The 2015 Tomato Round-Up

Here's what I grew this year!

Paul Robeson 



Laurel of Heirloom Tomato Plants believes this is "the finest tomato in existence." It does not disappoint. The flavor is just amazing--rich, earthy, and complex. Most black tomatoes seem to be very tasty, but this one is something else.  Our plant wasn't the most productive but I will definitely grow this one again.  Frequently. Seeds from TomatoFest.

Summer Cider



I really like this one. I would describe the flavor as bright and fruity.  (I wasn't sure if I would like "fruity" in a tomato, but it's quite good.)  Good grower (did have some trouble in the heat),  nice big tomatoes.  Nice texture, too.  I'll grow this one again.  Seeds from Marianna's Heirloom Seeds.

Black Yum Yum
 


I chose this one on the recommendation of a lady in a Facebook heirloom tomato group who had a tomato tasting party, and Black Yum Yum was by far everyone's favorite. It is super tasty. Bright and zingy, with a deep rich flavor. They're generally slightly smaller than a golf ball, but there is quite a bit of variation in size .  Our plant was in a bad spot, being the last on the west end of the row--it got the brunt of the afternoon sun as well as the hot air from the heat pump blowing on it, but we still got a pretty good harvest. I'll definitely try it again in a better spot. Seeds from Marianna's Heirloom Seeds

Pruden's Purple



There's a guy in the heirloom tomato group who's always talking this one up, so I had to give it a try. Great flavor, nice meaty texture. The plant was one of my most vigorous growers at first and then had a little trouble in the heat, and wasn't setting blossoms for a while. We still got some really good tomatoes. Will grow this one again.  Seeds from TomatoFest.

Chadwick Cherry



A great cherry--prolific and tasty! This one became my go-to snack on the way in and out of the house... I'd just wander over and grab a few ripe ones. It's a bit on the larger side, as cherries go, and has a great flavor. Does split in the rain. Seeds from TomatoFest.

Blondkopfchen



Small yellow cherry (the name means "little blond head" in German).  This one needs a lot of space and a lot of support. It starts out as a dense, compact plant, and then it sprawls everywhere. It grows huge clusters weighed down with dozens of fruit. (I was not prepared!) The flavor was not a favorite, though. It's strong and tangy but not very sweet. (Reports vary, though.  There may be different strains, or perhaps the taste is affected by soil or other conditions.) 

Chocolate Stripes



This is another one that I picked after reading the description on Laurel's site.  (She makes everything sound so good!)   It is a tasty tomato, and gorgeous.  The skin is a bit thick.  Supposed to be indeterminate but mine behaved like a determinate plant, for some reason.  I thought I had accidentally pinched off all the growth tips, and I kept waiting for it to sprout some suckers, but it never did.  (This was also the first plant that I pulled up at the end of the season, due to blight.)

Chocolate Cherry



Pretty much everyone who tried this one really liked it.  It's got an unusual flavor--almost a grape-like note, which sounds weird but it works.  It can get a bit sour when over-ripe.  Splits heavily in the rain.  I got the seeds from a swap on Facebook.

Amazon Chocolate



Another recommendation from Laurel.  It's got the rich, earthy flavors of the black varieties, with a bit of tang to it. I didn't like it quite as well as the Paul Robeson.  The first set of seeds I got didn't germinate, so I got these from somebody on Facebook. 

Big Rainbow



I was not impressed with this one. It has a strong tang but really nothing going for it. Not a good flavor at all. I kept trying it and it never got any better. It's supposed to be striped on the outside and have red veins running through the inside, but mine were just all orange, all the way through.  (Good vigorous grower, though. Just didn't taste good.) The seeds were from a packet (Ferry-Morse) that I picked up at Lowe's.  That may have been the problem.  Maybe I just got a bad strain. It's supposed to be a really good tomato. 

Todd County Amish



This is a super-tomatoey tomato. Like someone distilled the essence of tomato flavor and injected it all right here. This ended up being my "extra" plant, and it was in the backyard in not-quite-as-ideal conditions as the others, but it grew and produced pretty well.  Tomatoes were all fairly large, and had this deep star-shaped cracking around the stem.  I probably wouldn't grow it again, but it's just a matter of taste.  (I liked the Pruden's Purple better!)  Seeds from TomatoFest.

Black Krim

(I seem to have missed getting a picture of this one.) It's a popular tomato, and ours did really well, but honestly I found it a little bland after the Paul Robeson.

Not-Flamme



This one was a bust. Flamme (or Jaune Flamme) is described as having a "rich sweet flavor." It's also supposed to be spherical. I began to suspect something was amiss when mine came out looking more elongated. Gary at TomatoFest agreed that the parent plant probably got cross-pollinated with something else. What I got was not Flamme. These were nearly flavorless, which was really too bad as the plant was incredibly vigorous and productive. If Flamme grows anything like that (and tastes better) it's a winner for sure. I'll have to try again and see if I can get the real thing.

I went a little crazy this year--thirteen plants!  I don't think we'll be able to do that again, as we'll have to practice crop rotation to keep the soil healthy.  It was fun to try out so many varieties.  Now I'll have a better idea of what I want when I have to be more selective next year. 

These were all started indoors, and transplanted outside at the end of May (in the Tacoma, Washington area).  We had a very dry, sunny summer. 

This is a great book about all things tomato!

Tomato Time

August has just flown by.  I was out of commission for a while because I came down with a bronchial pneumonia thing right at the beginning of the month. (It was the day after our annual neighborhood potluck.  Note to self:  Do not attempt to make four dozen pretzels when not feeling well.)  I spent a lot of time in bed.  During this time the tomatoes started ripening in full force, but nothing was tasting good.  It was so sad to watch those beauties pile up and have no desire to eat them. 

So now I'm up and about, functioning more or less normally, and enjoying those lovely home-grown tomatoes.  The pile is a bit larger than we can tackle on our own.  We've eaten a lot, given a lot away, and I've starting cutting some up and freezing them.  We'll use them for cooking.  (Looking at this picture is making me hungry.  I shall have to run out and grab a couple of those Chadwick Cherries.)

Doug had two classes for summer quarter (which doesn't usually happen, so we're glad to have the extra money).  The quarter is over, but now he has jury duty.  We were hoping to maybe go out to the coast before the kids go back to school, but this may or may not happen.   (We also have an anniversary coming up... I suppose we'll manage to do something!)

Bagging Blossoms

My tomato plants are huge and happy, seven weeks after transplanting. Every morning I get up and take a shower, and then I have a few minutes to go out and visit my plants before it's time to get the kids up.  Especially since it's been so hot lately, I love going out early while it's still cool, tying up stems and pinching suckers.

Originally I was planning to keep each plant down to three stems, but that didn't last long. I felt like the smaller-fruited varieties could stand to produce more, and those potato-leaf types can be really sneaky with their suckers. So things have gotten a bit unruly.   I have been supplementing the trellis with stakes.



Several people have asked me what those white things on the tomato plants are. I've bagged some of the blossoms.  Tomatoes will self-pollenize, but cross-pollination does happen. If you plan to save seeds and and want to make sure of getting the variety you want, bagging is a way to isolate the blossoms and avoid surprises.  You put the bags on before the blossoms open, and leave them in place till they've finished setting fruit. (And then mark the truss before you take off the bag, so you don't lose track of it!)  I used wedding favor bags from Michaels.



It does feel a little weird to put bags over your tomato buds.  I couldn't help thinking, "But what if this doesn't work?"  Once the flowers opened I would go out and jiggle them every day, to help them pollinate.  Some of them are still a bit behind, but others have set just fine.  I should be taking this bag off soon. 



Blondkopfchen grows huge, crowded clusters. There are probably 200 blossoms on this thing.  ( I did not try bagging anything on this one!)



Chocolate Cherry blossoms, trying to escape over the neighbor's fence.



Pollinator hard at work.



We've got a ways to go before anything is ripe, but I do have lots of little baby tomatoes.  They are so cute. 



We're hoping to have lots to eat and lots to give away!  Tomato party!

Conduit Trellis Frames

We got our trellis frames up!  I spent the longest time trying to figure out how to do these, and it turned out to be super easy.



We used electrical conduit (EMT).  It turns out that 1/2" conduit will fit inside 3/4" conduit, so we have 1/2" bars across the top with bends that fit into the 3/4" uprights, which fit into the 1" PVC pipe bolted to the sides of the boxes.  No connectors needed. 

I thought we were going to have to do some complicated measuring and calculating to get the bends the right distance apart, but then I found this video.  You just make one bend, figure out where the outside of the leg on the second bend needs to be, mark it, and line that up with the star point on the bender.  I was able to do it all myself (with a little help from Doug to hold the first leg perpendicular to the ground while I bent the second one up to match).  Snap!  It was really fun how quickly they went together.  (We did end up having to buy our own bender, so hey, if anyone needs any conduit bent, let me know!)



I got this netting, which turned out to be just barely long enough for our four boxes. It's fastened to the frames with zip ties. 



One month after transplanting. We're having a  warm summer and the plants are loving it.  If they keep growing at this rate they're going to max out those trellises before the end of the season.  (That's lettuce and basil in there too.  Yum!)

Garden Boxes

We have garden boxes! I've been planning these since last year. It's been quite an involved process, figuring out what we needed and collecting materials and getting everything put together.



Our first box (upside down). I got the corner posts drilled by two people in our ward who have drill presses (Brother Hill let me operate it myself, which was kind of fun.)



Dean Simmons came over one Saturday morning and spent a few hours helping us assemble boxes. HUGE help. (I was short on washers, so we didn't quite get everything together, but I was able to finish most of it on my own after this.)



Once the boxes were put together, I had to dig out the spots for them. I found an old Douglas Fir stump just below ground level. It was very rotten and soft, so I just hacked it with the shovel and got a lot of it out. (Hacking stumps is fun--it's therapeutic!)



Digging the spot for the last box.   Our best sun is along the south edge of the yard, right by the neighbor's driveway.  (We left the Red Hot Poker plant in the middle, because we like it.)



Two cubic yards of garden soil in our driveway. (On a cool and misty Garbage Day morning.) We didn't actually need the full two yards but they wouldn't deliver less than that. I got the 50/50 garden soil mix from McClain Soil Supply.  I did find a lot of foreign bits of shredded plasticky stuff in the dirt, and even a couple of pieces of broken glass, so I can't really vouch for the overall quality, but the plants do seem happy with it.



First plant in the ground!



Our four boxes all in a row, with tomato plants. Yay!  Big job.   I learned some things, and got to use power tools.  Lots of hard work, lots of two-shower days.    The white pipes on the sides are to hold trellis frames.  I haven't gotten those made yet.  (I need to find someone who can bend EMT conduit to specified dimensions.)

I was hoping to have this all done by the beginning of May, but hey, it's done, and we'll have it for next year.  And it's awesome. 



Baby pictures!  The Chocolate Cherry had me worried for a bit (it kept going droopy), but it has rallied nicely.  All plants are happy and growing well. 

I won't be able to grow twelve tomato plants every year, because of soil rotation needs, but we're just going crazy with them this year.  We may have tomatoes before August.  Can't wait! 

Tomato Shelf

Doug made me this great little shelf so I can fit twice as many tomato plants in the window. I love it.

I have plants at all different stages, since I had a few varieties that had a little trouble the first time. (My first batch of Amazon Chocolate seeds didn't germinate at all!) We're working on getting some raised bed garden boxed put together for outside.

Every time I cut into a store-bought tomato I think, "Just a few more months!"

Peeking Up

This was a nice surprise today!

I planted tomato seeds on the 13th and hadn't seen any signs of sprouting yet, so Friday night I went up to McLendon Hardware and got a seedling heat mat (I was going for just the mat, but they had the Hydrofarm Germination Stationon sale, so I got that.  Comes with a tray and dome also.) I put the seeds in it that night and had some little baby sproutlings Sunday morning! They might have come up on their own anyway, after being in the dirt for a week, but I'm thinking the heat helped.

 I planted twelve different varieties and a few of them haven't made an appearance yet, but I am optimistic. And if they don't come up I've got plenty of time to try again.  

Dreaming of Summer

These came today. Can't wait!