On Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:26:54 -0500, The Cook
wrote:

On Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:49:11 -0700, Billy
wrote:

In article ,
The Cook wrote:

On 4 Apr 2010 22:39:50 GMT, General Schvantzkoph
wrote:

After last year's late blight fiasco I've sworn off buying plants from
the Big Box stores, I'm doing everything from seed.

I started the germination process on Friday for the first four varieties,
they have all started to sprout, my plan is to give them a few more days
on wet plates and then move them to containers at the end of the week and
then start the next batch. I'll put them in the ground in the middle of
May.

I've doing the following varieties,

Cosmonaut Volkov (Ukranian)
Black Prince (Siberia)
Black Sea Man (Russian)
Legend (Univ of Oregon, supposedly late blight resistant, we'll see)
Italian Grape
Yellow Pear
Sun Gold Cherry

Has anyone tried any of these varieties, how did they work out for you?


I haven't tried any of there but I got Black Sea Man seeds as a bonus
when I ordered some others. Let me know how it does and how it
tastes.

I am hoping to compare some OP to the hybrids I have been using.
Tomatofest has Carmello, Grape and Golden Grape which I want to
compare the hybrid Carmello, Jelly Bean and Yellow Jelly Bean. I am
also trying several paste tomatoes to see if any of them are as good
as Viva Italia hybrid.

You've tried the various San Marzanos? I tried them last year. They were
plagued with blossom-end rot, perhaps it was our drought and less than
normal watering. I made a few batches of spaghetti sauce from them, but
have nothing to compare it to. They were good as a salad tomato, or
fresh picked with a leaf of basil wrapped around it.

The San Marzanos were so-so for me. I have started some Super San
Marzanos and will compare. Last year was not a good year around here.


Tomatofest has a wonderful selection of organic tomato seeds. I
always go wild when I find a site with lots of different tomato seeds.
They have an excellent selection, but they are pricey and require a $15
minimum order. If you can't find it anywhere else,
http://www.tomatofest.com/tomato-varieties-by-color.html probably has
it. I mainly use them as a reference, but if you are going to order 5 or
6 different exotic tomatoes they may suit your needs.

I have had a problem this year. I started putting the tomato plants
outside and I believe that the wind has been breaking (nearly through)
the stem at the soil line. I believe that they were just too "leggy."
I am moving them into deeper pots and putting the soil almost up to
the first leaves.

I was in such a hurry this year to get started that I germinated my
tomatoes, peppers, and squash first. I did this partly because I've had
problems getting them up to size before planting the last few years.
With my new grow light, everything went very smoothly this year. By
early March, the tomatoes were a foot tall, at which point I put them
outside. I've had to bring them in a couple of times because of concern
about frost, but they, and the squash, seem to be doing just fine so
far. The last 2 weeks have been pretty wet and decidedly cool, which has
me nervous. Squash and tomatoes, and dampness don't associate well in my
memories. Tuesday we are supposed to break out into some good weather
with temps back in the 70s.


The first part of March we had snow. I did not start tomatoes until
March 15. I have about 3 weeks before a safe planting date.
Other items:

My rhubarb, Victoria, which I started from seed is doing well this
year. Never knew that they flowered and I needed to cut the flower
off as soon as I see it.

Why cut the flower? Mine flower, and keep on producing. This is a
serious question, but I suppose I could look it up.

I have no idea except that those were the instructions on the seed
pack. Maybe I will leave the flower stalks on a couple of mine just
to see what the flowers look like and what happens to the plant.

I did a bit of research. Rodale's "All-New Encyclopedia of Organic
Gardening" says to cut the flowers to encourage leaf stalk production.
Rodale's "Garden Problem Solver" does not mention it at all. Let me
know if you find some other references.
--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a