Snail's tomato garden

[BurgundySnail]

@BurgundySnail, I grew that Honey Drop cherry a few years ago. Nice flavor! However I found that the skin got rather thick not long into the season. Have you encountered that? Maybe it was the hot southern sun that caused it. They did produce for a good while though.

So far I didn't notice thick skin. Maybe later?

[Tormato]

Got my first Prudence purple, Amazon chocolate, early wonder and Bread and salt! So excited to try those

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Prudence? Prudence?

There's someone else out there using that name, too?

What in the wide wide world of sports and crosses of tomatoes, is this world coming to?

My bad! But in my defense it was my phone who suggested it and I was too lazy to retype.

I am drowning in tomatoes. Everything is ripening. Spider mites are rampant this year, I hope some plants survive into the fall.

Rose. One of the last ones to ripen. Hope the taste was worth it
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My favorite so far - Bread and salt. I thought I was Pruden's purple kind of girl, but this! Sweet, meaty, juicy, ah!
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The disappoinment of the season - Early wonder. Someone on tomatoville said it better than I - not early and not a wonder. Meaty, but kind of tasteless?
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Grushovka - new determinate variety for me. I love it. Meaty and tasty. Plant is loaded. A keeper for next year!

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Family portrait
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It's canning time! Didn't think I'd can this year, but freezer is getting full. IMG_20240719_112836__01.jpg

Out of about 2,000 varieties trialed, Rose makes my all-time top 10.

It's only problem is the occasional cracking, where the skin can crack from stem all the way to the blossom end, but the flesh itself doesn't crack. So, one usually has a day or more before any mold shows up. And, a healthy plant takes up a LOT of space.

[MissS]

I second Rose. It's also on my top 10 list. I only grow two tomatoes a year just for myself, and this year Rose is one of them. All of the others are new to me and I'm excited to try them. I have never experienced the cracking that Tormato is talking about.

I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.

[Julianna]

Lovely! We make maqlooba with eggplant. Just another idea

[Gardadore]

Wonderful list and photos. Concerned that three of your Bounty Hunter varieties not true. I ordered from them for the first time this year, mostly new varieties for me so must check they are true. All plants are strong but true? Don’t know since not ripening yet. Zebra Ezel was a gift from them and growing it as well.
Sad to hear since I thought I had found a good new company! Anyone else with those issues from Bounty Hunter?

[BurgundySnail]

Marinated tomatoes Russian style! My favorite

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[Labradors]

Rose is one of my faves too! Glad to hear that others love it .

[FatBeeFarm]

Amazing photo's and haul! Thanks for sharing - I'm going to have to try Bread and Salt next year now.

[BurgundySnail]

A couple of things to remember next year:

1. Don't plant peas in the same bed as tomatoes!
2. Don't mix seedlings sawn at different times.
3. Don't buy seedlings from other people
4. Grow jalapenos for salsa.
5. Grow dill and try cilantro again
6. More peppers!
7. Plant peppers really early
8. Don't bother with pots.

[FatBeeFarm]

@BurgundySnail

Marinated tomatoes Russian style! My favorite

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Can you share your recipe for this?

Also, is that Kayleigh Anne in the left jar? I just ate one and those look exactly the same.

[Seven Bends]

A couple of things to remember next year:
3. Don't buy seedlings from other people

Disease? Mis-labeled varieties? Or something else?

[FatBeeFarm]

A couple of things to remember next year:

1. Don't plant peas in the same bed as tomatoes!
2. Don't mix seedlings sawn at different times.
3. Don't buy seedlings from other people
4. Grow jalapenos for salsa.
5. Grow dill and try cilantro again
6. More peppers!
7. Plant peppers really early
8. Don't bother with pots.

Lol, I've got some of these on my list of things to remember too, especially: plant peppers really early. I've decided that I'm going to start them two or three weeks earlier than my tomatoes and eggplant and I'm going to prune when they get to the fourth leaf node. I need stronger, bushier peppers and my season is too short up here unless I can set out a good sized healthy plant on June 1st, one with good root mass already. I also always want to grow lots of dill because it brings the predatory wasps that kill all the tomato hornworms for me.

[BurgundySnail]

A couple of things to remember next year:
3. Don't buy seedlings from other people

Disease? Mis-labeled varieties? Or something else?

Mis labeled, yes.

And also - inconsistent size of seedlings. It turned out to be very annoying. Let me explain.

So I started the majority tomatoes myself, and they were all more or less the same size at the transplanting. I must say, they were very nice plants, sturdy and not leggy. Then I got extra seedlings from other people. 2 of those seedlings were super leggy and like 2 ft long, which requires deep planting that I hate. Then I had the opposite problem - some of the seedlings were tiny compared to mine. And as a result those tiny seedlings were way behind mine after transplanting and got quickly overshadowed and now they are not producing well or at all. And then of course I ended up not able to tell which varieties are early and which are early in theory but weren't in ideal conditions.

So next year I will go for uniform seedlings so every variety and plant has the same start.

And with peppers it's especially painful. As I learned they are better off started really early. But in my case again they were tiny skinny plants that do not do well right now.

[BurgundySnail]

@BurgundySnail

Marinated tomatoes Russian style! My favorite

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Can you share your recipe for this?

Also, is that Kayleigh Anne in the left jar? I just ate one and those look exactly the same.

Not a Kayleigh Anne


Here is a more thorough description of the process, I use this method but a bit different recipe for brine and veggies
https://www.bylena.com/recipe/682/Moms- ... -Tomatoes/

I put tomatoes, dill, parsley, bay leaves, garlic, onion and peppers if I have those. For 1L (33 oz) brine I use 1 tablespoon of salt, 1-2 tablespoons of sugar. Plus 1-2 tablespoons of 5% vinegar per every 1L jar.

[BurgundySnail]

I am so tired of preserving tomatoes.

Other stuff from the garden, first tiny watermelon! My kid ate it whole with the rind! I collected the seeds, no waste.

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[JayneR13]

I hear you! I haven't even gotten around to tomatoes yet and I'm tired. But this is the time, and we'll be glad in winter to have a full pantry! I really need to get off of this computer and go shred zucchiini

[Labradors]

How's your Apricot Zebra? Mine isn't perfectly ripe, but I ate one anyway and it seems very promising.

[Gardadore]

My Zebra Ezel is also not true. Same batch as yours? Very disappointing. Haven’t tasted the false one yet. If it’s good all is not lost. Can be used for sauce!

[Mike G]

I am going to list my varieties here:

karma purple multiflora
zebra ezel not true. Thanks Bounty hunter seeds!
severnye
opalka
dester
Armenian
bread and salt
paul robeson
not purple strawberry not true. Screw you Bounty hunter seeds!
beliy naliv
rosella crimson dwarf
sweet sue dwarf
lime green salad dw
purple reign dw
cream sausage
malee rose dw
brendyfred dw - likely will not produce. Was tiny when transplanted and other toms quickly stole everything from it.
praire fire
apricot zebra
true colors not true. F you Bounty hunter seeds!
black Krim
prudens purple
gmo Norfolk the purple tomato
African queen
amazon chocolate
Curtis cheek
Hungarian heart
purple Russian
early wonder
firebird sweet dwarf
grushovka
Rose
Belaya Vishnya
Zlatava
Northern lights
Honey drop
Saucy Mary dwarf

Oh and volunteer white spoon tomato. Hate this plant, but it survived frost and I decided not to pull it.

Please let me know what you think of Curtis Cheek, and also where you found seeds.

[BurgundySnail]

How's your Apricot Zebra? Mine isn't perfectly ripe, but I ate one anyway and it seems very promising.

It's sweet and fruity, and prolific! I am growing those mostly for canning and eating slicers.