Tomatoes 2022

[chrysanthemum]

2022 in Texas has not been a good year for tomatoes.  We started getting temperatures over 100 degrees in May this year, and May, June, and July were all the hottest on record ever in San Antonio.  In addition to that, it has been very dry.  We have had less than 10 inches of rain so far in 2022.

I started a bunch of different tomatoes in either January or February, not knowing that the year would be so far.  The only one that really produced well prior to the high heat coming on was a determinate tomato called Taste Patio from Artisan Seeds.  It matures in 55 days so had time to have some crop set before the heat.  Even my cherry tomatoes didn’t do well this year, though I’ve gotten a few here and there throughout the summer.

Temperatures cooled a bit in August, but September was hot and dry. Once things cooled more in October some of the tomatoes have picked up steam again.  I’ve been getting cherry tomatoes off an unknown volunteer and from Maglia Rosa and Blush 2.0 (both elongated cherries from Artisan Seeds).  I’ve been really impressed with a variety called Taiga, though, which is new to me this year.  2022 was not a good year to trial any new tomato, but Taiga impressed me because it did set a few fruits even in our extreme heat.  Since it has cooled, it has been putting them on the vines right and left.  It’s still not the productivity that one would see in a more forgiving (rainy) climate, but it’s good for the circumstances.

We had a shot at rain this morning, and since my tomatoes are not used to moisture falling from the sky, I picked the ones that were showing signs of color change and brought them in.  The rain didn’t materialize, but these will ripen inside.  They’re a green when ripe tomato that is descended on one side from Captain Lucky (the round tomato included with all the heart-shaped Taigas)





None of the particular varieties I’ve mentioned is an heirloom, but they are open pollinated, and I’m working on saving seeds from some.  Taiga is very meaty and doesn’t have a lot of seeds, though.

Here are some pictures of one that I sliced in July for BLT sandwiches.  We really enjoyed the flavor and texture.

[hmoosek]

Great pictures! My baby Sis and I were talking last night about tomatoes. She poked me in the ribs and said “it’s almost time to plant tomatoes, ain’t it?” I laughed and said “well, I recon it will be here before you know it, but we still have a couple days. Hahahaaa.

After she left, Mom said. “It’s way too early to start tomatoes.” I had to tell Mom its a joke between me and sis, because she remembered one year i started my tomatoes like the day after Christmas. So she still teases me about it.

I was so ready to get started that year, that I had cups strewn everywhere around the house!

[chrysanthemum]

I wanted to add an updated picture of those Taiga tomatoes that I showed above.  We’ve eaten a few that ripened ahead of the others, but the stragglers are pretty ripe now.  It looks like I posted the earlier picture on November 7, and today is November 24, so it took about two and a half weeks inside for the green mature tomatoes to turn.  Some that were farther along when picked turned earlier, but I thought maybe this would be helpful to record.

I found one of my small Taigas in the garden on the ground this morning.  I don’t know if it will ripen inside.  I was debating picking some others ahead of possible rain tomorrow, but I need to take care of what I’ve got inside before bringing more in.  The vines have lots of fruit on them now, though it hasn’t been growing too much in the cool weather we’ve been having this week.  I’m still excited to see the fruits on the vines, though.

[heavyhitterokra]

Nov 8, 2022 20:26:52 GMT -6 hmoosek said:

Great pictures! My baby Sis and I were talking last night about tomatoes. She poked me in the ribs and said “it’s almost time to plant tomatoes, ain’t it?” I laughed and said “well, I recon it will be here before you know it, but we still have a couple days. Hahahaaa.

After she left, Mom said. “It’s way too early to start tomatoes.” I had to tell Mom its a joke between me and sis, because she remembered one year i started my tomatoes like the day after Christmas. So she still teases me about it.

I was so ready to get started that year, that I had cups strewn everywhere around the house!

Hmoosek,
You remind me of myself, back in my younger days.  I used to start tomatoes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in mid-January. 

[triffid]

First time growing Taiga this year, too. It didn't get into full production, through no fault of its own, but I also really liked the flavour and agree the texture was good. Smooth and not grainy which puts me off some other heart/paste tomatoes. Shall give it another go next year. Have you tried any other Karen Olivier tomatoes?

[chrysanthemum]

I have not tried any other Karen Olivier tomatoes, though I would like to one day, given what I’ve seen and enjoyed of Taiga. My vines are quite loaded right now, but I fear that the colder weather we’ve had for a couple of weeks will not be good for the fruit’s flavor. I don’t know that for a fact, though, and we’ll have some warmer weather coming up, so I’m just leaving them to grow, and I’ll see what happens.

Have you tried any other of her projects, triffid?

Edited to add:

I was outside this morning enjoying some beautiful weather and decided to take a few pictures of some of my remaining tomatoes.  The plants are so large that I decided it was better to focus in on clusters of fruit rather than trying to capture all the vines in one photo.  Here are some of Taiga.  There are two plants there that I started at the end of last winter.  I pruned them back in the height of summer and let them regrow.  They’ve been putting on lots of fruit recently, but it slowed down the growth during the last couple of weeks when we’ve had cool, gray days.

[chrysanthemum]

Here are a few other varieties I have this year.  All are new for me.

Riesentraube: supposed to be a cherry tomato that tastes more like a traditional tomato.  I got this one in late, so it didn’t produce in the heat of the summer for me.  It’s getting some bigger fruit on it now.



Blush 2.0:  This one has produced little by little all summer and is still going strong whereas several of my other varieties have given up by this point.  It produces large, elongated cherries that ripen to yellow with red streaking.  It’s pretty and tasty.


This is a volunteer cherry tomato from my compost.  I haven’t a clue what it is, but I let it grow as a canary in the coal mine at the end of last winter and it survived so well, I didn’t have the heart to pull it.  It got a slow start on fruiting, but it has been bearing a lot, and the fruits are tasty.  It’s starting to look a lot more ragged now, but overall I’m impressed.

[hmoosek]

Good Job chrysanthemum.

My garden is toast. Even the greens i had on the porch are gone because cats decided it was a good place ti do their business. I’m gonna fix them next year so they cant do that. That burns my hide. Very few things make me mad, but that really chaps me!

[chrysanthemum]

My garden spent most of the summer being toast a bit more literally, so it’s nice to have a little production from it now, though I’m really not sure if these will ripen or how the flavor will be since they’ve been in a sort of natural refrigeration for a couple of weeks now.

I’m sorry that the cats got to your greens. It’s hard when one thing that you love does harm to something else that you love as well. I’ll be interested to see what you come up with to stop that next year.

[triffid]

You have some lovely healthy Taiga plants there. Is late blight not a concern in your area? I didn't notice it until October this year, when it finally made its way into the polytunnel. Fingers crossed that the flavour is unaffected by the cooler temps. That volunteer tomato looks like a fun one, too. Congrats on keeping them alive for so long!
I haven't tried any of Olivier's other varieties yet. I'm certainly tempted but I must try to remain focused on the varieties I have yet to grow waiting in the tomato chest (glorified coffee box)
Every winter for the past few years I've participated in a 'seed circle' and the amount of tomato varieties we exchange is hard to keep up with... not to mention when the tomato bug bites me in midwinter and lots of nice little seed packets arrive at my home, invoiced and addressed to me somehow.

[chrysanthemum]

Thanks, triffid. Both early and late blight can affect plants here, but this summer was so hot and dry for the most part that it wasn’t a good time for fungal infections to take hold and spread. I keep finding some advantages to drought, though all things being equal, I think I’d rather have rain. We did have cooler moister conditions in recent weeks, but so far the Taiga plants are looking good.

A “seed circle” sounds like a very fun thing, not only acquiring new varieties but also being able to share with other like-minded people in the community. Very nice.

We have tomato bugs that bite people on this side of the ocean, too. I really haven’t heard of any cure once the infection has taken hold. Thankfully, though chronic, it seems not to be too debilitating.

[heavyhitterokra]

Chrysanthemum,

Those are absolutely beautiful tomato plants!

Nothing as nice as that makes it past about July here before tobacco hornworms, blister beetles, grasshoppers, and late-season blight nearly destroy them. Kudos to pulling that off! I know it was a very tough season for you there.

[chrysanthemum]

Thanks, heavyhitterokra, for your kind words.

Just to clarify, though, these particular plants were started in late winter, but I believe that it was the first week of August that I cut them back quite drastically. I had run out of water in my tanks at that point, and they weren’t putting on fruit. Cutting them back took off all sorts of damaged foliage and let them grow out again anew from just a couple of suckers lower down on the plants so that’s why the foiiage looks less damaged than it would otherwise looked.

I’ve cut out probably two thirds of my plants because they were in such bad shape, and there’s probably at least one more that I need to remove but haven’t gotten to yet. I just don’t take pictures of all the ugly, withered, and brown plants to post here. I just don’t want you all to imagine that everything in my garden is green and thriving at this point. What is in good shape is very cheering, though, so I’m thankful for that.

[heavyhitterokra]

Chrysanthemum,

That was quite a feat, no matter how you slice it. Even if it was just one plant it's absolutely amazing to see anything still in that good a shape this near to the end of the season.  I know things like that don't happen without a really good gardener taking care of them.

[chrysanthemum]

We’re beginning to get some more cold down here in Texas (though it may not seem all that cold to those of you who’ve been dealing with 20 degree temperatures already).  We’re supposed to drop to refrigerator temperatures at night for the next few nights, and next week we may get down to freezer temperatures.  (At one point I saw a forecast for twenty degrees one night before Christmas, but that has gone back up to the upper twenties.  I’m going to keep watching, though.). Anyway, in light of more prolonged and deeper cold, I took advantage of the warmer and sunnier afternoon today to harvest things in the garden, mostly tomatoes.



I think there are six varieties in the box: Captain Lucky, Maglia Rosa, Blush 2.0, Riesentraube, Taiga, and an unknown red cherry that volunteered last winter. By far the bulk of the tomatoes are Blush 2.0, an elongated cherry or saladette type, that should ripen to yellow with red stripes; and Taiga, a green when ripe, heart-shaped tomato. The close-up is a smaller Taiga that is nevertheless showing a bit of color change. I actually left a good number of tomatoes on the vines as I was concentrating on picking the larger, more mature ones today.





I also have a few peppers, some snow peas, and two handfuls of kale leaves that we had tonight for supper.  We were eating leftover corned beef and potatoes, but we had nearly eaten up the cabbage.  Sautéed kale isn’t quite the same as boiled cabbage, but it was fine for getting our greens in.