Tomato growers?

[Jhhnn]

Of all the tomatoes we've grown & tried to grow in our little urban garden, Carmello is easily the best so far. They're extremely reliable here & have excellent flavor. Really good medium sized round orangey-red fruit. Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes never fail & provide lots of little tasties. We've been here over 20 years, adding compost every year, so the plants get huge. Only Texas tomato cages will hold 'em.

The wife may yet return to fussing with heirloom tomatoes although we've never done well with 'em. The last few years, it's been melons with mixed results. They're hard for us to grow well but there's nothing like home grown melons. Green Nutmeg is to die for when the aphids & powdery mildew don't get to 'em first.

 

[Lester Beans]

Damn you must some some nice land for all that.

Hi, I just purchased a small farm. I have 20 acres to dedicate to my veggies and fruits this year. Also some grapes and hops. My farmer friend put in 40 acres of brewing two row barley. Going to be brewing on a larger scale now!! All ingredients from a five mile radius. I brew a session pale ale, porter, and an IPA.

 

[ShortStackz]

Hi, I just purchased a small farm. I have 20 acres to dedicate to my veggies and fruits this year. Also some grapes and hops. My farmer friend put in 40 acres of brewing two row barley. Going to be brewing on a larger scale now!! All ingredients from a five mile radius. I brew a session pale ale, porter, and an IPA.

Thats nice. Now Im even more interested in the beer, lol.

 

[Lester Beans]

I'll send you a few cases this fall

Got all the tomatoes planted into solo cups. The black krim are vigorous! Hoping to till the field for the tomato rows this weekend. Also I have 2000 Raspberry's, heirloom from the 1890's, to get rowed up.

That pic of the black krims on the plate looks so good drooool!

 

[barnyard]

Better Bush and potting soil

Better Bush and potting soil

 

[Phineas Freak]

Hello and nice everyone.

In our climate not all tomatoes do well even when sheltered.
For several years now we plant russian black cherries, because we like the taste and they do pretty well here.
Every year we plant some other varieties along to compare and maybe find a "keeper".
Last year we had black dates, indigo rose (now these really are black), ananas, french coeur de boeuf, ukrainian pink along the black cherries.

This year its going to be green zebra, purple calabash, golden currant and maybe some others.
I dig a hole add some compost and couple branches of stinging nettle and plant the tomato on top. Pretty easy.

Have fun all with your tomatoes

 

[blastfrompast]

what is the stinging nettle for?

 

[Phineas Freak]

An (more) experienced (than me) tomato grower told me it helps keeping the plants healthy and that they grow "better".
(It might also help with aeration of the soil).
I would not add too many branches either or the mix might get too hot.
I have not done any side by side comparison, but the plants seem to be happy with this recipe and there are always some stinging nettles growing at the wrong place in our garden in spring.
So I am happy to cut them and use them for the tomatos.

Btw: The French Coeur de boeuf (Oxheart) and probably the Ukrainian Pink are beef tomatos and will be grown again next year if possible because of their good taste.
The Black Krim unluckily did not do well here the year we tried her.

 

[Phineas Freak]

I forgot: There could be a nourishing effect from the decomposing nettle too.

I anyway use stinging nettle liquid manure (if that is the correct word) maybe 2-3 times for most of the garden if I do not forget.

 

[ShortStackz]

Just got these potted today. Also kind of a repost from the Hot Pepper thread. Better Boy VFN, Black Krim, Brown Berry, Coyote & Sun Gold Hybrid. The rest are peppers.

 

[dirkdangle1]

any particular varieties that do best in Texas' harsh climate during the summer months? It stays so hot for so long that most plants don't yield equating to a loss of time

 

[Phineas Freak]

This year its going to be green zebra, purple calabash, golden currant and maybe some others.

So this year our favourites have been the golden currants. Very small but very tasty and quite strong against diseases. I did not even tie them up. They ripen over a long period of time. You can always taste some.

The purple calabash was my favourite taste wise, but they are a bit difficult in our climate (even this hot and dry summer), they seem to mold fast. There is always quite a part that has to be cut away, but the taste is excellent.

The black cherries will stay in our stable.

The green zebra i was not so fond of, no special taste.

What were your favourites?

 

[Phineas Freak]

Purple Calabash

 

[westtexas]

First garden

First garden

This is my first garden... Am growing champion tomatoes from seeds... About 18 of them. Live in central south Dakota... Any advise is appreciated...

 

[Betterhaff]

Not familiar with Champion tomatoes but try to find information about them in regards to proper spacing. In talking to some tomato farmers I was told that proper spacing is a big factor in getting optimum yields.

 

[FoothillFarming]

Have you ever grown a tomato?

Have you ever grown a tomato on weed?

 

[Easy7]

What about the tomato plants that also produce potatoes?

 

[7thson]

First tomato of the season,Cherokee Carbon

 

[Betterhaff]

^^ looks yummy.

Growing paste and cherry types. For pastes I've got a dozen or so Opalka going from seed and will get San Marzano plants from a local greenhouse. For cherries I always grow Sweet 100.

There are so many places to get good out of hand tomatoes here I don't bother growing them. It's hard to find good paste types as most that you see are Romas. I've grown Sweet 100 cherries ever since Burpee sent me a test packet...that had to be 25-30 years ago, maybe longer.

 

[corky1968]

I wish I had a large beefsteak tomato to make a BLT sandwich right now.