Season starting in earnest

[remy]

They all look so yummy!
Remy

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Originally Posted by lakelady

looks fabulous Mark, congrats on a great tomato year!

I would think the birds wouldn't go after the blue tomatoes as I've read they usually go for things that are "red" fruits.

Yes, they do go for the red ones first, I've lost several of those early fruits so far. Tonight I found my first blue where they had started on the red blush at the bottom of the fruit. I'm pretty sure it's robins, we have several nesting in the yard and I see them by the tomatoes constantly.

One of the ones that really irritated me was the first three Granny's Heart were completely eaten over the course of one day, I'd decided in the morning that I'd pick them in the evening after one more day of vine ripening. I may have to start picking the red ones lots earlier than I would like, or invest in netting to cover my tomato gardens.

[kath]

It's frustrating losing fruits to wildlife and I've been picking mine early, too. Just a suggestion to folks living in areas where rain has been scarce to leave water out and available around/in your gardens so they won't just be poking/eating fruits looking for moisture.

[lakelady]

good idea Kath! I have a lot of fruits being eaten. I know the chipmunks have eaten some because I've caught them. They ate all the raspberries too because they got under the netting. Now I've got squirrels eating tomatoes. I had several Bloody Butchers ready to pick, left them to ripen up a little more, and found them the next day half eaten and strewn across the bed. ugh. I've started picking before ripe and bringing them in, what other choice is there? I'm going to try the water trick, but I live on a lake, there is PLENTY of water for the birds!

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Our pool is maybe 40 feet away, plus I've got a birdbath out there as well. They're just testing my resolve to see if I think the red and pink tomatoes are worth that much netting.

[Granite26]

Oh come on Mark couldnt you make me feel better and photoshop some blemishes on those pictures of the toms.

Nice group you got there! Most of my large ones have been kinda ugly with scars and cracking so far this year.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

I just chunk up and eat the ugly ones, and there have been plenty of those! Had a carbon with lunch that was so messed up it couldn't even be sliced. I have a gregori's altai that looks like something from another planet on the counter now.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Bosque Blue


J&L Select Blue


Duggin White


Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blues


Orange Minsk

[Crandrew]

Absolutely stunning Mark! So those blues went into the purple/red color range huh?

[babice]

Wow - that Bosque Blue looks almost like a Nectarine. So - how's the taste of these blues? Trying to decide what blue(s) I want to try out next year.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Yes, the colors of the ripe ones go from almost totally blue black in Indigo Rose and Blue Bayou to just speckled with darker notes on the larger Blue Fog line I have right now. More of a dark purple look is common as they ripen to red underneath.

I'm curious what the first ripe Muddy Waters are going to look like, they're supposed to be a green when ripe with blue skin. I'm also very curious to see if anyone working on orange or yellow fleshed varieties with the blue skin genetics releases some for next year.

I had some more out there I was going to pick this evening, but right now we've got a big storm with lightning and hail coming through.

All of the early blues have been good but not great, although Bing Cherry was a very good cherry for my tastes. If things go well I'm going to do a small tasting of them with a few friends next week, comparing them to something like JD's Special C-Tex.

[Mashman]

Really enjoy the pics Mark. Thanks for sharing.

Michael

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Well, I couldn't wait until I'd photographed the other varieties I have good examples of today, two of the larger Blue Bayou fruits were ripe. At least I picked them today, they might have been even better with another day on the vine. As it is flavor was a solid 7 for me, these being the first examples and potentially being harvested early (still figuring that out with these dark varieties) I thought that was pretty good.

These are more of a small slicer; The only larger blue variety so far is Blue Fog, but I don't have any of those showing much expression of the blue.

There are two of the plants showing larger fruits and they are both in grow bags, so I am taking one of them and carefully transplanting it into the ground to see what kind of size they get to later in the year.

[Baizanator]

Mark,

Which blue has been the highest yielding for ya?

[Crandrew]

Originally Posted by babice

Wow - that Bosque Blue looks almost like a Nectarine. So - how's the taste of these blues? Trying to decide what blue(s) I want to try out next year.

STOP copying me BABICE! You one Upper!

I WANT BLUES!

Originally Posted by MarkTuTTiNATOR

Well, I couldn't wait until I'd photographed the other varieties I have good examples of today, two of the larger Blue Bayou fruits were ripe. At least I picked them today, they might have been even better with another day on the vine. As it is flavor was a solid 7 for me, these being the first examples and potentially being harvested early (still figuring that out with these dark varieties) I thought that was pretty good.

The Blue Bayou is exactly what im talking about. Let us know if you find the taste jumps up or down depending on how long you let them go. Im loving these blue varieties.