2024 tomatoes

[maxjohnson]

My first peach harvest. More than I can give away. I think I need to blanch and freeze them.

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[MissS]

Wow, that's a fantastic first harvest. How old is your tree?

[maxjohnson]

Wow, that's a fantastic first harvest. How old is your tree?

Don't know the age when I bought it but this is fourth year since I planted it. There were only a few fruits each year the for the first three and then this sudden explosion.

The cultivar is Hale Haven.

[maxjohnson]

Redundant photo, but can't help it. Opalka is textually one of the most exceptional tomato I've ever eaten.

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[FatBeeFarm]

@maxjohnson

Redundant photo, but can't help it. Opalka is textually one of the most exceptional tomato I've ever eaten.
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You've sold me on Opalka! I'm growing it next year for sure. I did grow Oroma this year and I'm really liking it. Nice paste tomato that is doing well, wasn't wispy as a seedling, no disease, produces loads of fruit with no BER, and tastes so good I'm just eating it rather than canning it.

Thanks for the seeds you sent - I've got loads of those larger pink bumblebees and will save seeds, and Spencer is getting close to color break after a broken stem set it back at least 4 weeks.

[maxjohnson]

Using the fruit picker is unexpectedly quite fun, felt like a kid again. It appears the larger and nicer fruits are higher up on the tree. I processed 6 bags for freezing, which is about 24lbs total. Definitely will make getting through the winter more pleasant.

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Sweet Cherriette
It's a currant tomato, around a centimeter wide, larger than Florida Everglade. It's more sour than sweet, maybe it wasn't ideal growing in a small hanging basket and getting dried out everyday doesn't help the flavor. Was fun anyhow.

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[maxjohnson]

Sakura F1
This is one of the better red cherry hybrid. Skin is moderate thick so it have much less pest damages compared to Nectar F1, and no cracking. Flavor is typical red cherry hybrid, the acidity is there but more smooth and distributed, unlike Sungold F1 which have an initial sharpness. It's not sweet as Super Sweet 100, but overall it's a better choice. This is one of the more expensive hybrid seeds to buy. For red cherry hybrid category, I would still pick Rapunzel F1 over this, which is a different flavor, but can get sweeter and gives a bit more of a crunch.

The fruits are larger for cherry and getting closer to cocktail size, weighing up to 0.75oz.

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Sungold F1 for comparison:

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[MissS]

@maxjohnson I love your review. Thank you.

[maxjohnson]

Siberian vs Glacier determinates

April 27th:
These were grown in part shade so maybe they weren't as earlier as should be, ended up just being normal speed I think.

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Vigor:
It seems overall for disease resistance, Glacier isn't very good. Siberian is pretty decent, it is starting to pick up diseases now but it looks like it can continue to produce.

Siberian seems on average to be a healthy and durable variety. Looks a bit lanky during seedling stage, but it grows to have durable stiff stems. Glacier picked up diseases earlier, there was a second transplant but it got stunted by disease, although most likely due to reusing potting mix.

Siberian:

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Glacier:

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Yield
Both yielded about the same amount of fruits, however, Siberian fruits are double the size. Glacier seems to be a week or two earlier than Siberian to ripen.

Left: Siberian, Right: Glacier

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Fruits Durability
Siberian fruits are proper super market durability, thick skin and so far no insect pests damage. It should last long on the counter. Glacier fruit is thinner skin and does get insect damages.

Flavor
Left: Siberian, Right: Glacier

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Glacier:

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This is a surprise. Glacier turn to be very good tasting. Fruits are 1.5oz average, cocktail size. It is a very low acid, juicy and sweet tomato. I could see the sweetness get close to cherries type if properly grown in raised bed with good sun. Overall I would be less likely to grow Glacier, or maybe just one plant in a smaller container. But I can understand why the variety is still around because the sweetness.

Siberian fruits are between 3 to 4oz. While the skin is thick, the meat inside is tender, and juice content is there but low. The flavor is neutral, with light amount of acidity, and there is a light umami sweetness to it. So it can't be compared with Glacier, but it has its own characteristic. Very light powdery in the texture, but not enough to take away any points. Overall I will grow Siberian again, I like the medium size of the fruits and the durability of it to resist insect pests.

[FatBeeFarm]

@maxjohnson Hunh. I have the opposite experience with Sakura and Rapunzel. I've been very happy with Sakura for six years. I will always grow it. It's my #2 cherry tomato after Sungold because it is consistent, delicious (like a regular tomato), disease resistant and prolific. I will never not grow Sakura. I grew Rapunzel (along with a dozen+ other cherry types) for the first time this year. I absolutely hate Rapunzel, it's the worst of all my cherry varieties here. Texturally it's too firm, like a hard green tomato, and my Rapunzel have no flavor whatsoever. I've just been throwing them in the woods, I don't want to eat them. Isn't it odd how one tomato can be so different from one region to the next? A surprise hit for me this year was Cherry Bomb - the tomato flavor of Sakura but much sweeter. It's really nice. It's not been super prolific though. I'll grow it again next year though, maybe I just got a runty one this year. Black cherry is always good too, but I find I get tired of them unlike the other cherry tomatoes.

[maxjohnson]

Well I personally like tomato that is firm on the outside so you get a nice crunch when you bite into them. I actually like that Rapunzel isn't too juicy as well. I generally I simply prefer fruits that doesn't have too much running juice, which is why Opalka is one of my favorite. Rebel Starfighter Prime and Dipper Delights are examples that has too much water for me. I let my cherries go pretty ripe on the vine to get optimal flavor, but that also mean the thinner skin fruits will get jabbed by stink bugs sooner. As for sweetness, Rapunzel can get very sweet from my experience, especially with single stemming for the flavor to concentrate.

[maxjohnson]

Some open pollinated bell peppers, which I know can't compete with the hybrids in term of uniformity and size.

Lesya
It's a small to medium sized oxheart-shaped sweet pepper. Outer shell is more durable than typical bellpepper. Plants were stunted from frost damage, it's starting to produce decently.

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King of the North
Also stunted from frost damaged. It's probably a decent variety if grown properly. Medium sized bellpepper, but a bit tall and need support to stay up.

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California Wonder
Seedlings from the hardware store. Bought them to replace my frost damaged ones. I didn't had good success with them in Florida so I dismissed them until now. Wow, they are performing really well and looking productive for this climate. Looks like will be my standard OP variety going forward.

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[maxjohnson]

I am now convinced this is the most evil creature known to man. I still need to save seeds from this somehow.

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Evil Incarnate:

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[karstopography]

Squirrels are devils. For whatever reason, the squirrels gave me a break this year. Maybe they knew how much pain and suffering Hurricane Beryl was going to serve up and they felt sorry for me, but I doubt that. I think the massive acorn crop in 2023 kept them fed and happy well into 2024.

If a squirrel wants to eat something in the garden, they will find a way to do it and there isn’t much anyone can do about it.

[maxjohnson]

Last harvest of the season before first frost.

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Carmello open pollinated
Was relatively healthy plant, good balanced taste, juicy.

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rip eggplant

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hope there is still enough sunlight for cauliflower to produce heads

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fall mustard doing well despite all the earwigs

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