Tomato Varieties 2021

The taste of the tomatoes in my garden this year is absolutely OUTSTANDING.  I really feel as though I've grown all new taste buds.  It has been pretty good growing conditions for tomatoes this year.  The weather has been warm.  We did have those two weeks of steady rain in July, but now the rain is more normal and the tomato flavors are not being washed away.  My plants are looking great with very little disease.  At this point in the year I am pruning off any new growth and removing some fruit.  If any fruit begins to color up when it is smaller than sandwich size, those come off too.

This year I planted five slicers in containers.  That is the smallest number of plants I've ever planted!  I actually stuck to my plan and did not plant any spares, although I did keep them around until I was really sure all of my chosen plants were well established.  Two of the slicer varieties are what I would call "old friends" and three were new to me.  I also grew two new cherry/patio varieties.

Pike County Yellow (stock photo)

PIKE COUNTY YELLOW:  An heirloom from Pike County, Kentucky. Introduced commercially in 2009 by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and Southern Exposure Seed. Indeterminate, regular leaf plant produces loads of pretty 12-16 oz., orange fruit with delicious mildly sweet flavors. A good producer over a long season. A good choice for sliced into salads and sandwiches or even a wonderful sauce.

Pike County

I grew Pike County back in 2016 when I did all Kentucky heirlooms.  The seeds are hard to find so I will need to save some for myself.  This tomato has been the tastiest variety so far.  All of my tomatoes have been fruity and tangy but this one is super acidic almost to the point of being sour but not. I certainly wouldn't describe it as mildly sweet. It is intensely tart. Absolutely full of flavor!  It appears to be a heavy producer, but it has been slow to ripen.  My second favorite this year.

Barlow Jap

BARLOW JAP: Then there is PaPaw's tomato.  I am growing what I consider to be a red variant this year.  No green shoulders like the older photo above.  It is less "pink" and more richly colored red and very fruity flavored.  I am keeping these variant seeds marked separately.  Maybe I'll  grow some older seeds next year and maybe one of each.  But tomato space is sort of at a premium.  Not growing space - tummy space!  But I really like the direction this variant has taken.  I guess I've put my own spin on PaPaw's tomato and I like that.  I've made it my own.

Barlow Jap

Sparks Yellow

SPARKS:  Craig LeHoullier got these seeds as "Yellow" from tomato collector Don Sparks of Kentucky and named it Spark's Yellow in his honor. Indeterminate, potato leaf plant produces good yield of 3-inch, gorgeous, yellow-orange, juicy, round beefsteak tomatoes with delicious taste.

Sparks

Sparks is one I've been wanting to try.  I think I tried to grow this once before and didn't get a single seedling so I threw out the seed packet.  This year I bought new seeds but only got one seedling which means the seeds have a low germination rate.  I'll save my own seeds and see if I can improve on that.  The tomato is worth the wait.  It is a sweet yellow reminiscent of Kellogg's Breakfast but not quite as orangey sweet which I don't care for anyway.  I like my tomatoes acidic..  Also not quite as giant.  I actually got second place in a Largest Tomato contest one year with my Kellogg's Breakfast.  It is a lot of fruit for one person, so the Sparks is a more single serving version.  And it is very meaty.  I had a hard time finding any seeds in this tomato!  Its good and I will probably grow it again, just not right away.

Pink Berkeley Tie Dye

PINK BERKELEY TIE DYE:  Developed from unknown cross that arose in the fields of Bradley Gates of Wild Boar Farms, Napa Valley, California. Compact indeterminate, regular leaf plants produce beautiful 8-12 oz., port wine colored beefsteaks with metallic green stripes and dark brownish-green shoulders. An heirloom-style, luscious tomato with deep, sweet, earthy, well-balanced flavors. Early to mid-early, about 65-75 days to maturity.

Pink Berkeley Tie Dye

This plant suffered most from Blossom End Rot so it took awhile to get a good example.  I would classify this tomato more as a black than a bi-color.  Certainly its biggest draw is the unique color.  It is fun to watch them ripen, but when you cut it open it is less dramatic than a yellow bicolor, and looks most similar to your typical black tomato.  I didn't get any really nice tomatoes and then yesterday I scrapped the whole plant because of blight.  This tomato is not for me.  There are so many others that perform better for me.

Pink Berkeley Tie Dye

Carbon

CARBON:  Winner of the 2005 “Heirloom Garden Show” best-tasting tomato award. These have won taste awards coast to coast in the last few years. The fruit is smooth, large, and beautiful, being one of the darkest and prettiest of the purple types. They seem to have an extra dose of the complex flavor that makes dark tomatoes famous.

Carbon Plant this week

Now THIS tomato IS for me!  This was the first one to bloom for me this year.  I like black tomatoes because of their complex taste.  In the past I've tried Cherokee Purple, Black Krim and Paul Robeson.  The Paul Robeson did the best for me.  This Carbon plant is quite compact (short) for an indeterminate which is always a good thing.  We use a lot of the standard adjectives to describe a tomato's taste: Sweet, Tangy, Smokey, Fruity.  Carbon tastes "Tomato-y".  Whatever it is that tomato tastes like - this variety has it.  It keeps putting out big beautiful fruit and they ripen quickly.  I always thought that the yellow bi-color category was my favorite but I just fall in love with every black tomato I try.

Carbon

Patio Choice Red

Patio Choice Red is a compact, disease resistant tomato developed specifically for small spaces and container gardens. Consider using these beautiful tomatoes either fresh, in the oven or sun dried for a delightfully sweet treat.  Red produces over 100 of 1/2-ounce bright red cherry tomatoes on short vines that grow only 18 inches tall and 18 to 20 inches wide.

These seedlings were the most robust plants and I gave some away.  The one plant I saved for my own started to bloom 06/18  The fruit took longer to turn than the yellow version next to it that bloomed after.  But once it started it didn't stop.  Not a super sweet cherry, but a nice mini-tomato.  There is a bit of a core in them that almost makes you want to spit out the shoulders.  That is fine for a slicer, but tricky in a little cherry.  Still a super producer and great for your early tomato salad fix.  I kept this plant on the corner of the patio next to the garden walkway and popped them into my mouth every time I walked by.  This one will have space in my garden again because it fills that unique patio need.

Winner of the All-America Selections for its high yields, super-compact size, and unbeatable disease resistance, Patio Choice Yellow is ready in no time, setting its crop all at once to make harvesting even easier. This is a plant that looks as good as it tastes—the 1-inch-diameter cherries weigh in at just half an ounce either, but explode with a rich, juicy, mild bite. And with yields like this, you can eat some of the crop right off the plant and still have plenty for canning, saucing, drying, or freezing.  Patio Choice Yellow stands up to heat, humidity, and rain beautifully, and demonstrates great resistance to three common tomato diseases: tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), verticillium wilt, and Fusarium wilt

My overall opinion of this one is pretty low.  I planted three batches of three seeds and only got one seed to germinate.  Because if this the plant was a couple of weeks behind the other plants. The fruit is a little large for a cherry tomato and the yield is not as great as the Patio Choice Red.  It is more in the salad tomato category instead of cherry, good for slicing into salads but a little too big to comfortably pop into your mouth,  I probably won't grow it again.

 

And that is my tomato synopsis for 2021.  I eat one large tomato just about every day.  I've scaled down from tomato sandwiches to simply tomato on toast.  I prefer the ratio of one slice of bread to one slice of tomato.  But that toast still has mayo on it 😋 It doesn't look like I'll have to can any this year, but then... the year ain't over yet.

reTired = Tired All Over Again?

 It's August and the garden is tired.  I'm a little tired myself.  I think the definition of re-tired must be Tired Again.  I've been retired now for four months.  I drink less, I swear less and I snack less.  I've lost ten pounds, but my feet were killing me.  I had to buy new garden shoes to keep my feet from hurting because each morning it was becoming clearer what a great evolutionary accomplishment walking upright on two legs can be.

This determinate Patio Choice tomato has done its best and is starting to burn out.  I am on the verge of picking it clean and dumping it.  With determinate tomatoes - when they're done, they're done.

The apple trees are looking tired with their branches heavily weighed down.  The apples are just beginning to ripen.  I use the early dropped apples for dehydrating because the tartness is actually nice.

The potatoes were tired out, so I cut them back and moved them over to cure. 

The bed is replanted in buckwheat.

The beans are tired.  About once a week I can pick enough for supper.

The bush beans are beginning to bloom again.

As with any season, some things are rejuvenated instead.

These Sweet Allysum went to seed in late July.  I trimmed them back and fed them and they are blooming again.

The Clematis vine also gets the cut back and feed routine and is on its second growth.

By mid-September it should be more beautiful than ever.

I've never tried summer squash this late. I ordered some Clarimore seeds for next year on sale, and couldn't resist trying them.  I pulled failed cantaloupe vines out of this pot and it was crying out for a good use.  After all, it was all set and ready to go.

I am finally getting cucumbers.  They are pickling cucumbers, but until they hit their stride and put out enough for a batch of pickles, we will use them on salads.  I had to go through and trim a lot of leaves because of what looks like Anthracnose.  It IS August after all.

The slicer tomato plants are doing fine with little disease.  This is the Carbon plant.  I really like this tomato is the tomatoeyest tasting tomato ever.  Really.  It tastes like tomato juice.  In a good way.

And a parting shot

Other Plants and Flowers

What is growing in my garden besides Vegetables and Dahlias?  

Plenty.

My Geraniums are finally beginning to look respectable again.  They were gorgeous in June and then the July monsoon hit and they almost gave up.  They looked pretty pitiful.  They lost a lot of leaves and the flower heads were small and continually ruined. They almost disappeared altogether in these deck planters.  The Sweet Potato Vines loved the rain and got huge, drowning out the struggling Geraniums.  Each morning I would separate the vines and pat them down to give the Geraniums a shot at some sunshine.  A few times I pruned the vines pretty good.  The Geraniums have finally re-emerged along with the Ivy and are looking more like I intended the planter to look.

These two Heuchera plants were struggling in different spots in the landscape, leftover survivors from earlier plans.  I transplanted them to the rich soil in this partial shade area and they are thriving again.

The Riverbed is looking nice this time of year.  It is peaceful to sit and watch the grasses sway in the breeze.  The Johnson Geranium in the foreground is one of three I transplanted this spring.  This is the third spot I've put these particular plants in.  The last place they were thriving and getting huge but we had to remove an ornamental Lilac Tree which was dying and these were at its feet.  That whole area is now in the midst of a redesign and the Geraniums can spread as wide as they want to out here.

Little Bunny grass

These whiskey barrels are next to our fire pit area.  Last year Petunias volunteered in them and looked nice so this year I planted the Daddy Mix Petunias on purpose and changed from Fireworks fountain grass to Cherry Sparkler.  I had in mind a completely different scheme for these planters and was finally going to get around to it next year - but maybe not.

Durango Marigolds and some Portulaca volunteers

Last year this fire pit planter was full of Figaro Dahlias.  This year I seeded Profusion Mix Zinnias specifically for it.  The Zinnia seedlings were taking their sweet time so I saw some red and orange Celosia at the nursery and decided to try that instead.  The Celosia plants struggled at first so I went ahead and interplanted the Zinnias.  Then they both took off.  Even after all these years I still expect my annuals to look amazing in May.  But in real life they really don't look like much until July.  Then by August you wonder why you were so impatient.  I've ended up pruning the Dahlias back pretty hard to let the Celosia fill in.  Next year I am going to start Celosia instead because they really do look like flames.

And finally, yesterday's tomato harvest.  The pink tomato needed a few more days, but we are getting rain now so I picked it early to avoid having it split open.

I'm going to go make a BLT for breakfast out of the yellow Sparks tomato right this minute.

The Ritual of the First Tomato - Harvest Monday

 The single most popular crop grown in American gardens is the tomato.  Roughly 86% or 9 out of 10 gardeners plant tomato plants.  I know a lot of people grow them to make tomato sauce, but I would say the most iconic use of tomatoes by the home gardener is the Tomato Sandwich.  Not even a BLT.  Although I like bacon, and am not above making myself a bacon sandwich, bacon just gets in the way of the season's first Tomato Sandwich.  So we all wait impatiently for that first slicer to ripen in the garden.

It may not be the biggest.

It may not be the prettiest.

But it will be the best tomato of the whole year.

I always start watching the first fruit set of the season.  This year it was the Carbon.  This tomato is new to me this year.  It is a black, indeterminate slicer which is renowned for its taste.  I knew which cluster of tomatoes was likely to ripen first and every day I would check them to make sure they were doing OK.  When the time approached, I began to check several times a day!

I picked this tomato yesterday.  I feel that picking a tomato in the height of a warm afternoon intensifies the taste.  My first slicing tomato from the garden has been as early as July 21st.  Waiting until August 8th was a trial on my patience.  However, when I did the math, it was 77 days from the day I potted up the transplants.  Carbon is a 76 day tomato.  Right on schedule!

It is also one of my earliest slicing varieties this year.  In the next 10 days I should see my Sparks color up and then we will be in full swing.  The Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye can be as early as 65 days but my plant did not set early and then I lost most of the first set to BER.

The ritual of the first tomato sandwich is something I look forward to starting in late winter.  It is something I plan for months in advance.  It cannot be taken for granted and it cannot be rushed.  I can't have just any old bread.  For me it should be a thick white bread, not whole grain.  Most recently I have been choosing Pepperidge Farms Farmhouse Butter Bread. There should be liberal application of mayonnaise, my long time friend's family secret recipe seasoning salt, and oregano.

I slice the tomato so as to have two fillet cuts from the center.  Some of the larger, more oblate tomatoes only yield one center cut but it will be enough for a whole sandwich.  The Carbon appears to be rounder, more of a hamburger slicer than a whopper, sandwich slicer so it took two slices to fill a sandwich.  The shoulders are discarded.  The skin of the Carbone was on the tough side and the cracked shoulders were inedible anyway.  But the blossom end left over is for tasting.  This is where you will get the most concentrated example of the tomato's taste.  Take a bite and wait for the subtle yet complex flavors to develop.  Add a little seasoning salt and take another bite.

My mind flipped through a slide show of months of anticipation, seed catalogs, grow lights, weather reports and tending.  I compared it to memories and expectations, smells and tastes...

This thing that Nature and I had created.

And it was good.

🍅

Dahlias and Doves

Dahlia of the day:  Spartacus

The dove babies guarding the garden gate this morning.

You'd think they own the place :)

We have a pair of ruby throated hummingbirds conducting an exhausting courtship in the apple tree today. The humming birds have emptied their feeder (hanging in the apple tree) in record time this week and this pair has been carrying on all afternoon
 

Dove Babies

 Awhile ago we spent an afternoon watching the Mourning Doves make a nest.  It isn't uncommon for us to know where they are nesting.  And it isn't uncommon to see them in the garden.  But we don't usually get a front row seat to the whole thing.  It took them a few hours.  Whatever nest material they had scored was close and plentiful because they were back and forth in a couple of minutes.  The nest was located in the viburnum bushes about 15 feet from the garden fence and just above head height.

Now I didn't count the days, and maybe I should have.  Now that my planting is done, I rarely know what day of the week it is, much less the date.  But I knew they should have hatched.  I saw the nest was abandoned and at first I thought that something got them.  Then I found them.

This is not the first time the Doves have used the fenced garden as a daycare location.  The gravel is a good camouflage for them.  As soon as I notice them I start putting out a dish of water.  They are such dum-dums.  They have very little fear of humans, but if you get closer than four feet or make sudden moves, they get nervous.  I can usually find them somewhere in the garden each morning and evening.  They like to search for seeds in the beds which requires throwing all of the leaf mulch out onto the gravel.

Just now I went out to water something.  They were both sitting about three feet from my watering cans.  They were not worried.  They didn't relocate at all.  They just sit there and blink at you.

Dahlias

 I am enjoying my dahlias so much this year.  I also planted a few snapdragons and zinnias around the edge, but the dahlias are the real focus.  I still have three more varieties to bloom.

Lady Darlene (my favorite)

Dana

Brown Sugar

Cafe' Au Lait

Kelvin Floodlight

Noordwijks Glorie