It’s harvest time for tomatoes, whether they be determinate or indeterminate. These orbs of delight are the quintessential summer fruit and we’re picking them daily. We planted early this year (quite possibly a mistake since we now have blight…but then again, we get blight every year, so I give up).
We grew 18 different varieties this year, all heirlooms, all gorgeous. Here’s a little tomato parade for 2014:
San Marzano paste tomato
Our first time growing these successfully. Can’t wait to make sauce.
Jaune Flamme
Jaune Flamme – always a favorite. These sweet orange salad-sized tomatoes are the best!
Black Cherry
They may look funny, but they taste great. Prolific fruiting habits too.
Green Zebra
These never get old to me. There will always be room in my garden for Green stripy tomatoes.
Japanese Black Trifele
Okay, so they didn’t turn black. I picked them early, I guess, but they taste ripe. Big, juicy and luscious tomatoes.
Dona
This is grown from seed we saved last year from a volunteer. Reliable globes with a sweet flavor.
Stupice
Stupice (pronounced Stu-peech-ka) is one of my favorites I’ve grown since the beginning. This year they came out a little pleated and flat, rather than the usual round salad-sized globes I usually get. Can’t explain it. Still delicious and always early.
Striped Roman
SO EXCITED about this one. The Striped Roman is a new tomato for me this year and is hands-down the most beautiful tomato I’ve seen in years. I just want to stare at it.
Some of the tomatoes are still ripening, but here’s a preview:
Azoychka
Azoychka is a coastal tomato that turns bright yellow with green shoulders. It’s a beautiful, big beefsteak tomato that’s great on sandwiches.
Missouri Pink
Almost there, this Missouri Pink beefsteak is one I’ve looked forward to for a couple years. Last year it died before ever setting fruit, but this year we’re in business!
Kelloggs Breakfast
This Kellogg’s Breakfast is on its way to ripening (looks kind of like a ripe Azoychka right now) but it will be big and colorful – the kind of tomato you think of when you hear “heirloom.”
Gold Nugget cherry tomato (top yellow)
Gold Nugget is a new one for the Gardenerd Test Garden this year. It completely died, but before it did, it gave us plenty of cherry tomatoes to make it seem worth it.
Others that are still green: Berkeley Tie-Dye, Henderson’s Pink Ponderosa, Ispolen, Great White and Marvel Stripe
We also had an Isis Candy, but it lead the way with blight infestation, so we lost it early. We did get a few tasty tomatoes from it, but this is the second year it hasn’t done well in our coastal climate, so it’s being taken off the favorites list.
Hey Gardenerds, so these are our favorites. What’s your favorite tomato that you’re growing this year? Post your comments here.
I had such a good season this summer with large Brandywines, pink Momataros and great Delicious heirlooms. (Not much luck with Giant Belgiums though.) Flush with this success, I am planning to start some winter heirlooms. I have several questions. If I am able to locate small plants, should I start them now? Can I plant them in the same area I had summer tomatoes? Which varieties do you recommend for shorter days and less sun? (Not interested in cherry tomatoes.) Also, I lost a few battles with the gophers this summer so I think I probably will spend $$ on cages for the plants. Any suggestions along this line?
Sorry Fran, I’m not a believer in “winter tomatoes”, so I can’t recommend any particular varieties for you. If your tomatoes grew without disease then you can plant the next crop in the same place. But if there was any sign of disease or stunted growth, rotate the location where you plant tomatoes every year (spring or whenever). Most tomato varieties will list “days to maturity” and you’ll want to look for varieties that mature in around 70 days or so if possible. As for gophers, I know some gardeners have great success with gopher cages (sold flat at places like Orchard Hardware Supply), so give that a go. Report back on your progress when you’re done!
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On your picture of Japanese black trifle is not that type. JBT look like big brown pear. On your picture is some ox hart varieties probably. And Azoychka in my garden is bright yellow/orange fruit, not green. I have fruits from seeds directly from Russia and Ukraine, so i guess this is the right color of that varieties.
Best regards.
Thanks for your feedback. Our JBTs have looked “proper” in previous years. It’s odd, because we’re growing them all from the same seed packet. Nature is a funny thing. Our Azoychkas usually are yellow with kisses of green on the shoulders. It’s one of my favorite tomatoes that grows well in coastal climates.