On Thu, 12 May 2011 01:29:59 +0000 (UTC), Nad R
wrote:

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.

Chuckle. We have no local green house. The closest possible would be
35 miles from here. Since I have no pressing need to go out of town
in the next few days (my only reason is for doctor's appts) the cost
would be pretty awful considering the price of gas right now.


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.

One problem I had last year was that I didn't have enough tomatoes at
any given time to can. I'm thinking maybe my error was in getting two
different varieties (2 plants each). I don't know. They just weren't
successful.
Sue