Your tomato report, please
Posted on August 19th, 2008 – 11:37 AMBy Robyn Dochterman
How are your tomatoes doing? Are you getting bushels or are the plants suffering in the heat and lack of rain?
I’m getting some great slicers to eat, but few romas so far. I was making pasta sauce on Aug. 8 in 2007, and I don’t have anywhere near enough ‘maters to do that yet. I think I will. There are lots on the vine. But oh, they are taking their time. It makes me wonder if September isn’t going to be a train wreck of everything ripening just about the time a frost hits. H’mm. The things we gardeners worry about.
25 Responses to "Your tomato report, please"
In your lovely picture there, you have more fruit than my three sad little plants have produced. Although, now that it’s mid-August, I’m seeing a lot more little tomato buds. So far, they look like peas. Sadly, when they turn red, they’re not very big (but very tasty!)
I will likely not buy the same variety next year - I recall one is a Jet Star, and the others I’m fuzzy on, I believe Big Boy and Big Girl.
Robyn, I am having a tomato bonanza, and I only have two tomato plants (which I actually got from you at the Strib greengirls plant giveaway). They are planted right next to the south side of my house which gets VERY hot during the day.
I’ve heard a lot of people say they are not having a great tomato year.
I’m up to my ears in yellow romas, and some other heirloom which is extremely large, red, & meaty but I’m not sure which one it is. It is really delicious though. I thought it might be a brandywine at first but the flavor is richer.
My yellow roma plant went so insane that I had to add three more smaller cages around it to give it extra support. And I trimmed some branches that were threatening to choke out my cukes.
I’m not super crazy about the yellow romas though; they just don’t have as rich of flavor as my heirloom mysteries (which I think might be cherokee purples based on investigating different varieties they had at the CO-OP).
One cherry tomato plant in container on south-facing patio producing glass-bowls full of fruit for snacking and already enough for several recipes callng for same. My brother-in-law up in Andover had triumphantly ripening fruit weeks before we did. His plants are against a light heat-reflecting wall.
mine are going crazy…I can’t keep up with the ripening….i’m drowning in tomatoes…help!
I’m drowning in them too. 3 cherry plants and 3 other unknown large variety. Growing them in containers on my south-facing deck. I still have sun-dried crop from last year that I’m trying to get through. To keep up I’ve been just going straight to the deck after work and eating the ripe cherries. It spoils my dinner a little but in a good way.
I planted Sweet 100’s and they are producing great, even though the plants are not full of foliage.
Mine are about to go nuts. We’ve had a few handfuls of heirloom cherry tomatoes weekly for about 4 weeks and 1 brandywine a few weeks ago. My 1 hybrid just gave up 4 huge beefsteaks with about 4 more on the way by this weekend. The brandywine has 5 that are getting ripe.
Thankfully, I have lots of gardening deficient friends who LOVE me this time of year. Garden tomatoes go a long way in securing goodwill and favors from them for the rest of the year.
Mine are all on the south side in full sun. The heirlooms are in a huge barrel planter right up against the house so getting heat coming off the stucco. They’d probably be at least 5 feet tall if I had cages tall enough to support them. Thankfully, they’re leaning on the house and the corner of the deck. My hybrid is about 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide–it came with double stems. I had to harvest a huge pile of carrots last night because they were being taken over by the tomato chaos.
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Wow. Thanks for all the tomato reports. Sounds like, for the most part, all is well in TomatoLand.
Jennifer, if you got your ‘maters from me, you’re probably right that the heirlooms are Cherokee Purple. I tend to prefer those over Brandywines. I think the yellows are Lemon Boys. I seem to have a million of them also. They are pretty and prolific, but I also find them lacking in flavor. Don’t tell, but as my other tomatoes have ripened, I’ve started feeding the Lemon Boys to the chickens.
I have a question for cherry tomato fans. I have one plant of Mexico Millions (or something that sounds like that), which I really like. I’m curious how it compares to Sweet 100s and Sugary. Anyone know?
My Black Krim’s haven’t ripped yet (but we got off to a slow start w/those seedlings this year)! I hope to see some ripening in the next week or so…but I’m running out of TIME!
Don’t worry quite yet, Annie. The first serious frost isn’t usually until the end of September or early October.
Mine are all in pots on south side of house.
Cherry tomatoes (Sweet 100s and Millions) are producing acceptably, though I’ve had better results before.
Romas (red) just starting to come in.
Buckinghams are producing huge, but few,
fruits. One is over eleven (11′) feet
high and has given me just two baseball-sized fruits so far, with another one ripening. Flavor not as good as hoped, but firm and juicy.
No problem with blossom-end rot this year, due to scrupulously watering every other day. High heat has withered some of the flowers before they could set - draping a white t-shirt over the plant that was most affected helped a lot.
Neighbor’s Yellow Romas are doing well.
I have a very good crop of larger tomatoes this year, but a bad year for cherry tomatoes. Usually it’s the other way around. And a fair amount of Roma tomatoes, too. My plants are all in pots.
Our bigboys and caspian pinks have a curious thing going on. The tops are failing to ripen thoroughly and are quite fibrous. Anyone seen this kind of thing?
Usually I get loads of tomatoes from just one plant and the foliage gets so thick I can hardly see the stakes or supports. This year I planted 5 different types, Sweet 100, yellow pear, roma, an red, and a yellow called “Dad’s Sunset,” that I bought at the Friends Plant Sale. (I just had to get it, because my father passed away this year.) Sadly, this year, the tomato plants haven’t been very remarkable and any new blossoms are looking a little bleak. The few that have ripened so far have been a treat!
Mine are in the ground against south side of the white house but are still behind other years and based on what I’m reading here. Only one ripe Golden Bison so far. My Mortgage Lifter, Black Cherry and Polish Dwarf are loaded with green tomatoes and I’m hoping for a late freeze! Cross your fingers!
I’m curious how many of the gardeners having a great year, purchased their plants, and how many grew from seed. It seems that of the people I know, the ones having a bad year grew from seed and that w/o the benefit of a greenhouse, the cold wet spring was a problem.
Mine are very slow and sparse. I have 26 plants all from seed, and I still only pick a couple a day. None of my plants are as big as last year, and I have one plant w/ no tomatoes (a mystery one) and a Bull’s Heart with only one tomato.
My sweet peppers have also been having a problem, and none are ripening - they are just falling off with a yellowing stem and still green.
Looking forward to next year already…
Good questions, Lorika. You know, my peppers are unripening, too. Green, green, green, green, slightly more yellow……I did pick some jalapenos today. They’ve been happy this week.
I have two Mama Mia’s in pots on a SE facing 2nd floor deck. They are sort of like Romas but with fat butts! lol! I don’t get a lot of sun on my deck, so I used Miracle Grow soil to boost the foliage on the plants, bought plants that were about 6 inches tall already and had a 60 day ripening cycle, and it seemed to work! Most of my tomatos are still green, although it looks as if the few that got blossom rot are going earlier than the intact ones. I still have about 15 good tomatoes ready to turn, with 5 that already went (and were not edible really due to the rot) and about 5-7 little ones that will probably not make it before the frost. Being part Italian, if I didn’t have tomatoes, I don’t think I would feel whole! And c’mon, who could resist the name “Mama Mia”? Maybe I should have played ABBA songs for them as they were growing?
Kristin,
I haven’t heard of Mama Mia tomatoes, but I planted some Mama Leone’s because they reminded me of the Billy Joel song. Maybe they should name all veggies after songs to evoke positive emotions.
I planted my tomatoes from seed, grew under lights, them moved to a cold frame where they lived before they went in the ground. All but the Moonglows are doing great. I didn’t want so many toms this year so I cut back on fertilizer and planted fewer (only 8 plants) but still have more than I can eat and more coming and will have plenty to freeze, can, and dehydrate.
My mother in law planted tomatoes from seed for both of us. She planted hers in pots on a south facing deck. I put mine in the garden. Hers outperformed mine on every level. Ripe faster, more maters, bigger fruit, taller plants. I water just once a week if there’s no rain. The few mater’s I’ve got are sweet and healthy. This year more buds than usual dry up before turning to fruit.
I’m getting plenty right now. The Celebrity variety have been producing excellent slicing tomatoes. Cherries and Supersweet 100s are also doing well. My small yellow pears are bland and tasteless. The whole plant went into the compost pile today. I’m still waiting on the heirlooms to ripen.
Hey Peter, maybe you need chickens to eat your yellow pears! What heirlooms are you waiting on?
I’m not sure if they are Purple Cherokees or Brandywines. The shadows are getting longer. Some of my tomatoes — volunteers — sprouted in less than ideal locations. They are no longer getting the full sun they need.
Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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