I ended up with 2 dozen tomato plants by happenstance. I normally have
half as many or less. Too many tomatoes, but more varieties than usual.
We had a very hot, very dry season in southern Ontario, Zone 6. I had to
water a lot.

The Brandywines did well and produced a good crop, maybe about ten on
each of the 3 in the tomato bed, mostly in August. Last year and the
year before they each produced about 30 in all. So their numbers are
down, but the fruit is bigger this year. They're working on ripenening
their last half dozen big green tomatoes now, if the squirrels don't get
them. The tomatoes are sweet, juicy, and tasty and make fantastic tomato
potage, a recipe I found in this group years ago. Very easy, very tasty,
freezes really well in individual portions. It's like defrosting
sunshine in the winter months, or even on chilly fall nights.

Got one of Stokes' Health Kick tomatoes. Supposed to have extra
lycopene. Looks a lot like a Roma, but much more firm. Is good in soup,
but not all that tasty fresh. It's a short bushy plant that would do
well in a container. I won't plant this next year.

Tried Stokes' Ultrasweet. Terrible tomato. I've never seen tomatoes
crack that badly. They were rotten before they were ripe. OK flavour,
but not the best. I will not plant this next year.

Before I knew that I'd have a handful of cherry tomato volunteers in the
compost, I bought a Stokes Sweet Million. Interestingly, the seeds that
the cherries in the compost grew from were Stokes Sweet Million seeds
I'd started myself last year. But the tomatoes from the Stokes plant I
bought and the ones in the compost are completely different. The ones
from the storebought plant suck. They're smaller, less sweet, and, like
the Ultrasweet, really prone to cracking. I will start these from seed.

I have two kinds of San Marzanos, and both are solid, sweet and tasty. I
wash them and pack them into ziploc bags, and pop them in the freezer.
You can run the frozen tomato under hot water, or dip it in hot water,
and the whole skin slips off intact. Great for winter sauces, stews,
roasts, and pan fries with meat. A bit bulky to store in the freezer, so
when we have time, we cook them down 4 bags at time (about 120 tomatoes)
during fall and winter, into less bulky tomato sauce and chili and the
like and freeze it again in individual size portions. Very convenient
when work runs late and you come home starving.

How did your tomatoes do? Were there varieties that you really liked?
Any other amazing heirlooms out there that you can recommend?

Happy harvest, fellow food gardeners!

EV

EV wrote in :

*snip*

How did your tomatoes do? Were there varieties that you really liked?
Any other amazing heirlooms out there that you can recommend?

Happy harvest, fellow food gardeners!

EV


"did" is past tense... Mine are still growing. I'm in Central Illinois,
but the tomatoes got an extremely late start due to being planted in
July. They were plants the store was selling off because they didn't want
to transplant them in to bigger pots. We're just now starting to get red
ones. I didn't think we were going to have any plants this year, moving
in the middle of the summer.

We're working on putting fence posts in the ground to make a mini
greenhouse for the really cold nights. It works, but it's a lot of work.

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

In article , EV
wrote:

I ended up with 2 dozen tomato plants by happenstance. I normally have
half as many or less. Too many tomatoes, but more varieties than usual.
We had a very hot, very dry season in southern Ontario, Zone 6. I had to
water a lot.

The Brandywines did well and produced a good crop, maybe about ten on
each of the 3 in the tomato bed, mostly in August. Last year and the
year before they each produced about 30 in all. So their numbers are
down, but the fruit is bigger this year. They're working on ripenening
their last half dozen big green tomatoes now, if the squirrels don't get
them. The tomatoes are sweet, juicy, and tasty and make fantastic tomato
potage, a recipe I found in this group years ago. Very easy, very tasty,
freezes really well in individual portions. It's like defrosting
sunshine in the winter months, or even on chilly fall nights.

Got one of Stokes' Health Kick tomatoes. Supposed to have extra
lycopene. Looks a lot like a Roma, but much more firm. Is good in soup,
but not all that tasty fresh. It's a short bushy plant that would do
well in a container. I won't plant this next year.

Tried Stokes' Ultrasweet. Terrible tomato. I've never seen tomatoes
crack that badly. They were rotten before they were ripe. OK flavour,
but not the best. I will not plant this next year.

Before I knew that I'd have a handful of cherry tomato volunteers in the
compost, I bought a Stokes Sweet Million. Interestingly, the seeds that
the cherries in the compost grew from were Stokes Sweet Million seeds
I'd started myself last year. But the tomatoes from the Stokes plant I
bought and the ones in the compost are completely different. The ones
from the storebought plant suck. They're smaller, less sweet, and, like
the Ultrasweet, really prone to cracking. I will start these from seed.

I have two kinds of San Marzanos, and both are solid, sweet and tasty. I
wash them and pack them into ziploc bags, and pop them in the freezer.
You can run the frozen tomato under hot water, or dip it in hot water,
and the whole skin slips off intact. Great for winter sauces, stews,
roasts, and pan fries with meat. A bit bulky to store in the freezer, so
when we have time, we cook them down 4 bags at time (about 120 tomatoes)
during fall and winter, into less bulky tomato sauce and chili and the
like and freeze it again in individual size portions. Very convenient
when work runs late and you come home starving.

How did your tomatoes do? Were there varieties that you really liked?
Any other amazing heirlooms out there that you can recommend?

Happy harvest, fellow food gardeners!

EV

Tomatoes just north of San Francisco, had a very bad year. Cool temps
during the summer. They and the cucumbers are just starting to produce.
I've seen nothing of the early ripener "Jaune de Pech", the "green
Zebra" has produced a few tomates. The "Stupice" was the first to ripen.
Then came the "Striped German" and a couple from the "Mortgage Lifter".
Zip from the Brandywine and the Rose. It has been an odd year north of
San Francisco.
--
FB - FFF

Billy

Get up, stand up, stand up for yor rights.
Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.
- Bob Marley

On Sep 29, 10:04 pm, Billy wrote:
In article , EV
wrote:



I ended up with 2 dozen tomato plants by happenstance. I normally have
half as many or less. Too many tomatoes, but more varieties than usual.
We had a very hot, very dry season in southern Ontario, Zone 6. I had to
water a lot.

The Brandywines did well and produced a good crop, maybe about ten on
each of the 3 in the tomato bed, mostly in August. Last year and the
year before they each produced about 30 in all. So their numbers are
down, but the fruit is bigger this year. They're working on ripenening
their last half dozen big green tomatoes now, if the squirrels don't get
them. The tomatoes are sweet, juicy, and tasty and make fantastic tomato
potage, a recipe I found in this group years ago. Very easy, very tasty,
freezes really well in individual portions. It's like defrosting
sunshine in the winter months, or even on chilly fall nights.

Got one of Stokes' Health Kick tomatoes. Supposed to have extra
lycopene. Looks a lot like a Roma, but much more firm. Is good in soup,
but not all that tasty fresh. It's a short bushy plant that would do
well in a container. I won't plant this next year.

Tried Stokes' Ultrasweet. Terrible tomato. I've never seen tomatoes
crack that badly. They were rotten before they were ripe. OK flavour,
but not the best. I will not plant this next year.

Before I knew that I'd have a handful of cherry tomato volunteers in the
compost, I bought a Stokes Sweet Million. Interestingly, the seeds that
the cherries in the compost grew from were Stokes Sweet Million seeds
I'd started myself last year. But the tomatoes from the Stokes plant I
bought and the ones in the compost are completely different. The ones
from the storebought plant suck. They're smaller, less sweet, and, like
the Ultrasweet, really prone to cracking. I will start these from seed.

I have two kinds of San Marzanos, and both are solid, sweet and tasty. I
wash them and pack them into ziploc bags, and pop them in the freezer.
You can run the frozen tomato under hot water, or dip it in hot water,
and the whole skin slips off intact. Great for winter sauces, stews,
roasts, and pan fries with meat. A bit bulky to store in the freezer, so
when we have time, we cook them down 4 bags at time (about 120 tomatoes)
during fall and winter, into less bulky tomato sauce and chili and the
like and freeze it again in individual size portions. Very convenient
when work runs late and you come home starving.

How did your tomatoes do? Were there varieties that you really liked?
Any other amazing heirlooms out there that you can recommend?

Happy harvest, fellow food gardeners!

EV

Tomatoes just north of San Francisco, had a very bad year. Cool temps
during the summer. They and the cucumbers are just starting to produce.
I've seen nothing of the early ripener "Jaune de Pech", the "green
Zebra" has produced a few tomates. The "Stupice" was the first to ripen.
Then came the "Striped German" and a couple from the "Mortgage Lifter".
Zip from the Brandywine and the Rose. It has been an odd year north of
San Francisco.
--
FB - FFF

Billy

Get up, stand up, stand up for yor rights.
Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.
- Bob Marley

Tomato problem:

I'm entirely new to gardening, and am doing it indoors under
fluorescents beside a North-facing window - the only direction
available to me.

Two store-bought tomato plants, Better Boy, Window-Box-Roma,
produced 1 and 3 small fruits respectively, when they were only
about 12 inches high. Better-Boy even produced with a bent/broken
main stem, and it's tomatoes tasted absolutely super!

Since then, no flowers or fruit despite all kinds of fertilizer,
misting, flooding, withholding water. (They did go nuts after I
added Miracle Gro, and moreso with Fish fertilizer, but no
flowers; They began growing (3+ feet) right into the fluorescents,
But no flowers.

Peppers (California Wonder) treated identically, having
produced nothing previously, now have dozens of new buds
and flowers each.

Should I just chop/toss the tomato plants? They (and
the peppers) are blocking-out a LOT of light to my herbs.

Please advise

Don H.

Since then, no flowers or fruit despite all kinds of fertilizer,
misting, flooding, withholding water. (They did go nuts after I
added Miracle Gro, and moreso with Fish fertilizer, but no
flowers; They began growing (3+ feet) right into the fluorescents,
But no flowers.

Sounds like too much nitrogen (fish emulsion is something like 5-2-2);
try a 0-10-10 or some other low-nitrogen fertilizer (or don't
fertilize at all, if they seem to be growing OK - at the moment the
last thing you need is bigger plants).

Should I just chop/toss the tomato plants? They (and
the peppers) are blocking-out a LOT of light to my herbs.

Tomatoes and peppers are perennial in tropical climates (where they
came from), and so you should be able to grow them all year if you
want to (they are probably getting more light from the fluorescents
than the window, so your location doesn't matter a whole lot). So if
you can get them to flower you shouldn't need to toss them.

It does sound like you'll need to grow them some place other than
where your herbs are, though. Too many plants, too little space.
That's usually the situation. Heh.

On Oct 1, 9:00 am, Jim Kingdon wrote:
Since then, no flowers or fruit despite all kinds of fertilizer,
misting, flooding, withholding water. (They did go nuts after I
added Miracle Gro, and moreso with Fish fertilizer, but no
flowers; They began growing (3+ feet) right into the fluorescents,
But no flowers.

Sounds like too much nitrogen (fish emulsion is something like 5-2-2);
try a 0-10-10 or some other low-nitrogen fertilizer (or don't
fertilize at all, if they seem to be growing OK - at the moment the
last thing you need is bigger plants).

Should I just chop/toss the tomato plants? They (and
the peppers) are blocking-out a LOT of light to my herbs.

Tomatoes and peppers are perennial in tropical climates (where they
came from), and so you should be able to grow them all year if you
want to (they are probably getting more light from the fluorescents
than the window, so your location doesn't matter a whole lot). So if
you can get them to flower you shouldn't need to toss them.

It does sound like you'll need to grow them some place other than
where your herbs are, though. Too many plants, too little space.
That's usually the situation. Heh.

Thanks Jim. Triple Phosphate (0-45-0) sounds like the ticket, but
some
said to just use epsom salt (formula non-standard, but which has the
benefit
of being something I already have.) Someone else said "Coffee
Grounds"
but a quick Google = that coffee grounds are very high in Nitrogen,
so
I'm glad you mentioned that I have too much of that already!

Don

On Sep 29, 10:19 am, EV wrote:
I ended up with 2 dozen tomato plants by happenstance. I normally have
half as many or less. Too many tomatoes, but more varieties than usual.
We had a very hot, very dry season in southern Ontario, Zone 6. I had to
water a lot.

The Brandywines did well and produced a good crop, maybe about ten on
each of the 3 in the tomato bed, mostly in August. Last year and the
year before they each produced about 30 in all. So their numbers are
down, but the fruit is bigger this year. They're working on ripenening
their last half dozen big green tomatoes now, if the squirrels don't get
them. The tomatoes are sweet, juicy, and tasty and make fantastic tomato
potage, a recipe I found in this group years ago. Very easy, very tasty,
freezes really well in individual portions. It's like defrosting
sunshine in the winter months, or even on chilly fall nights.

Got one of Stokes' Health Kick tomatoes. Supposed to have extra
lycopene. Looks a lot like a Roma, but much more firm. Is good in soup,
but not all that tasty fresh. It's a short bushy plant that would do
well in a container. I won't plant this next year.

Tried Stokes' Ultrasweet. Terrible tomato. I've never seen tomatoes
crack that badly. They were rotten before they were ripe. OK flavour,
but not the best. I will not plant this next year.

Before I knew that I'd have a handful of cherry tomato volunteers in the
compost, I bought a Stokes Sweet Million. Interestingly, the seeds that
the cherries in the compost grew from were Stokes Sweet Million seeds
I'd started myself last year. But the tomatoes from the Stokes plant I
bought and the ones in the compost are completely different. The ones
from the storebought plant suck. They're smaller, less sweet, and, like
the Ultrasweet, really prone to cracking. I will start these from seed.

I have two kinds of San Marzanos, and both are solid, sweet and tasty. I
wash them and pack them into ziploc bags, and pop them in the freezer.
You can run the frozen tomato under hot water, or dip it in hot water,
and the whole skin slips off intact. Great for winter sauces, stews,
roasts, and pan fries with meat. A bit bulky to store in the freezer, so
when we have time, we cook them down 4 bags at time (about 120 tomatoes)
during fall and winter, into less bulky tomato sauce and chili and the
like and freeze it again in individual size portions. Very convenient
when work runs late and you come home starving.

How did your tomatoes do? Were there varieties that you really liked?
Any other amazing heirlooms out there that you can recommend?

Happy harvest, fellow food gardeners!

EV

You're lucky I'm in southern England, I have five plants growing on my
balcony with lots of flowers and green tomatoes on them, we've had a
bad summer and they started very late. I'm just hoping that the
weather will let them survive long enough to mature, they're a mixture
of different breeds from my dads' greenhouse, the cherry tomatoes have
done well.

On Sep 29, 2:19 am, EV wrote:
I ended up with 2 dozen tomato plants by happenstance. I normally have
half as many or less. Too many tomatoes, but more varieties than usual.
We had a very hot, very dry season in southern Ontario, Zone 6. I had to
water a lot.

The Brandywines did well and produced a good crop, maybe about ten on
each of the 3 in the tomato bed, mostly in August. Last year and the
year before they each produced about 30 in all. So their numbers are
down, but the fruit is bigger this year. They're working on ripenening
their last half dozen big green tomatoes now, if the squirrels don't get
them. The tomatoes are sweet, juicy, and tasty and make fantastic tomato
potage, a recipe I found in this group years ago. Very easy, very tasty,
freezes really well in individual portions. It's like defrosting
sunshine in the winter months, or even on chilly fall nights.

Got one of Stokes' Health Kick tomatoes. Supposed to have extra
lycopene. Looks a lot like a Roma, but much more firm. Is good in soup,
but not all that tasty fresh. It's a short bushy plant that would do
well in a container. I won't plant this next year.

Tried Stokes' Ultrasweet. Terrible tomato. I've never seen tomatoes
crack that badly. They were rotten before they were ripe. OK flavour,
but not the best. I will not plant this next year.

Before I knew that I'd have a handful of cherry tomato volunteers in the
compost, I bought a Stokes Sweet Million. Interestingly, the seeds that
the cherries in the compost grew from were Stokes Sweet Million seeds
I'd started myself last year. But the tomatoes from the Stokes plant I
bought and the ones in the compost are completely different. The ones
from the storebought plant suck. They're smaller, less sweet, and, like
the Ultrasweet, really prone to cracking. I will start these from seed.

I have two kinds of San Marzanos, and both are solid, sweet and tasty. I
wash them and pack them into ziploc bags, and pop them in the freezer.
You can run the frozen tomato under hot water, or dip it in hot water,
and the whole skin slips off intact. Great for winter sauces, stews,
roasts, and pan fries with meat. A bit bulky to store in the freezer, so
when we have time, we cook them down 4 bags at time (about 120 tomatoes)
during fall and winter, into less bulky tomato sauce and chili and the
like and freeze it again in individual size portions. Very convenient
when work runs late and you come home starving.

How did your tomatoes do? Were there varieties that you really liked?
Any other amazing heirlooms out there that you can recommend?

Happy harvest, fellow food gardeners!

EV


I'm still working on it here in zone 10. I made up my mind to try
tomatoes in mid June, which is about 3 months late. Got some Ace
hybrid seedlings, they came up so good I tried Beefmaster too, a few
weeks later. Problem here is not enough full sun, although they fruit
with as little as three hours.

I'm pleased with the Ace hybrids, small 2 - 5 ounce fruits, but they
don't crack, but the lower leaves get eaten up too much by bugs. The
beefmasters do crack, especially when they ripen. Both are very tasty.

This was my first year growing tomatoes, and I had some problems. I
grow in containers, 8-12" pots, with saucers. I poke a hole in the
saucers near the bottom, and put a 1/4" barb in, and a tube to an
overflow collector, about 2 gallons for a half dozen pots. The larger
12" saucer tubes don't get clogged as often as the smaller ones do,
two or three times a week. I reckon because the bigger saucers are
also higher, they develop a little more water pressure.

When I put the beefmasters down in July, I used more and heavier cloth
at the bottom to prevent soil and nutrient loss. This worked OK
except in the case of the one I got a 4' high plastic trash can for.
I put a cloth, then gravel, another cloth, then wood chips, another
cloth, then the soil, and plants. Also had a couple perforated 1/2"
tubes clear to the bottom. The problem was that it drained too
slowly, resulting in nematode damage. I finally poked another drain
hole about 6" over the bottom, which results in OK drainage.

Most of the year I watered twice daily, but have gone to once a day
the past few weeks. Getting lazy.

Problem with the Aces, not the beefmasters, is bug damage to the lower
leaves, they get eaten. I spray with Malathion lightly, probably
should do it every other day, at 1 teaspoon of Ortho 50% per gallon of
water, and a teaspoon of Miracle-Grow Tomato Food. Lightly means two
or three presses of the sprayer per plant, keeping it moving. Maybe 2
months ago, I tried a much stronger mix of Malathion, and both the
Aces and Beefmasters leaves died. More grew eventually, but it seems
like too much Malathion is not a good idea. Even the light
application of Malathion seems to hurt the Aces bottom leaves, but
more grow on top so I don't sweat it.

Started some seeds, Ace 55 by Stover, 2007. Nearly 100% germination.
I tried an automatic hydroponic ebb and flow setup, just a 15 gallon
tote box with a big kitty litter tray above, aquarium air pump, and a
tiny fountain pump to occasionally fill the top tray. Got a couple
20W flourescent tubes over it, growing well. Got a half dozen compact
flourescent 23 Watt bulbs, and as many 30 Watts for later. I have a
dozen 16 oz cups with paper towel liners, soil perlite vermiculite
filled in which the seedlings grow. Got lucky, the 1/16" hole I poked
for drainage in the tray lets the pump fill to the 3/8" overflow holes
in 45 minutes. It's a 12 watt pump running for up to 6 one hour
periods a day, so there's little power lost there.

I'm wondering about mounting a 4" fan on top of the tray blowing down
to enhance drainage. maybe a second fan to aerate the leaves and
stems.

There were some caterpillars, but some Ortho bait seems to have
eliminated them.

An automated hydroponics system looks like the way to go, it can water
the plants many times a day, produce faster growth. You still need to
check it once in a while, but it saves a lot of labor where rainfall
isn't an everyday occurence.

just use epsom salt (formula non-standard, but which has the benefit
of being something I already have.)

Well, it is 0-0-0 but that's only because those three numbers only hit
3 of the nutrients, not the other dozen or more things which plants need.

Epsom salt provides magnesium (only). So it is apples and oranges
compared with something like triple phosphate - you might need both,
or neither, or just one. Won't harm anything, at the recommended
dosage, though.

In article om,
wrote:

Problem with the Aces, not the beefmasters, is bug damage to the lower
leaves, they get eaten. I spray with Malathion lightly, probably
should do it every other day, at 1 teaspoon of Ortho 50% per gallon of
water, and a teaspoon of Miracle-Grow Tomato Food. Lightly means two
or three presses of the sprayer per plant, keeping it moving. Maybe 2
months ago, I tried a much stronger mix of Malathion, and both the
Aces and Beefmasters leaves died. More grew eventually, but it seems
like too much Malathion is not a good idea. Even the light
application of Malathion seems to hurt the Aces bottom leaves, but
more grow on top so I don't sweat it.

Oh, my god.
--
FB - FFF

Billy

Get up, stand up, stand up for yor rights.
Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.
- Bob Marley

In article , Charlie wrote:

On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:43:16 -0700, Billy wrote:

In article om,
wrote:

Problem with the Aces, not the beefmasters, is bug damage to the lower
leaves, they get eaten. I spray with Malathion lightly, probably
should do it every other day, at 1 teaspoon of Ortho 50% per gallon of
water, and a teaspoon of Miracle-Grow Tomato Food. Lightly means two
or three presses of the sprayer per plant, keeping it moving. Maybe 2
months ago, I tried a much stronger mix of Malathion, and both the
Aces and Beefmasters leaves died. More grew eventually, but it seems
like too much Malathion is not a good idea. Even the light
application of Malathion seems to hurt the Aces bottom leaves, but
more grow on top so I don't sweat it.

Oh, my god.

The No Child Left Behind Act is working presactly as designed.

Charlie

And it is so Darwinian.
--
FB - FFF

Billy

Get up, stand up, stand up for yor rights.
Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.
- Bob Marley

Billy wrote:
In article , Charlie wrote:


On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:43:16 -0700, Billy wrote:


In article om,
wrote:


Problem with the Aces, not the beefmasters, is bug damage to the lower
leaves, they get eaten. I spray with Malathion lightly, probably
should do it every other day, at 1 teaspoon of Ortho 50% per gallon of
water, and a teaspoon of Miracle-Grow Tomato Food. Lightly means two
or three presses of the sprayer per plant, keeping it moving. Maybe 2
months ago, I tried a much stronger mix of Malathion, and both the
Aces and Beefmasters leaves died. More grew eventually, but it seems
like too much Malathion is not a good idea. Even the light
application of Malathion seems to hurt the Aces bottom leaves, but
more grow on top so I don't sweat it.

Oh, my god.

The No Child Left Behind Act is working presactly as designed.

Charlie


And it is so Darwinian.

Hey, you live by evolution, you die by evolution.

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 05:19:53 -0400, EV wrote:

I had my worst year ever. I had 30 plants, I only got enough tomatoes to
produce a gallon of sauce. My tomatoes developed some sort of wilt which
killed the plants early. I'm in Massachusetts.

Just three tomato plants, but all did great! First was a Roma, then Beefsteak and a Supersweet 100 cherry tomato. I cannot recommend enought the Supersweet 100. I was pulling a pint or more a day off of this plant for most of the summer, and it is still producing! Terrific tasting cherry tomatos. This plant is huge!!! It is easily nine ft. high and has expanded in every direction. I think next year a little pruning is in order.

-Tim, Southern New Jersey
"EV" wrote in message ...
I ended up with 2 dozen tomato plants by happenstance. I normally have half as many or less. Too many tomatoes, but more varieties than usual. We had a very hot, very dry season in southern Ontario, Zone 6. I had to water a lot.

The Brandywines did well and produced a good crop, maybe about ten on each of the 3 in the tomato bed, mostly in August. Last year and the year before they each produced about 30 in all. So their numbers are down, but the fruit is bigger this year. They're working on ripenening their last half dozen big green tomatoes now, if the squirrels don't get them. The tomatoes are sweet, juicy, and tasty and make fantastic tomato potage, a recipe I found in this group years ago. Very easy, very tasty, freezes really well in individual portions. It's like defrosting sunshine in the winter months, or even on chilly fall nights.

Got one of Stokes' Health Kick tomatoes. Supposed to have extra lycopene. Looks a lot like a Roma, but much more firm. Is good in soup, but not all that tasty fresh. It's a short bushy plant that would do well in a container. I won't plant this next year.

Tried Stokes' Ultrasweet. Terrible tomato. I've never seen tomatoes crack that badly. They were rotten before they were ripe. OK flavour, but not the best. I will not plant this next year.

Before I knew that I'd have a handful of cherry tomato volunteers in the compost, I bought a Stokes Sweet Million. Interestingly, the seeds that the cherries in the compost grew from were Stokes Sweet Million seeds I'd started myself last year. But the tomatoes from the Stokes plant I bought and the ones in the compost are completely different. The ones from the storebought plant suck. They're smaller, less sweet, and, like the Ultrasweet, really prone to cracking. I will start these from seed.

I have two kinds of San Marzanos, and both are solid, sweet and tasty. I wash them and pack them into ziploc bags, and pop them in the freezer. You can run the frozen tomato under hot water, or dip it in hot water, and the whole skin slips off intact. Great for winter sauces, stews, roasts, and pan fries with meat. A bit bulky to store in the freezer, so when we have time, we cook them down 4 bags at time (about 120 tomatoes) during fall and winter, into less bulky tomato sauce and chili and the like and freeze it again in individual size portions. Very convenient when work runs late and you come home starving.

How did your tomatoes do? Were there varieties that you really liked? Any other amazing heirlooms out there that you can recommend?

Happy harvest, fellow food gardeners!

EV

On Oct 3, 12:00 pm, Jim Kingdon wrote:
just use epsom salt (formula non-standard, but which has the benefit
of being something I already have.)

Well, it is 0-0-0 but that's only because those three numbers only hit
3 of the nutrients, not the other dozen or more things which plants need.

Epsom salt provides magnesium (only). So it is apples and oranges
compared with something like triple phosphate - you might need both,
or neither, or just one. Won't harm anything, at the recommended
dosage, though.

Ack! I'm only now finding this... (Oct 13) 'need to find a better way
to track relevant activity here!!

Anyhow last night I finally found a store which carries the "Triple
Super
Phosphate whatever" (I was on the verge of trying TSP, but I couldn't
find
that either)

$7 for the smallest package however, and reading the fine print
(everything is
fineprint now adays, or maybe I just need new eyes?) it is to be
"Worked into
the soil ... AT LEAST TWO WEEKS BEFORE PLANTING." -Oops.

Anyhow they (McLendon's Hdwr) also had "Liquinox 0-10-10 No Nitrogen
BLOOM (etc)",
a liquid to be applied with water @ 1 tablespoon/gallon, under $4 for
a quart.
I'll apply it next watering cycle and see. But I am wondering if
pollination can
occur this late in the year regardless: the only bugs remaining are a
few
disoriented Fungus Gnats who attack my computer screen;~/


Incidentally I moved the wildly-growing peppers and tomatoes (now
almost 5' tall,
in 3-4 gallon buckets, 2-3 per) to the floor and hung a new
fluorescent light
just for them, but lost about 70% of the pepper flowers in the move.
And I thought
I killed the tomatoes. I still don't know if any of the pepper flowers
will
produce, (? pollination), but the tomatoes recovered nicely despite
another major
broken stalk, and several branches that I chopped before they could
cause more
stalks to break.