Mad Poet's Garden 2024 (kenny_j at T'ville)
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TheMad_Poet
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- Posts: 122
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2022 1:17 pm
- Location: Holly Mi
Mad Poet's Garden 2024 (kenny_j at T'ville)
Tomatoes I grew this year, some new to me, some standard faves. My opinions, premised by the fact that one never knows if their seeds are true. Happens way too often me thinks. I 1st joined t'ville in sept 2011, and what a journey its been. Participated in the Dwarf project one year, and got to know a lot of great tomato people online, and benefit from their sharing of knowledge. Tomatoes this year:
1. Brandywine Cowlicks, one of my faves for a long time. Little earlier than Sudduth. Flavor fades when too ripe.
2. Brandywine Sudduth, a revisit of this variety. My apologies on this one. For years I touted Cowlicks as the better tomato. I was wrong, on flavor anyways. I now believe I never had true seed. Bought seeds from Johnny's. Exc flavor, and big surprise? Flavor seems to NOT fade when really ripe. Big plus over cowlicks.
3. Kimberley, old fave. Early, great flavor, but fades when too ripe.
4. Sungold, old fave. Arguably the greatest of all time in tomatoes, certainly for hybrids.
5. Orange Banana, old fave. Great tomato, sweet and fruity with a touch of tang. Makes a great sauce when seeds and gel stripped out. Painful process, but worth the effort. Otherwise takes too long to cook down, and flavor gets too intense.
6. Amish Paste, only growing this for a couple years now. Made a small batch of sauce last year that seemed really good. 9 plants this year, so a big batch planned.
7. Eva Purple Ball, decent flave, kinda brandywine like. Will not grow again. Fades when fully ripe, and the Brandys are better.
8. Solar Flare, will not grow again. Flavor seemed mostly sour, and off to me.
9.Tasmanian Chocolate, a disappointment. I had heard they were really good. Not for me. Pulled the plants early. Haven't grown that many dwarfs, but yet to taste one that I thought was great. In the project I grew out Rosella Purple. Never cared for that one either. Sorry Craig, but my honest opinion.
10. Daniel Burson. Talked about this one in another post. Maybe the seeds I got in a swap were not true. A spitter and I pulled the plants early. Never had a cherokee purple I was crazy about either. Best black for me was Vorlon some years ago. I favor the pinks on flavor profiles.
11. Virginia sweets, another spitter. Not sweet at all. Traded seed, so who knows.
12. Ananais Noire, will not grow again. Very uneven ripening, and withstood diseases poorly relative to others. A decent green when ripe type of flavor.
13. Pineapple. Really sweet and fruity. I like this one. I dehydrate thick slices of Brandywines and Pineapple. Flavor is intense this way. Pineapple great for this. Munch as a snack or add to sauces.
14. Lucky Cross PL. One of my wife's faves, sweet and fruity. Been a few years since I grew. Production not great compared to others.
It was a poor season with way too much rain and humidity. Diseases struck, and I was late to take action, so lost a lot of leaves. A few plants had no leaves left at all. I always try to stay organic, but this is the second worst year on tomatoes I have ever had. Used some Daconil, and that stopped the spread, but was late in doing so. Next year I will use it from the start. I am betting that will make a huge difference. I ended up cutting all the green fruit off the plants the last week, hoping to get better fruit that was already ripening. Threw out a lot of fruit this year. Very few high up fruit. Diseases killed the new blossoms. Heat and excess rain started around July 8th. Had almost 5" in the rain gage one morning. Yikes!!!!
1. Brandywine Cowlicks, one of my faves for a long time. Little earlier than Sudduth. Flavor fades when too ripe.
2. Brandywine Sudduth, a revisit of this variety. My apologies on this one. For years I touted Cowlicks as the better tomato. I was wrong, on flavor anyways. I now believe I never had true seed. Bought seeds from Johnny's. Exc flavor, and big surprise? Flavor seems to NOT fade when really ripe. Big plus over cowlicks.
3. Kimberley, old fave. Early, great flavor, but fades when too ripe.
4. Sungold, old fave. Arguably the greatest of all time in tomatoes, certainly for hybrids.
5. Orange Banana, old fave. Great tomato, sweet and fruity with a touch of tang. Makes a great sauce when seeds and gel stripped out. Painful process, but worth the effort. Otherwise takes too long to cook down, and flavor gets too intense.
6. Amish Paste, only growing this for a couple years now. Made a small batch of sauce last year that seemed really good. 9 plants this year, so a big batch planned.
7. Eva Purple Ball, decent flave, kinda brandywine like. Will not grow again. Fades when fully ripe, and the Brandys are better.
8. Solar Flare, will not grow again. Flavor seemed mostly sour, and off to me.
9.Tasmanian Chocolate, a disappointment. I had heard they were really good. Not for me. Pulled the plants early. Haven't grown that many dwarfs, but yet to taste one that I thought was great. In the project I grew out Rosella Purple. Never cared for that one either. Sorry Craig, but my honest opinion.
10. Daniel Burson. Talked about this one in another post. Maybe the seeds I got in a swap were not true. A spitter and I pulled the plants early. Never had a cherokee purple I was crazy about either. Best black for me was Vorlon some years ago. I favor the pinks on flavor profiles.
11. Virginia sweets, another spitter. Not sweet at all. Traded seed, so who knows.
12. Ananais Noire, will not grow again. Very uneven ripening, and withstood diseases poorly relative to others. A decent green when ripe type of flavor.
13. Pineapple. Really sweet and fruity. I like this one. I dehydrate thick slices of Brandywines and Pineapple. Flavor is intense this way. Pineapple great for this. Munch as a snack or add to sauces.
14. Lucky Cross PL. One of my wife's faves, sweet and fruity. Been a few years since I grew. Production not great compared to others.
It was a poor season with way too much rain and humidity. Diseases struck, and I was late to take action, so lost a lot of leaves. A few plants had no leaves left at all. I always try to stay organic, but this is the second worst year on tomatoes I have ever had. Used some Daconil, and that stopped the spread, but was late in doing so. Next year I will use it from the start. I am betting that will make a huge difference. I ended up cutting all the green fruit off the plants the last week, hoping to get better fruit that was already ripening. Threw out a lot of fruit this year. Very few high up fruit. Diseases killed the new blossoms. Heat and excess rain started around July 8th. Had almost 5" in the rain gage one morning. Yikes!!!!