What tomatoes will you grow in 2018?

Thanks for the pics. My Romeo hasn’t been as productive as yours, but there are some fruit on my two plants.

NAR are supposed to be mammoth specimens, so I’m not surprised by how large yours are. I’ve never grew them, just repeating what I’ve heard. Do they have good flavor?

We were able to sample some Chocolate Cherry, and Boxcar Willie yesterday. The CC were great as usual, we’ve grown these for the last four years and they never disappoint. Plus, the plants are massive, well over 6ft. BW were OK, still a bit tart, I probably picked them a bit too early, just impatient, I guess. They’re not as big as I thought they’d be, they are round, a bit larger than a ping pong ball.

We also picked our first Gordost Sibiri of the year, it had a bit of rot on it (sunscald), but was still pretty tasty. She picked an almost ripe Paul Robeson, a purple tom, so I’m letting it ripen a bit more on the window sill before trying it.

The small tomato varieties are starting to roll in in SE Minnesota. I tried Sungold open pollinated from Baker Creek Seeds last year… yuck! The F1 variety is wonderfully sweet though. Super sweet 100 is delicious, just an all around good red cherry tomato. Black Cherry was a variety from last year that I did not replant, it volunteered and I just let it go. Glad to have it back. Last year every single one cracked. This year it’s doing great so far. Nice and sweet, very juicy. 4th of July looks like a large slicer looks on the inside- lots of water. I think of it as a mini beefsteak… or is that called a salad tomato? I don’t know. Vernissage was a free seed packet from Baker Creek. They are mealy and not very good fresh, but are wonderful for cooking. Made BBQ sauce with them today. yum. And so pretty.


I wish I had a better camera to take pictures of my produce with. My phone doesn’t do them justice.

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I really like NAR a lot. It’s somewhat like Brandywine as far as misshapen toms go for me, but not quite as bad. I also like that it puts on a lot more fruit than Brandywine and yet can get pretty big.

If I had to choose between BW & NAR (for some reason - like space) it’d be NAR just because of the production.

But it’s only my 2nd year growing the bigger heirloom tomatoes so I’m no expert by a long shot,
but I do like both NAR & Brandywine.

The wife cut up a Big Beef tonight that was just right ripe-wise, and was very happy with it.

Never tried Paul Roberson but I see a lot of talk about it. I have a Black Krim that I’ve taken a few off of, but it seems very slow to ripen. What I’ve had I like though.

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Had a pink Limbaugh’s Legacy I tossed into the woods yesterday.

The purple Helsing Junction Blues are still hard and w/o a red bottom so not ready.

Right to left are:
Helsing Junction Blues
Snow White
Limbaugh’s Legacy
Gogosha

Still waiting on my first to turn, but, I was really late to get them in.

Helsing Junction Blues

Snow White

Limbaugh’s Legacy

Gogosha

Dax

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Dax,

What kind of soils are in those raised box?

Pro-mix from big box store.

Dax

Wow, I bet that was a pretty good task hauling those dirt bags.

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Huge. All my hoophouse plants died over the harsh winter but they were all in Pro-mix. So I emptied all those pots into the raised planter & the rest was something like 8 Pro-mix and in the middle of filling it I mixed in a peat moss bail. So it’s essentially all Promix.

Dax

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Very nice! Glad you got something in the ground at least after all that work early on… (and all those starts on your deck!) Looks like they could outgrow their poles before too long. Your hands better be healed up pretty good before attempting to harvest them bad boys!!!

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Friday my friend is bringing samples. I should have some really nice pictures and my own ‘taster’ comments…

Dax

I tried Ananas Noire today. It’s very sweet almost like cherry tomatoes. not much acid.

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Pretty tomato, Drew. My friend is absolutely crazy about Middle Tennessee Low Acid. One of the best tomatoes he’s eaten of quite a few.

Dax

Yes, it’s green, yellow and red! I like both acid and low acid tomatoes. It is fairly prolific too.
I have my favorites too and I’m going to stop experimenting for a bit. I like the dark tomatoes like Indian Stripe, Girl Girl’s, and Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye. i really don’t need any others besides a good cherry. I tried Mexico Midget this year. A very small cherry, red, very sweet, and an heirloom, so probably all I will grow in the future. I will try a few others every year I have enough seed for a few years of tomatoes I never tried yet.

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I wouldn’t know when to pick it!

Gotta put the squeeze on it Mr. Andy :grinning:

Poke at it! :point_left::point_right:

Dax

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Yes, also look at them, even the green when ripe tomatoes, turn a slight yellow. Reds, turn to blood.
These tomatoes develop a red tinge. Out of the three pictured, the front tomato is the ripest and perfect, also soft, the squeeze is the final check for me.
Plus tomatoes keep ripening once picked anyway.
I picked these Romeo paste early as we expect rain all day and I want them dry. I don’t think they would crack, which is usually why i do this.

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Aren’t those seeds I gave you last year? I could never get them to do well here.

Conversely, my GGWT’s has some fruit turning color finally. The Romeo’s are still green, tho, as are most of the others-too cloudy and rainy. Need that sun to ripen them. Getting a lot of split fruit because of all the rain we’ve had.

Did get to try some Watermelon beefsteak today, very meaty, with good flavor. But, also sliced up a Paul Robeson, and it was awful, it was a bit soft when I picked it, and it sat for a few days, which made the rot worse.

I also picked a handful of okra, some jalapenos and habaneros, and about half a dozen bell peppers. I think we’re having stuffed peppers for supper tomorrow. To my surprise the okra had a decent flavor raw, albeit a bit slimy.

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I’m not culinary with tomatoes and don’t can or freeze so it’s fresh off the vine and into my belly.

I tried for the first time (2) green tomatoes. I can’t say that I care for either. But, here are photos and my notes.

Tasty Evergreen: Sour as I expected. Liked Green Zebra better. Wouldn’t grow a green tomato, again.

Green Zebra: Not as sour. More accepting to my palate. However, wouldn’t grow again.

Green Zebra & Red Zebra:

Red Zebra: Actually mid-tones of sour. Did not expect. Very thick skin. I would not grow this again.

Bear Claw: Very good to excellent beefsteak. Maybe a bit sweeter if there is such a thing when compared to my past all time favorite: Better Boy.
Error: my buddy corrected me. Thank goodness as I collected seed, yesterday. I thought it was Black Mountain Pink.

Will have more to add in the next days.

Dax

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__Green Zebra is one of my all alone time favorite tomatoes. I leave the skin on and5 eat them with S&P and fresh Mozzarella! Soooo good!

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I don’t care that much for them, they can be very sweet especially the green cherries. hard to tell when ripe, usually develop a yellow cast when ripe. Sun Green takes forever to ripen. Low acid all sugar.

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