The Taste of Tomatoes

[pondgardener]

[mention]MsCowpea[/mention]
Maybe you could use diaper crystals in your sandy soil?

https://www.sundaygardener.net/using-di ... ain-water/

[MissS]

@MsCowpea
Maybe you could use diaper crystals in your sandy soil?

https://www.sundaygardener.net/using-di ... ain-water/

I used to use them when I was growing the giant pumpkins. They are much more affordable than using those sold in garden centers. If you know someone with a baby, then they are free and have the nitrogen built right in them.

[Tormahto]

Do you think the first few tomatoes are not as good as later ones? Just wondering.

The water issue is huge. Best tomato I ever had in my life was a dried farmed Early Girl bought at a grocery store in Berkeley , Ca. They had a big bin of them marked Early Girl, Dried Farmed. In Calif. they know what is what when it comes to tomatoes. There was some flavor compound, or concentrated something that was on steroids in that small tomato. I wish I could withhold water but my sandy soil drains too quickly. In no time, they wilt. And tomatoes in containers need water everyday.

Can you put mulch, about 2 1/2" of it, on top of the soil in the containers?

[MsCowpea]

I am going to put some compost on a few tomatoes in containers but unfortunately I don’t have enough to do them all.
The others could use some mulch.

[Growing Coastal]

I found that adding anything like compost or soil to the top of containers with tomatoes resulted in roots growing through it . That raised the mix level and made top watering thoroughly, more difficult because the pot was more full.

Last year I tried using pine chips after reading different opinions regarding acidity from using them. Seems they don't do much sitting on top. Anyway I found that any nutrients I added to the pots would filter down through the loose chips very well. Roots did not grow into the chips.

I think I got the idea to try chips after reading that some gardeners use pine straw for mulch? Not something that is common around here.

[greenthumbomaha]

I am tomato taste impaired in that I cannot taste all of the flavors in tomatoes. My mother & I tasted the same Big Beef tomato & I said, "So bland!" and she said, "Such great taste!" My sister's taste buds only go for Pass/Fail: it's either a good tasting tomato or not. And DH never met a tomato he didn't like. I'm thinking of growing Elbonian Mudball for him.
Nan

My thought is that if your DH likes black tomatoes he'll like Elbonian Mud Ball. Most of the seed out there, where ever they are (last I heard,Tokyo?) is only about F3. So, flavor and tomatoes may be variable. After about a dozen years of discovering the cross, I finally made it to F4 this year. My Elbonian Hip Deep, tastes "cleaner", to me.

If he wants a tomato he wish he never met, Purple Calabash might be it.

I'll be growing a larger selection of container tomatoes than usual this summer (as I look out at the row of pots it's -2 degrees). Ebonian Hip Deep, was the flavor intense in a good way? In my climate I adore most blacks, at least so far having not trialed the "mudslingers". What is the unpruned height of e. hip, and dtm?

My mmmm seeds are F5 2018 I? D?
Thanks

- Lisa

[Tormahto]

Mudslinger is the best of the Elbonians, to me. It's the best black tomato I've ever trialed, rich and balanced.

Hip Deep (3' plant, mid-season maturity) is middle of the road, on the sweet side.

Mud Ball is simply hideous, like most black beefsteaks.