All in all a very nice day.
We had over 190 people sign in, which I believe is the largest number we've ever had attending.
We had 160 different tomato varieties represented.
Here's the results of the best tasting and most unusual voting:
Best Tasting:
Shannon's and Mexico Midget - 5 votes each
Cossack Pineapple and Dester Amish - 4 votes each
Black Cherry, Cherokee Purple, Sungold - 3 votes each
Anna Russian, German Queen, Orange Heirloom, Strawberry Margarita - 2 votes each
Of course, I forgot to vote which is why Cuostralee isn't in that list!
Most Unusual:
Cossack Pineapple - Winner
Goldie, Garden Peach, Mexico Midget, Green Zebra, Uluru Ochre - Runners Up
We had 4~5 tables that held the red/pink varieties and 4 for the cherries, greens, blacks, orange, yellow, whites, and bi-colors.
We had 3 tables for the dwarves.
I spent most of my time at the dwarves, but the notable others I tasted were Ferris Wheel, Dester Amish, Cuostralee (which was good, but not at its best), Black Cherry, Lillian's Yellow, and Kentucky Yellow Heirloom. My Orange Heirloom was good, but I'm more partial to a tomato with bite...
Speaking of which, Loxtan Lad, Dwarf Blazing Beauty, and Wherokowhai were all quite remarkable for their amazing burst of flavor. These were from the dwarf table.
Also there I had the final observations/comments:
Summertime Gold - All were a little off this year. Still an 8, but I suspect the weather around Raleigh subdued the flavors a bit.
Sean's Yellow Dwarf - A very nice tomato leaning more to the sweet side of things. Many folks had favorable impressions of this one, so I think it will be made available
very soon. This one is in process for southern hemisphere seed production, and may be commercially available there before the NHer's have it!
Dwarf Mahogany - I dumped last year's F4 seed and went back to the F3 this year to try and get back to the flavor and production I got from the F2. This one seems to be back
in business as many folks really liked the flavor of this one.
My dad (again) has grown the best of the lot, and I will move forward with his.
Brawny F3 - The size/shape and color of this one is as expected. However, the fruit from my dad's garden has a much better taste. Many folks really liked the flavor and texture of this one, so I will move forward with this version.
Didn't get to compare it to Sweet Scarlet Dwarf, but I think the size/flavor potential of this one (future Dwarf Cuostralee!) keep it in a class of it's own.
All in all it was a very pleasant day.... but I had to come back to work to recover from the weekend!
Lee
Here's some of my favorite pix:
