I have a question hopefully someone with some experience can answer.
One of my heirloom tomato plants I started from seed (only one of this variety...) somehow had the top broke off of it. There are 2 small branches below the break, and they're developing suckers. The plant is the "Aussie" variety, and is currently about a foot tall or so. What's left below the break looks healthy.
Is it worth giving this plant a chance? I have enough (15) tomato plants that I don't really need a huge harvest off of it. It, along with about a dozen other heirloom varieties, I'm growing for the first time this year. I'd at least like to get a few tomatoes off of that plant to see how good they are.
If anyone is interested in which varieties, and would like comment on their experience with them, they are:
1884 Aussie' Brandywine Brandywine Red Costoluto Fiorentino Drubza German Giant Green Zebra Hungarian-Italian Paste Pantano Romanesco Rose de Berne Russian Rose Violacium Krypni-Rozo
Absolutely! By the end of summer, you likely won't even know it was damaged.
Not pretty but absolutely delicious, both raw and cooked. It gives relish, etc., a sweeter flavor than otherwise with many other tomatoes
I love this one and have a great deal of fun with it when I give away tomato baskets. People think it's green and needs to be let ripen. They are skeptical. LOL
I grow a lot of heirlooms some of which can be seen on my 2002 web page (*very* outdated with the last entries made in August of 2002, lazy webmaster here ). Scroll all the way to the bottom for thumbnails of larger images of signs for friends who sell tomato plants.
On Fri, 14 May 2004 17:38:42 -0400 in , "Dr." graced the world with this thought:
Why not? If you don't need it, then what difference would it make if it dies on it's own, which I doubt would happen from the minimal damage you've described.
Good? lmao Your "relative certainty" probably would not be correct. I'm unclear on how letting the plant continue to grow after damage would affect taste. I'm unclear on how treatment of a plant affects taste. That would be a product of variety, planting conditions, soil type, etc., not to mention variables such as amount and type of watering, amount and type of fertilizer (eg. synthetic/organic) and not limited to those criteria...
By the way, Please advise the group on the definition of a "grope suit". Clearly you have experience in this realm , and we would love to know more. Please elaborate.
On Fri, 14 May 2004 22:09:34 -0500 in , "Thomas" graced the world with this thought:
by the way, you aparently find yourself terribly amusing, even when you screw up. I guess that makes for some pretty cheap entertainment, dull as it may be.
Excellent! I'm very much looking forward to trying this variety.
I grew a Green Zebra plant last year. I received a free pack of seeds for them when I placed an order with a seed company for some other seeds. They made wonderful salsa, with diced avocado, sweet bell pepper, fully ripe cubanelle pepper, thoroughly seeded and deveined Habanero pepper, sweet onion, garlic, and cilantro. They made great tasting stewed tomatoes also.
Nice page. I also have a page set up (well, partially). Sounded like a good idea at the time, but I never get around to updating/completing.
LOL. Stewed, eh? Mine never made it that far except for an occasional one in tomato juice (drop ripe/over-ripe/not-pretty ones in a container daily for juice). At least half wound up in tomato baskets for friends.
Tomato baskets: Throughout the year, I pick up small baskets at Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc., to fill with tomatoes to give away. With the varieties grown, they look more like Easter baskets than veggies. Often, I add a few sprigs of various herbs. People ask if I want the baskets back, and I tell them when empty to fill them with something else and pass them on. Sometimes one returns to me with goodies in it. Yesterday, a friend who works at the drive-up window at the bank returned one which I had given her with fresh eggs and herbs in it; she had filled it with Creme-Savers which I love. I got the better end of that deal!
Thank you. I definitely understand about the updating since mine hasn't been for nearly two years! LOL
It was great to have it made, however, because I have it local on my iBook so was able to show my grandmother the garden. She and Grandpa farmed and made at least weekly trips from the Yakima Valley to Portland Farmers' Market (when it was a *real* farmers' market with trucks full of produce for stores/restaurants). That was way back when what is now I-84 wasn't and the highway went through Crown Point, etc. (Yup, I can remember that far back.) We'd leave their place shortly after midnight to get to Portland early; the early arrivers sold out while late meant maybe not selling. They always had top-notch produce so always sold everything. It was quite an experience for a young child. How I wish I had photos of it.
Please keep it posted on your special-attention tomato plant. :-)
My previous tenant had a habit of failing to water her garden. I'd come over and here the poor young tomatoes were so wilted they were flat on the ground. I'd water them and in literally 15 minutes they'd be standing up again, leaves all crispy and none the worse for wear. Despite this abuse, and being pruned once by sheep, they grew into monstrous bushes and had lots of fruit. Tomatoes evidently are too dumb to know when they're dead. :)
Since you evidently know varieties -- what types of tomatos have fairly solid flesh, relatively free of "tomato snot" yet without those woody-textured areas some fleshy tomatos have?? For eating raw, I like the flesh firm but not woody (and preferably not too acidic) but can't stand the gooey stuff around the seeds.
All of the ones I've grown fall into that category. Much depends on when they are picked (degree of ripeness). That year's growing conditions, undoubtedly, figure into it as well. In my experience, the tomatoes with the most solid flesh are Romas (definitely not woody) and nearly any tomato used primarily for paste. They are not my favorite for fresh eating but cannot be beaten for dried tomatoes or for "fleshing out" juice and sauce. Remember, however, that I've been very spoiled with the many varieties I've grown; it's difficult to choose favorites.
For a brief description of many of the heirlooms, go to:
formatting link
only lists plants they currently offer, but it will give you some ideas.
The tomatoes pictured on my web page were those offered by Millennium the current year that I had grown (and photographed) the previous year. They are sliced to give an idea of the "seed pattern" so might be helpful for those varieties. I grew many more than pictured, but those are the ones photographed and "assembled" for the labels. The slices are the same tomatoes shown whole and were put together with PhotoShop. It seemed only logical to show the same tomato whole and sliced as that is the only real comparison. There is no touching up done on the photos, only deleting the background around the tomatoes and the slices, then putting the images together (and adding shadows). Unfortunately, the year of the photos, I hadn't used PhotoShop yet so only photographed those I had at least two of the better shaped ones of the same variety ripe at the same time. If I were to photograph them now, I wouldn't be so fussy about having at least two because I could assemble the photos from singles. The shapes/sizes vary somewhat each year dependent upon growing conditions.
Stupice is a good all-around variety, one of the early bearers, prolific, flavorful (though *not* a brandywine or sun gold ), good for fresh eating or cooking. If one were going to have only one variety for all-around use, that would be the one to choose. It's a heirloom and is very popular with those who know about it. I know several people who grow only stupice.
Check Millennium's page, and that will answer some questions. :-)
The only thing they are unforgiving about is lack of fertilizer... Even then they will produce, but the plants just stay small. I'm running into that this year, the soil in the main garden is getting very depeleted. I need to go and pour some duck poop tea at the base of those plants! The ones in the large planter next to them that have fresh soil from the henyard are literally 3 times the size! :-)
Yep, that was about the only thing that would slow 'em down.
Here if you don't at least give them some manure, they don't do much but sit there looking pale and pathetic (our soil has NO nitrogen). But it takes very little to turn them into man-eating monsters, as the ones fertilized only with insecticidal soap demonstrated :)
You bet! Every year we put in about 35 varieties for a total of 90-110 plants. One year we dug in this hard clay like soil which was pretty dry with a post hole digger about 18" deep. We then put in our plants to the top two leaves. Some of the tomatoes had almost snapped stems due to the "help" of our 5 and 1 yo children. Then we received unexpectly 3" of rain in a 24 hour period. The tomatoes sank until they were (some of them) in a 6" hole. We did what we always do - caged them (6' high cattle fencing), newspapered around them and in the 4 foot rows between them, then heavily strawed. Our plants were about our average -
7 feet tall by 4 feet wide and the yield was great. '
great flavor
love all the brandywines
difficult to clean
Love them - make great "green tomato pickles"
Also you might like -
Ivory egg (bushy, very prolific, duck egg size ivory)
Chocolate Plum (Tall, water tolerant, make the best paste I have ever eaten or dried)
Snow white (beautiful large slicer that makes wonderful "ivory" tomato sauce)
Orange Oxheart (very low acid, huge. Literally the size of an ox heart. Beautiful slicer moderate producer)
I love to side dress mine with 3 - 4 " of rabbit poop! I will have to try the duck poop tea. How do you make it (seeing visions of me following our ducks around with a cup of boiling water).
Well, I've received some very positive replies regarding my topped plant. It still looks just as healty as the rest of them, so I think it will be just fine.
I'm rather new to gardening. Bought the house 4 years ago, and have had a garden for 3. This is the 2nd year I've started my tomatoes and peppers from seed. Last year everything turned out great. Hopefully this year will be good also. The only concern is the size of the seedlings. After 7 weeks, they were gigantic. Not leggy, just huge. I left them on the heat mat the whole time, which may have caused that. Next year, I'll either start them later, or take them off the mat after germination.
Agreed. I grew this one last year. I never knew tomatoes could taste that good.
Also grew this one last year. All the rest I listed I'm growing for the first time.
Thanks for those suggestions. I've taken note of them. Next year will probably be mostly new varieties, along with a few favorites from this year. The 1884 I believe will always have a spot or two reserved for it.
Last year we gave some away, but not many. There were 10 plants, and just two of us... so we had more than we could eat fresh. The stewed ones were great with fresh raviolis, rigatoni, or numerous other dishes. We have a large freezer, so we put them in quart size ziplock bags. Much less work than canning, and the tomatoes were still excellent after unthawing.
Good idea! Maybe I'll borrow that idea to earn some bonus points with the Boss... ;)
I love markets. This weekend is our annual trip to the Detroit farmers' market. There are quite a few small growers that set up there. We get there early and spend the whole day shopping. Maybe I'll find a couple unusual tomato seedlings I'll have to dig up more sod to plant.
So far, it looks fantastic. Growth is noticable daily. I gave them all a drink of fish emulsion, and they seem to be really grooving on it. Never used it before. Will see how the 20 or so houseplants do on it also.
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