zxcvbob wrote:
Sue wrote:
On Wed, 11 May 2011 16:21:55 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:
On May 11, 7:11 pm, Sue wrote:
I am really late getting my garden in this year and finally have the
ground prepared. Whatever tomatoes I planted last year just didn't do
well for canning purposes. I'm not starting from seeds and get my
plants at Lowe's or Home Depot. Any suggestion on a good variety to
can (that I would find at either of those two stores)? My garden is
*very* small so I can't put in too many plants.
Sue in the San Joaquin Valley of Calif.
If your canning for sauce Roma's are the best and the grow in a fairly
compact plant.
Sorry. I should have been more specific. No, I grow for stewed
tomatoes - tomatoes with onion, celery and bell peppers.
Sue


Any tomato will work then. Maybe plant a couple Better Boy and one
something-else (Roma?) Better Boy is a hybrid all-purpose tomato. It
has good flavor and usually yields very high.

Bob

Find a local green house nursery instead of the big box warehouse places.
Nurseries will have healthier and a greater selection of plants.

Tomatoes for canning are divided into two categories, "Plum" and "Globe".
Plums tomatoes are great for sauces they have a higher pulp to juice ratio.
Plums also have Plum shape to them, tends to be long and tapered at the
ends. Globes are more rounded and good for general canning and for soups.
Romas "plum" tomatoes are good for sauces and Big Boys "globe" tomatoes are
good for Juices and Soups.

Get a Roma food strainer for canning tomatoes.

http://www.amazon.com/Roma-Strainer-...5163133&sr=1-4

This is cheap model their are other machines. I would also get the Ball
Complete book for home preservation. The bible of home canning.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Prese...5163671&sr=1-2


--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)