato flavor (keep in mind every ones taste perception is different), Brandywine: Excellent sandwich tomato, sometimes a bit stingy in production in a hot summer.
German Johnson, Red Barn, Old Brooks, Daniels, Box Car Willie, Stump Of The World, Druzba, Daniels, Terhune, … So many more heirlooms that are wonderful. If you go to Tatiana’s Tomatobase, she has a wonderful list of heirlooms etc., along with pictures and descriptions of people who grew the fruit out. :slight_smile:

Good luck!

Ginny

Thank you for the suggestions, I will research these and see if I can settle on one for this summer. That was a little unfair asking someone that grows that many kinds of tomatoes to pick one, lol. Obviously you like many different kinds.

Thank you for the offer Drew. I would love some more hardy figs for my area eventually, but, for now I have my hands full. As soon as we finish our sunroom, and seeing how much room I have leftover after I place all the potted citrus, bananas and figs etc inside, then I will have a better idea of where I stand for adding more plants. :smile:

For me it would be Paul Robeson. It has a deep, rich, sometimes smoky flavor that none of the other black tomatoes come close to. Unfortunately for me it doesn’t do that great disease wise even when I spray it with ?? neem oil ?? (for some reason, the name of what I spray escapes me, but I have to spray this and Green Zebra to keep them alive long enough to harvest a couple rounds). Other blacks that I grow like Black Krim don’t require spraying in my area (northern VA) but the flavor doesn’t compare to Paul Robeson.

OK, well I have a lot, and once bigger I can take cuttings of any of them. I’ll give away the small plants for now, but again cuttings will be available. Do grow out some seed for me. Being so adapted to MI it would be foolish of me not to ask.

I should have some Malachite Box tomato seeds saved from my own plant if you need them. I’m not sure if they will come true to type though as I did not bag blossoms. Well, I did try to bag but those bagged blossoms did not set. I gave up bagging after that.

Indeed the Brandywine’s performance in my garden has been inconsistent in terms of productivity. I had wanted to stop growing it but was afraid that I might regret by summer if none of the new ones is anywhere close to Brandywine in taste.

Thanks Z9 I bought some from Baker, so I’m all set!
I grow a lot of tomatoes in pots so was looking at the Dwarf Tomato Project
I heard Craig LeHoullier on the radio and he named the top 15 or so from the 60 varieties they developed (all are for sale at various seed companies) One was Tastywine.
These sound extremely interesting only growing to 4 feet but producing full size tomatoes. The project has been ongoing for over 10 years now on Tomatoville.
Some have very unique colors, although taste was always the first priority.
Another Brandywine cross with I think Cherokee Purple in there too is Brandyfred.
Most are sold out for the year. Next year I’ll be trying some.

1 Like

I picked up some box car willie at lowes this weekend. I have three cells planted and hope to see little green tomatoes poking out in a few days. Thanks for the suggestion

I’m a chef and do the same thing,I just don’t use the packets

I picked up some Box Car Willy too. Also they had one of my favorite seed, BrandyBoy which I have been having to order on line for the past years.

1 Like

It’s early and I can’t comment on taste, but it is productive, seems disease resistant too! I have 2 plants, and one plant is not as prolific, it is in more shade though. the one in full sun is one of the most productive plants in the garden. The tomatoes are huge too! I’m impressed with it.

Great, looks like I need to give it another chance.
I was just looking at the list of tomato varieties (collected mostly from seed swaps) I have a couple of days ago to figure out what to plant next year. A bit early, I know but I can’t help it. Another GWR I plan to try is Grub’s Mystery Green.
From the descriptions on Tatiana’s Tomatobase, it seems like a perfect tomato, high yield, great taste and early.
What more could I want. Just hope that I will have similar experience with it.

1 Like