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Post by hedgeapple on Jul 6, 2021 11:46:17 GMT -6
What varieties of cherry tomatoes are those, Hedgeapple? We grow a lot of cherry tomatoes because they do well in the Texas summers compared to the larger-fruited varieties. I have a couple new ones this year from Artisan Seeds, and I have been very impressed. They are also some of the prettiest fruits in my garden. Sunrise Bumble Bee Maglia Rosa Madera F1 Sunrise Bumble Bee and Maglia Rosa are both open pollinated, and I am trialing them as a replacement for Sweet Million. I’m very pleased with the flavor. The breeder also sent me a free packet of Madera F1 with my order, and I grew out a couple of plants even though I wasn’t really looking for a hybrid. It is, however, an excellent tomato. My five year old asks for it by name just about every time we’re in the garden. Chrysanthemum: I also wanted to mention that your tomatoes are absolutely lovely. That Maglia Rosa in particular has caught my eye. 👁 I started growing primarily cherry tomatoes when we lived in Austin and Waco for the same reasons you mentioned. I tried many types of tomatoes there, but found that for reliably being able to have tomatoes to eat the cherry varieties worked the best for us. The great thing about them is that if you lose a few it is no big deal - just pitch them and there will still be others that are ready same day or soon. 😊
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jul 6, 2021 20:24:52 GMT -6
Hedgeapple, thank you for your kind words. I think your garden looks amazing from the glimpses I’ve caught in photos. It’s hard to get established in a new climate and difficult ground. You’re doing great. The first couple years I gardened down here, I stuck as closely as possible to the extension agent recommended varieties, but those lists haven’t been updated in about fifteen years now. As I’ve gotten more comfortable with this new climate, I’m branching out and finding other varieties that work as well or better for me. Maglia Rosa was probably the new variety I was the most excited about this year, and it has not disappointed me. I’m putting a link here to an article on the Facebook page for the seed company that developed it. It gives a good summary of its pros and cons. (I can definitely confirm that the plant looks funny, so I was really glad to know that going in.) www.facebook.com/172647249459847/photos/a.488448547879714/1031395123585051/?comment_id=1910317132359508Every so often the company runs great specials on seeds. I got eight packs of their seeds this summer for less than $2.00 each (and shipping included). I am looking forward to trying more of their varieties, and that was a great deal. Some of their varieties are available through other retailers, too. I’ve just started two seeds for a paste variety called Marzano Fire. Some of my determinaties are playing out, so I need to be working on transplants now if I want more tomatoes later in the summer.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 7, 2021 21:51:39 GMT -6
George has been promoting Heidi tomatoes around here for several years, so far, they can't be beat for heavy production in our crazy Oklahoma weather. I don't know about Texas though? But they sure are hardy when grown around here.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2021 1:04:44 GMT -6
Interesting tomato variety. That shelf life is impressive! I imagine that plant is a perfect fit for your small garden.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jul 8, 2021 18:57:24 GMT -6
George has been promoting Heidi tomatoes around here for several years, so far, they can't be beat for heavy production in our crazy Oklahoma weather. I don't know about Texas though? But they sure are hardy when grown around here. He kindly sent me some Heidi seeds this spring, and so I’m giving it a try during the Texas summer. I only have two plants in pots because my garden was fully planted by that time. I had to cull one fruit due to blossom end rot, and I’m wondering if I’ll see more since we just had some really drenching rains earlier this week (more than four inches in less than 24 hours). These plants didn’t go into their pots until the beginning of May. That’s definitely too late to start spring tomatoes down here, so it’s a good test. I didn’t want to wait till the fall season as I’ve read that they actually need heat to be at their best. I’m very excited to be trying this variety as well.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jul 8, 2021 19:28:39 GMT -6
Interesting tomato variety. That shelf life is impressive! I imagine that plant is a perfect fit for your small garden. I’ve never tested the shelf life. We pretty much eat the tomatoes straight away. They’re nice for slicing little rounds into salads. The size is what attracted me to the plant, but they have gotten bigger than I expected. I have two in my garden that share one of those little tomato cages that aren’t really good for tomatoes. It is working in this case, though. I have two others in a large planter on my deck, and I didn’t give them any support. They’ve sprawled all over. Any tomato would put down roots in soil, of course, but these are practically trying to root in the air. Here’s a shot of just half of one of the plants. It would definitely look better if I had found a way to support it, but that sort of curled look on the leaf margins is just its natural growth habit. I had to reassure my neighbor that it really was okay for it to look like that.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 8, 2021 21:32:50 GMT -6
Heidi tomatoes are my favorite canners. They blanch so easily that it's almost fun popping them out of their peelings.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 16, 2021 19:34:12 GMT -6
I had my first tomato and bologna sandwich of the season this week. The variety was German Queen. I had to throw almost a quarter of it away because it was growing it the fork of the vine, between four branches, so I nearly destroyed it by sticking my thumb through it, trying to pry it loose, but it was still not bad for the first tomato.
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Post by hmoosek on Jul 16, 2021 21:13:29 GMT -6
Well, this year wasn’t a total loss. Managed to fill the freezer with yellow squash, Zucchini and Okra. I gathered several bowls of tomatoes too. My Uncle’s cantaloupe made nothing but blooms. I’ve never seen such a thing. I’m getting real low on seed too. I planted 2006/07 seed this year. I still have some seed from 2011, but I’ve got to make a crop soon or our family heirloom will be lost. I probably have some stashed in the freezer somewhere, so there’s no reason to panic yet, plus I’ve given seed to several folks. Well, let’s see. Oh yeah, The Texas Longhorn Cowpeas are making. I lost most to grasshoppers and some molded due to rains, but I think I shelled about 100 or so good peas today and they are still blooming in spite of being in waist high Johnson Grass. The peas actually need support next year because I’m seeing some 6 foot runners. I mowed up several as I went down beside the row with the mower. Some say it could be the same pea as Red Ripper. I don’t know, I’ll have to grow them together one year and see. A couple of good examples were long with a dozen peas each. Somehow they didn’t get munched on by grasshoppers. So I have good vibes that during a normal year, these are going to be a dandy pea.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 1, 2021 20:19:08 GMT -6
Finally, a tomato larger than a slice of bread ... BLTs for Dinner Tonight!
Variety, German Queen. At last, the labors of gardening are beginning to pay off! My son, josh grilled this and brought it to me just now. Grilled wheat bread with seasoned butter, thick cut bacon, thick cut slab of tomato, Romaine lettuce, and grated goat cheese!
Over the freshly sliced tomato slabs, he grated year old frozen feta goat cheese. (Josh's idea). It worked out great! No pun intended.
The freezer gave it just the right texture to be grated into very fine particles without gumming up the cheese grater. Since it was frozen, it looked like pamasan. Then, he sprinkled the tomato with sea salt, a squeeze of lemon, garlic, and lemon pepper. The tomato melted the frozen cheese on contact, turning it back to feta. The goat cheese just put these sandwiches right over the top! Probably to the point of almost being sinful.
Thank you, God, for looking the other way, as we enjoyed the bounty you provided for us with the family this evening. Thank you, again, for our four wonderful kids. Josh's wife is going to be one lucky lady. I taught all three of my boys to cook. I can't take credit for my daughter's cooking skills, but they're nothing to sneeze at either. That just kind of runs in her mom's side of the family. When the women get together to cook a meal for a Holiday or a family gathering, Look out!
We are so blessed!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 2, 2021 17:13:11 GMT -6
We had BLT’s for lunch today, but no slices of tomato bigger than the bread (and our bread wasn’t even that big either). Feta sounds delicious, but we just used our simple homemade mayonnaise instead. The other day I finally sliced a (German) Orange Strawberry tomato. My seed packet says German on it, but I understand that that shouldn’t be the name of the seed. We had bought the seeds back in 2017 when we lived in Virginia, and we’ve never before successfully grown them in Texas. I planted a couple of them last year, but a particularly determined deer broke into the garden one night and killed those quite thoroughly. This year I planted two plants, and they grew like crazy but took forever to set fruit. The flowers were way up above my seven foot trellises, so it’s good that they actually pulled the trellis down and landed on top of the cucumbers. I lost a bunch to Blossom End Rot, but I had a big, beautiful one that seemed to stay green forever. I was watching it like a hawk, and when it finally blushed last week, I grabbed it and brought it inside. It got ripe enough at the end of the week that my nine year old and I sliced it and dried it. (She LOVES dried tomatoes, and she’s also the one who picked this variety for her garden back when she was only four years old. She still reads seed catalogs any time they come in the mail and then cuts them up and makes collages for cards and homemade wrapping paper.) I’m pretty sure that this isn’t a great variety for Texas, so I doubt I’ll grow it again, but I was so pleased to get at least one nice tomato (I’ve had a couple other not so nice ones, too, since then. The stink bugs seem to like them a lot.). The other plant that has been really slow to produce (and one even got pulled out completely because I just couldn’t water so much foliage with NO fruit) was Yellow Brandywine. I finally found one blushing, and it’s ripening inside now. I was super impressed with the meatiness of German Orange Strawberry, so I’m going to cut most of the foliage soon and let some suckers grow up from the bottom to see if it does any better in the fall. The tomato really did look more orange than shows in the photo. The last tray has an assortment of cherry tomatoes on it. I’ve never dried those before, but they turned out really well. I really like the Maglia Rosa in this application.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 2, 2021 20:54:37 GMT -6
Photos never do dried tomatoes justice. The camera adds too much blue that is not perceived by the eye in nature. Those tomatoes that you dried will be treasured come winter. I dried tomatoes and okra last summer and misplaced them. We stumbled upon them during the February freeze. It was like finding money stashed away in a sock drawer! They were so good after going without for so long. I season my okra just as if I were going to fry it, then, I dry it until it gets crispy like potato chips and seal it in canning jars with our vacuum sealer. It tastes so much like fried okra without the added grease that you can munch on it like popcorn. Add to that a few dried tomatoes and you've got a real treat come winter. Dried, slivered onions are good that way too, but my wife is not a fan of onions, so I don't mix those in there. I just keep them seperate for myself and the boys.
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Post by Tucson Grower on Nov 5, 2021 12:58:48 GMT -6
The only tomatoes I grew this season are 3 Roma and 1 Beefsteak. Through Spring and Summer they struggled to produce any fruit at all - a few (less than a dozen), very tiny, but ripe and flavorful fruits were all that we harvested. About 3 months ago, I took 5 tip cuttings from the Beefsteak. I planted 3 of them on the West side of the driveway, adjacent to the mother plant. The mother plant is all but dead, now. However, the 3 next to the driveway are less than 4 feet high and covered with many large green fruits. This morning, while watering I noticed that the largest fruit had been pecked on by a bird, so I picked it and plan to include fried green tomato with lunch. I like them, but it isn't one of my favorite foods. It was a favorite of my fathers (he passed 25 years ago). Some of the other green fruits just might turn red before the weather takes them out. What usually happens here, is that the vines develop lots of fruits, but they primarily remain green, even after their vines expire. My father, I'm sure, would have loved that. I'll always keep trying. Maybe smaller fruited varieties would ripen.
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