Comments on some of my Mid-Atlantic varieties
 

Here are some notes on the progress of my "Middies:"

[I]Chesapeake[/I] is growing like a monster. I've already had to add an extra tomato pen on top of the original one. It's loaded with large green, slightly cat-faced fruit. Looks promising if it can escape the inevitable blight.

[I]Greater Baltimore,[/I] on the other hand, is a somewhat compact plant. It's contained in its pen and hasn't reached the top yet.

[I]Hopkins [/I]is wild and rangy, as one would expect of a cherry tom.

[I]Sunray [/I]is kind of in the middle, as far as size is concerned. The fruits are really pretty, perfectly round, although still green.

I'll keep you all up to date on these. Although it's not a "Middie," I'm very pleased so far with one of my other newbies - Polish Dwarf. It's actually a very attractive container plant, with its thick "trunks" and rugose leaves, and there are quite a few nice round little fruits growing on it. The only problem is that the birds like to sit on top of its stake, so the leaves are covered with -how you say -guano.

Hi, Cecilia. I'm actually closer to a Tomatopalooza event than MAGTAG but the title of this thread caught my attention. I grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland so still feel close ties to the state and in Va. now so technically still in the Mid Atlantic.

So is this Hopkins the one named after the family of Edgar Allen Poe's mother? I've always been curious about that one. And though I'm in Virginia Beach now, I live just a couple of blocks from the Chesapeake Bay, so I'll be waiting to hear about the progress of that variety, as well. Thanks for sharing your results.

Yup, it's that Hopkins. I thought it would be appropriate to grow it in honor of Poe's 200th birthday. No ripe fruits yet, but there certainly are a lot of them!

Just picked my first Sunray the other day, but I still haven't tasted it. I HOPE it's Sunray - my understanding is that it should be an orange variety. The fruit I picked is orange-red. I'll have to check photos of Sunray online.

Some good news and bad news about my Mid-Atlantic varieties:

I checked some photos of [I]Sunray[/I], and it looks like mine is too red. I either have a different variety (although the shape looks right), or crossed seed. I hope that some of the other folks that I gave seedlings to have the correct version. Can anybody else who's growing [I]Sunray[/I] comment?

On a happier note, some of my fruits this year look like they are going to be HUGE in size (at least for me) - my "Middie" [I]Chesapeake[/I] is one. I don't know if any of them will be prizewinners, but [I]Hungarian Heart, Church[/I], and even[I] Black Krim[/I] are particularly large this year. I realize that size and taste don't necessarily correlate, but it is a surprise for me. Perhaps it's the red plastic tomato trays?

[I]Hopkins[/I] is ripening; it looks just like a yellower version of[I] Sungold,[/I] and tastes fine - but no cherry can beat [I]Sungold[/I] or [I]Black Cherry[/I], in my opinion. It's rather mild; of course, I realize that the first fruits aren't always indicative of what the 'maters will taste like at the peak of the season.

[I]Greater Baltimore[/I]'s fruits are still green, but they are very pretty, round, and smooth. They look like they will be medium-sized - larger than, say Stupice, but not huge like a beefsteak variety.

Finally got a ripe [I]Chesapeake[/I], although I haven't tasted it yet. DH and I will probably break out the fresh mozzarella over the weekend and try it with some basil. I've attached a photo of yesterday's tomato cache, which includes both [I]Chesapeake [/I]and [I]Hopkins[/I]. [I]Chesapeake [/I]is the big catfaced one on the left. [I]Hopkins[/I] is the yellow cherry right below it. So far, [I]Hopkins[/I] still tastes pretty bland to me, but that's because [I]Sungold[/I] and [I]Black Cherry[/I] have spoiled me.

Hi, Cecilia. How did Greater Baltimore taste? I'm looking into old wilt resistant varieties and am thinking about growing this one, along with Sunray.

Michele, I thought GB tasted a little bland, but all my tomatoes were bland this year. My husband loved it, though - he doesn't care for "tangy" tomatoes, and he also likes the fact that it didn't have much of a whithsh "core" compared to some of the other varieties I grew. I will grow it again next season, for my DH, and also to see how it tastes in a "better" year.

Thanks, Cecilia. I think I'll grow just one plant and see how it does for me and if I like it, grow more the following year. I prefer some tang in my tomatoes but I will give it a chance.

[quote=Cecilia_MD7a;143837]Michele, I thought GB tasted a little bland, but all my tomatoes were bland this year. My husband loved it, though - he doesn't care for "tangy" tomatoes, and he also likes the fact that it didn't have much of a whithsh "core" compared to some of the other varieties I grew. I will grow it again next season, for my DH, and also to see how it tastes in a "better" year.[/quote]

I have a husband like that. Poor silly things.

It's somewhat comforting to learn that others' tomatoes were less zingy this year, as mine were. Still pretty darn good, but not like tomatoes of old (two years ago).


Christine

Chesapeake was one of the stars down here - even when grown in a paltry "12 gallon" growbag - wonderfully full balanced tangy & sweet - saved a bunch of seed. Red, baseball to softball sized, small core - firmer than a lot of pinks but not at all hard. Awesome Caprese salad, tomato sandwich tomato. Sunray in a bag has produced 4 or 5 beautiful deep orange globes - lovely flavor. Hopkins is very pretty but sited next to Dr. Carolyn which makes Hopkins seem not so good - on the table it is a nice tomato. DelMar in a #&^$# growbag produced 1 or 2 nicely shaped vibrant tasting red fruit - will grow it again. Greater Baltimore & Scarab seedlings had an early unfortunate demise... still can't talk about it... I have been pleased with the Mid-Atlantic grow outs - Chesapeake has been my standout down here - more for next year!

I like the idea of growing Chesapeake because it was bred by the University of Maryland (I am a Terp, class of '88) and it's wilt resistant. I know Tanager Song Farm used to sell the seed but I don't know of any commercial source now. Do you? Thanks for any info you may have.

I got mine from Chuck Wyatt's heirloom seeds site

That's where I bought mine, too - the website is [URL]http://www.heirloomtomatoes.net/[/URL].

Chesapeake produced some of my largest tomatoes this year - several 1-lb plus.

I'm going to try Scarab again next year, since none of my seeds germinated.

And if somebody can help me locate seeds for a Hanover tomato (see my thred re: the Baltimore Sun article), I'd like to try that.

Wow, I didn't think we could still get seeds from there but I guess his neighbor is still doing that. Great. Thank you!