BB’s Garden of the Rising Sun - 2019
 

Having missed the last couple of growing seasons due to military life & moving to Japan last summer, I’m excited to get growing again! I’ll be planting mostly Japanese hybrids this year since heirloom tomatoes don’t seem to have much part in the culture here yet. (I’ll be doing some scouting at my local farmer’s markets just in case)

I have selected the following types:

Cindy Orange
Fruity Pimi
Fukuju
Midori-chan (I’m almost positive this is Sungreen, marketed by Tokita under a cute name to appeal to children)
Misora
Momo-chan (another Tokita renaming I suspect of actually being Sunpeach)
Momotaro Fight
Momotaro Gold
Odoriko
Rei 60

Sun Gold (sourced from Tville, because oddly enough I haven’t been able to locate it for sale at all here in Japan)

and a few OP varieties:

Flanders Contrast (new to me)
Lemon Drop (family favorite cherry)
Pink Berkeley Tie Dye (family favorite slicer)
Polish Pastel (favorite for dehydrating, it turns out incredibly sweet!)

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Pics of the Japanese seed packets - when they are delivered I should be able to roughly translate & post more info.

Hi, Braybright! I look forward to updates on these, since every one except Sungold is new to me.

This will be fun, and a different kind of garden for you! Are you in base housing? And is your plot ready? Have a great season and keep us updated.

Wow, this will be fascinating!

Aloha Bray bright,
You have just started quite a discussion, in my house. This year, I am having great luck with my tomatoes. I changed many things, but thats a different story. The big story is that I grew 2 types, one is Cherokee Purple, the other is seeds I bought at Daiso store. I call it the Japan dollar store. I did ask my wife what was written on the package. She said Tomato, which I knew from the picture. But it was 2 pkts for 100¥. I can't pass that up. I will search for the packet to find out if it has a name or not. Now I really want to know what to call it other than dollar store. Aloha and stay safe.
Tom

What ? Thats it ???
 

[QUOTE=Tomzhawaii;728374]Aloha Bray bright,
You have just started quite a discussion, in my house. This year, I am having great luck with my tomatoes. I changed many things, but thats a different story. The big story is that I grew 2 types, one is Cherokee Purple, the other is seeds I bought at Daiso store. I call it the Japan dollar store. I did ask my wife what was written on the package. She said Tomato, which I knew from the picture. But it was 2 pkts for 100¥. I can't pass that up. I will search for the packet to find out if it has a name or not. Now I really want to know what to call it other than dollar store. Aloha and stay safe.
Tom[/QUOTE]

Mystery solved.
To my embarrasment, it's "Medium" yes thats it ! Just medium. :no:

Hi BB, I grow Japanese hybrids from seed that I buy during my annual trips to Japan in the spring. Around early April you will also start to see many seedlings for sale too, in case you want to check out some varieties that are not available for sale as seeds.
My current fav hybrid is Fruitica. I was disappointed in Momotaro Gold. Sungold is sold under a different name there but I am not sure what it is. I prefer to just buy those seeds here as it is cheaper. Seeds in Japan can be pricey but the seedlings are pretty reasonable and of course very healthy. The quality of the plants in nurseries there is amazing.
I hope you continue to post your results as it will be interesting to see the results under the conditions there. Summers are mighty hot and humid.
Wishing you great success :)

Thanks for the replies everyone! I’ve been in beautiful Hong Kong for the past week and got a dose of lush greenery to fight off the last bit of winter blues. My tomato seeds have all been delivered and I will spend the next few weeks getting them all wintersown in milk jugs. I have a correction to make for one of the variety names, as I can read the packets in person more clearly than the online photos- it’s [B]Fruity Bimi[/B], not “pimi”.

I’ll have a couple containers of cherries at the house and everything else at the community garden. I had garden orientation this morning and signed up for 2 plots. Measurements here are done by a unit called a “jo”, equivalent to one tatami mat. My plots are adjoining and each the size of five mats. (165 sq ft as far as I can calculate using online resources) The plots won’t be marked off until next month, so I will not really have a concrete idea of what I have to work with until then. That should be just prior to our last frost date.

The naming conventions here seem strange to me, too! Very generic. But then, nobody is saving these seeds to grow each year so... I have noticed that the seeds are expensive compared to what I’d usually pay so I’ll keep an eye out for starts as well. I’ve heard late April is prime time for that so we shall see! Our conditions in far northern Honshu are very similar to Nantucket - generally cool, windy, rainy & humid, with a warm stretch midsummer.

All but 3 of my tomatoes started with the wintersown method have sprouted as of today! I have a few bigger starts under lights in the house. I’ll be waiting a few more weeks before planting out, we had rainy highs of 42 this weekend and it sure put a damper on my gardening! I got a look at our community plot and it’s 15’x23.5’, marked with the double pink tape. It’s a good thing I have little helpers because I think weeding might become a full time job! So excited to get planting in May - along with all the tomatoes we have plans for a bean teepee, and lots of flowers.

That will be great for the kids, and they will enjoy the bean teepee! Now you know the dimensions and orientation, you can have fun planning. ;)

How exciting! Seeing a blank slate and dreaming about what you'll put in there. Please keep us updated! :D

Well folks, plans have changed! We are getting a medical reassignment back to the states, with a very short window this summer to get the move completed in. I've had to give up my community plot and am in the process of giving away all my tomato seedlings to local friends. I'll be bringing my Japanese seeds back with me and start planning for an epic growing season in 2020, wherever we end up! I'll be cheering you all on until I can join in the fun again :)

Thanks for sharing your update. Hope all is well and that your move goes smoothly! It will be interesting to see how these varieties do back stateside.

Wow, stuff happens quickly. Having been in the military I've seen that happen to folks. I'm sorry all your plans have been turned upside down but hey, you'll have some neat seeds to play with next year. Hope the medical problem resolves favorably.

Best wishes BB, and welcome home...