Dusty Bleher wrote:
I had a similar thing happen some years back. After a few decades of having
moved off the farm, I got tired of the tasteless tomatoes I got at the
store, and thought I'd dazzle myself and the grandkids with some real,
down-home, field grown tomatoes and the flavor I so keenly recollect.

So we went to the nursery and got 6 little plants, prepared a place for
them and lovingly tended them until we finally got our prizes indoors and
could eat them. Guess what? They tasted EXACTLY like the ones I buy! I
found out the reason later, the tomatoes you buy, have been specially bred
and hybridized in order to permit shipping and handling. In order to get
them from the field to your table, they've been bred to be more robust and
firmer, and to ripen without sun in transit if necessary. Notice that I
didn't mention anything about flavor and taste. And this section of
California is a huge tomato growing area. So the seedlings that show up in
the nursery are the same ones they use to grow those "red-things" that look
like tomatoes that we eat. Fortunately, the cherry tomatoes were just fine.

Since then we send for seeds of what's known as heirloom tomatoes. There
are a number of places on the web from which they can be obtained. We do
that during the winter, and then setup trays to grow seedlings in the
spring, timed for planting as soon as the soil and climate allows. Now we
enjoy GREAT tasting tomatoes... Obviously, markets being what they are, and
as diverse as those can be...YMMV.


Dusty
San Jose


"ntantiques" wrote in message
oups.com...
We bought a home last summer that came with 2 nice raised veggie beds.
Previous owner had kindly planted one of the beds in tomatoes - Early
Girl and a beefsteak & when escrow closed we enjoyed some of the best
tomatoes I've had in years.

Rotated beds this year and planted those varieties as well as a
Brandywine, Legend, Caspian Pink, and Sungold. Soil in the beds was
identical - good soil with some organic amendments. Planted good
healthy starts 5/15 and happily watched them overgrow their cages and
load up with tomatoes.

First to ripen have been the Legend and Early Girl which are perfectly
plump and nicely red, but almost tasteless. Both are missing that
extraordinary deep, sweet "gardeny taste" that only a fresh, homegrown,
vine-ripened tomato achieves. They aren't bad, but they're sure a
disappointment when your mouth is ready for the real deal...Only the
Sungold have any flavor(they're a big hit), but way too little to make
the BLT of my dreams.

They get plenty of sun - weather's been nice and hot for a good month
80-100 degrees every day and they get watered at the roots regularly.
Anybody have any ideas why the flavor just isn't developing?

NT

Kudos to you Dusty for showing your grandkids what a real tomato tastes
like. So sad that we're raising generations that think those miserable
hockey pucks from the supermarket are actually tomatoes. Boy are they
missing out.

Appreciate everyone's input - we'll try lightening up on the watering
for a bit and leaving the tomatoes on the vine for an extra day or two.
We bought our starts from a marvelous small nursery just down the road
that grows its tomatoes from seed, focusing heavily on heirlooms. It's
the same place last year's great tomato plants came from, so I'm
guessing the problem is with me and not the plants. At least I've
escaped "wilt," which has been a problem in the Eugene area this season
- my guys are healthy as horses - and those little bitty Sungolds sure
are delicious.
NT