Tomato Growing Thread 2023

Will be trying various forms of the blight resistant Crimson Crush family this year.
Also with the impending processed tomato shortage will also focus on SanMarzano's for homemade passata.

 

A tomato shortage?
What will they think of next in order to make money.

 

Sweet Olive it is. Does very well outdoors and is an early cropper. Space is very limited so the plant will have to earn it's keep and this one certainly does. This year I will not make the mistake of preserving the last crop but we'll eat everything as they mature.

(Last time I grew Sweet Olive I painstakingly roasted the last crop slowly in the oven with good olive oil, herbs and basil, a sprinkle of pink himalayan salt and fresh black pepper, pureed and sieved the lot and with much enthusiasm tasted it- whoppah, I had made ketchup. )

 

I again had a good start last year, but again no bumper crops. Some plants died early, some gave me a couple of tomatoes. Didn't even want to write here. :( Tomatoes were very tasty though. Purple Heart, Alice's Dream, Shadow Boxing. Usual delicious residents too: Black Cherry and Sungold.
I don't give up yet, new season, new hopes. Still learning.
To refresh soil in the greenhouse, will be taking lower levels from the composter soon to add into the greenhouse.
Was surprised that late sown phacelia survived the frost.
Have tomatoe seeds from the previous seasons, and some should be sent over to me soon.

 

Ones I grew last year that I will grow again:

Sevryuga, pink beef heart shaped russian
Gordost Sibiri, early tasty Russian beefsteak
Cherokee Purple, purple beefsteak
Sungold, classic cherry
Azoychka, nice early and prolific yellow beefsteak
Bloody butcher, early, tasty salad tomato
Banan krasnyi, looked great outside until blight took it, will try inside
Crimson crush for outside

New ones, not sure which ones I will try. Got a few more dwarf ones this year
Barrys crazy cherry
Berner Rose
Karma peach
Blue gold berries
Skycomish
Tibet apple (determinate)
Cherokee Tiger Purple striped (dwarf semi determinate)
Dwarf Melanie's Ballet
Striped Dwarf Typ A
Brad's Atomic Grape

 

Did my list over the Christmas break.

Container determinate tomatoes:
Tumbling Tom Red
Tumbling Tom Yellow
Rambling Red Stripe AKA Jester

Indeterminates:
Sungold F1
Golden Sunrise
Auntie Madge's
Tigerella
Green Zebra
Gardener's Delight

New to me:
Girl Girl's Wild Thing
Ananas Noire
Rosalie's Early Orange AKA Sweet Horizon
Reinhard's Purple Sugar

Edited to add two more, both new to me:
Black and Brown Boar
Piglet Willie's French Black

And that's all I have room for.

 

Why is this predicted ? Not seen this mentioned elsewhere. Italian political turmoil is not new.

 

Ooh, where to begin the process of elimination???

Certainly I'll be trying Rheinhart's Purple Sugar, plus I have been entrusted with something called Gerald's Mystery, which can't be purchased here (yet). There's the surprise sport from Sinister Minister, imaginatively dubbed "Jeff's Big Green Thing" and something that might be an off-type from Der Kleine Doctor, (in that it's not so kleine and might simply be mislabelled , but it's really tasty).

Bloody Butcher, Rosella Cherry, Santorini and Maskotka have all earned their places, as has JWK's Gardener's Delight.

I have some new micro dwarf cherries and some Dwarf Tomato Project jobbies to try.

Maybe I'll add another tough early red to the mix. And more purples. Definitely more purples.

Back to the spreadsheet....

 

California harvest was really bad. Tinned toms,ketchup etc will suffer this year as the harvest just didnt come in .

 

I've been giving away tomato seeds, left, right and centre. I still have some to share if anyone would like to try some new varieties you're unlikely to see on UK seed sites. Ask away!

 

I have lots of 'Gardeners Delight' tomato seeds. I bought 60 seeds online last year thinking I could share them with my son. But later he told me he wasn't going to grow more than 4 or 5 plant that year. I have only got space for about 10-12 plants on the balcony.

I want to grow the 'Gardeners Delight' seeds sent to me by @JWK & compare them with a few of the seeds I bought online last year. As I'm going to grow them side by side I won't have room for any other varieties this year.

 

No room? Not even for... Subjugator of Love?!