Last year I was surfing the forums to decide what fruit trees to plant and now I want to know what Tomato varieties to plant. It seems to be quite a common question so I decided to put up a website where you can vote for your favorite fruits and vegetable http://www.gardenpoll.com Hope this will be of help to future gardeners! Lakshmi
http://xrl.us/qvdu Zone 5 All pictures are annotated on the lower left of the larger picture. All the tomatoes are for the table. The tomatoe fruiting bodies are all large usually around 10 centimeters or 4 inches in diameter. All plants are the indeterminate type and I have cut off the leader on all plants about a week ago. After the end of August growth is almost stopped, and this gives the fruit a chance to ripen without producing more small fruit. There is leaf curl, but this has not affected the fruit in any way. I contribute this to too fast a growth and possibly some calcium deficiency,and possibly overwatering at the beginning of the season. Next year I am going to add some calcium to the tomatoe soil. The Lemon Boy, yellow when ripe, has a perfectly formed fruiting body and tastes fine to me. My favourite as far as taste goes is the Black Russian, Purple Prince or Russian Krim. Usually the fruit is slightly smaller on these types. Manitoba is a fine tomatoe and very prolific. Aussie was grown from seeds I saved last year. It ripens late,and is quite large. More a conversation piece than anything else. Only a few fruitng boies for all that vegetation. Japanese Monataro was the first time I grew this plant. The fruit is perfectly shaped and is popular in Japan. None have ripened yet. Durgan.
Wow Durgan, those tomatoes look amazing. Looks like you planted them in the middle of a volleyball court? lol Actually, I was hoping people would go vote for their favorites so that there could be a more permanent record instead of searching through threads http://gardenpoll.com/ Since you seems to have so much experience, I'd like to ask you two questions: 1. Planting rows East-West, how much space do you need to leave between rows of indeterminate tomatoes (I would really like to squeeze as many in as possible without affecting their health). 2. If you had to recommend a heirloom tomato for someone only on their second year of vegetable gardening (i.e. easy to grow and good taste), what would it be? Thanks, Lakshmi
My favourite as far as taste goes is the Black Russian, Purple Prince and Russian Krim. Usually the fruit is slightly smaller on these types. Sweet million for the small types. I highly recommend the two that are highlighted. I also like Pink Girl, since I am partial to the slightly pink tomato. I didn't vote because I know nothing about the tomatoes you listed. Planting: Usually the spacing is 2.5 feet in all directions and they are caged with a 6 or 8 foot rebar if the plant goes beyond the cage, which is usual. With this spacing the direction referring to the sun is not important, since all will get sufficient sunlight. When there are 4 good clusters formed I cut off the leader, since ripening and growth after 31 August is insignificient in Zone 5. I keep the suckers trimmed, but may allow one or two secondaries to form with the starting point just above the first cluster. I don't like one main stem since I feel the plant needs a good quantity of leaves for food and some shade for the fruit. Seldom do I grow determinate types. This year I have different types with two plants of each. I don't plant the two types together, but separate in the garden area as insurance, and to see if one plant grows better than the other. The types I am growing are: Aussie -very large but few tomatoes, Beefsteak, Better Boy, Black Prince, Brandy Wine, Burpee Big Boy, Cherokee Purple, Japanese Monataro perfect shape and a bit later, Lemon Boy perfect if one likes yellow tomatoes, Manitoba eary and very prolific, Russion Krim, Italian Pomaro, Pink Girl, Sweet Million. I recently ordered another tomato that I found on some forum. The name eludes me so I will post when the seeds arrive. 18 August 2006 http://xrl.us/qv9q Close-up photographs of the tomatoes in my garden. The pictures are complete with name in the lower left of the larger image. A few varieties I grew are not shown, since they have not ripened. All types are indeterminate and are for table use. 24 Aug 2006. http://xrl.us/q4dv I have added the Cherokee Purple tomato to the list. The one plant has about 23 large tomatoes all about the same size. Some split due to a day of rain then hot sun the next day. The tomatoes are of good flavour and texture. Durgan. Durgan.
Hi Durgan, Thanks for the info. When I first posted I knew nothing of heirlooms which is why none were up on my website yet (there are plenty now and you can add any you don't see). Since then I have been scouring the web and have decided to grow: From Before: First Lady Hybrid Big Beef Hybrid Classica Paste Hybrid Tiny Tim (to give away) And just added: Kellogg's Breakfast Cherokee Purple Jaune Flammee Black Cherry Bradywine Sungold. Someone is very genorously sending me Black Cherry and a few more blacks to try out (don't know which ones yet) so I'm quite excited about my tomatoes this year! Your Cherokee Purples look really good - hope mine turn out half as well. How am I supposed to wait for summer? :-) Lakshmi
