Ripening Happens

[kath]

Salix,

Haven't really thought about next year's list other than making a vow that it will be a LOT shorter! It's not hard for me to cut at all because I grow for taste and know what I like. By season's end after tasting repeated and comparing them all, it was pretty clear last year which were the chosen few- the ones I wasn't willing to share with anyone else! Fortunately for me, I don't like most of them enough to grow them all again! Next year I plan to bring back the few winners from last year and pit them against the winners from this year, along with those new ones that I can't resist trying...limiting those will be the hard part!

They're all wonderful tomatoes but only some are especially wonderful for me and for DH, and some are growing better or producing more or earlier than others here. I'm very happy that the quality is indeed improving so that I'll hopefully be able to evaluate each variety that I grew this year. I'm also using some for cooking this year and will choose those that work the best that way also.

Hope you're swimming in tomatoes soon.

[kath]

Thanks, Buck- PM sent. Have got a real assortment of Flathead Monsters this year- ha!

[kath]

Struggling to keep up, disease is getting ahead of me, but the tomatoes are still coming at this point. We had a heavy rain warning, so I picked everything that had a blush the other day; we only got 0.4" but it's better than no rain. Have a backlog of photos to add:

Pic 1, top: Black Giant (27.5 oz), Orenburg Giant, Aunt Astrida's Latvian Heart-Not
bottom: DeWeese Streaked, African Queen, Blue Ridge Mountain

Pic 2, top: Red Barn, Willard Wynn (22.1 oz), Kardia Karpas (18.2 oz)
middle: Flathead Monster, West Virginia Sweet Meat, Goldman's Italian American
bottom: Plourde, Hillbilly Potato Leaf, Lillian Maciejewski's Polish Pink

Pic 3, top: Black Giant, Oaxacan Jewel, Lancaster County Pink
middle: Doubloon (19 oz), Orange Oxheart-Not, Golden Queen
bottom: Casino Paste, Italian Purple (19.3 oz), Kalman's Hungarian Pink

Pic 4, top: Emma Pink (20.7 oz), Sakharnyi Pudovichok (22.4 oz), Giuseppe's Big Boy (22.9 oz)
bottom: Soldacki (17.1 oz), African Queen (16.5 oz), The Dutchman 15.7 oz)

More tomorrow- wish I could share some of my harvest with those of you who are north and still waiting!

Kath

[kath]

Originally Posted by Heritage

Kath,

Is that Brandysweet Plum (larger version) off of the same plant as the other Brandysweet Plum? If so, does it taste the same?

Beautiful display!

Steve

Steve-

Seems this must be a cross since Brandysweet Plum is described as a small cherry. The fruits from my plant range from 1.8 to 7.5 oz. to date.

Kath

[kath]

This is my year for big tomatoes- can't believe how many of them are over a pound. Can't imagine what a 2 lb. tomato must be like. Sad correlation between fruits that big that are also catfaced and hard to slice. I've decided that I don't need them to be that large, really. Eight to twelve oz. is a really nice size for slicing and if it's not catfaced, gives you as much or more tomato than a larger ugly one.

Tag mixup that involved NAR and NARX as well as a couple other varieties has me trying to identify a few by their fruits. I also have labeled plants of those varieties that were planted in June so hopefully I'll be able to id them later.

Some big and/or new ones:

Pic 1, top: Cherokee Chocolate, Yugoslavian (23.3 oz), unknown dark (17.3 oz)
middle: Norcarolina Pink, Goldman's Italian American (17.8 oz), Butler Skinner (16.3 oz)
bottom: Kardia Karpas (18.1 oz), Blue Ridge Mountain (22.7 oz), Grub's Mystery Green

Pic 2, top: Black from Tula (16.5 oz), Ludmilla's Red Plum, Gillogly Pink
middle: Holland, NAR or NARX? (24.9 oz), ?
bottom: Whittaker Oxheart, Wow!s, Olen'ka

[Mark0820]

It looks like you are having a good harvest this year. How did you like the taste of Emma Pink, Blue Ridge Mountain, Goldman's Italian American and Kalman's Hungarian Pink?

My first Blue Ridge Mountain is probably 4 or 5 days away from being ripe.

[kath]

Originally Posted by Mark0820

It looks like you are having a good harvest this year. How did you like the taste of Emma Pink, Blue Ridge Mountain, Goldman's Italian American and Kalman's Hungarian Pink?

Mark,

The harvest is HUGE. As I've said before, I dislike reviewing because I don't want to discourage anyone from trying a variety and I don't really like very many. I also have shared my absolute faves and found that others have found them to be spitters. I take only the briefest notes about tasting results, sometimes just an up or down arrow, and trying this many varieties results in my quickly forgetting most of what was tasted the day before.

That being said, Goldman's Italian American (tasted twice) was weirdly sweet and not in a good way for me. DH agreed. Haven't used it in cooking as yet.

Emma Pink was mealy at first; the next one was less so and had a nice taste- maybe a bit too acidic for me at the end. DH said it was just ok. This one may improve with time.

Blue Ridge Mountain was ok but a week behind many others planted at the same time. Two tomatoes so far, both over a pound. My notes say, "Not worth the wait."

Kalman's Hungarian Pink- really niced sized fruits, 4 so far- DH likes this one- I can't remember it.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful on this one.

Kath

[kath]

This will be the last post for a bit- daughter and grandchildren are visiting for a week.

The first Tsar Kolokol is the new biggest fruit so far- haven't tasted it yet. Did taste Brave General and I'm impressed with this one- it was worth the wait.

First pic, top: Tsar Kolokol (30.4 oz), Polish C (24.3 oz), Dagestansky (23.7 oz)
bottom: Brave General (17.9 oz), Jumbo Jim Orange (18.6 oz), Ledoux Special

Second pic, top: Marianna's Peace, Canadian Heart
bottom: Oleyar's German, Japanese Oxheart, Large German

[fortyonenorth]

Beautiful Kathy. The Tsar has been a standout in my garden as well but I dare say I have nothing approaching that monster of yours!

[kath]

Originally Posted by fortyonenorth

Beautiful Kathy. The Tsar has been a standout in my garden as well but I dare say I have nothing approaching that monster of yours!

Thanks, think we'll be tasting it tomorrow. I found a fruit yesterday that it amazingly huge, but all 3 of the fused parts are ripening at different rates. Think I'll try to harvest it tomorrow because the one part is super ripe and we might get rain. Hope I don't ruin it trying to detach it from the plant.

My daughter is enjoying the tomato tastings- the grandsons, not so much. They'll be off visiting in NJ tomorrow, so I'll have some time to "catch up" with the harvest.

[kath]

Had the day to myself in the garden to harvest tomatoes...many, many tomatoes.

Pic 1, top: Wes(17.1 oz), Kentucky Beefsteak-Not (23.1 oz), Zore's Big Red (20.2 oz)
bottom: Tennessee Surprise (21.1 oz), Wessel's Purple Pride, Snag's Pride, Black Master (18.6 oz)

Pic 2, top: Mortgage Lifter (18.6 oz), Tennessee Surprise (again-oops), Giannini
middle: Owens Purple F4, Roger's Best Black, Holland
bottom: Jujube cherries

[Talon1189]

Daaayuum..... What are you fertilizing your plants with? ..........

[kath]

This is a Tennessee Sweet-mostly pretty fruits from 6 to 18 oz so far- this was the largest.

[kath]

Originally Posted by Talon1189

Daaayuum..... What are you fertilizing your plants with? ..........

Lol- each plant got a 1/4 c. of Fertrell Organic Granular Super Lawn & Garden (3-2-3) sprinkled 3" from the stem & scratched into the soil at plant out. They haven't had anything since.

[kath]

These ripened up last week- the ones over a pound have weight noted. The Hoys are gigantic!

Top: Hoy (40.4 oz), Italian Heirloom, Mrs. Houseworth (21.2 oz)
Bottom: St. Colombe (22.1 oz), Malinowe Zebra #137, Neves Azorian Red (23.8 oz)