Earthtainer Project - "mini journal"

[Duh_Vinci]

Hello all!

Need a little input for selecting a tomato variety for a little project...

Just to let you know, this is my very first veggie garden, and while all of the raised beds are complete (all plants seem to be doing very well), I still have few seedlings left over. I could not imagine that just about every seed will sprout, so I kept taking care of those leftovers... Finally gave away couple of dozens 15"-20" seedlings at work.

I love this site, so much helpful and fascinating information can be found here! Stumbled on a link here to the [url=https://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/]Earthtainer System II[/url]. I would love to try it since I have few plants left still.

Will be placed on the back deck of the house, I get about 11-12 hours of sun.

What variety would you recommend from what I have left based on productivity/hardiness to sun (summers in VA can be HOT)... What I still have (various sizes)

Black Tula
Black Cherry (late germination, smallest ones)
Belgian Giant
Bull's Heart
Golden Gem

No experience with either variety in the terms of growing here... Black Tula and Bull's heart are very tasty tomatoes (memories from growing up in Russia). But somehow, I'm almost leaning toward the Belgian Giant heirloom due to it's unusually large size and pink color fruits... I would have no issues to support this plant (if it is truly this big) - I have heavy duty 6' cage (and can extend it if needed), pot will be up in the corner, so stability of the pot is not an issue either, since I could tie it down to the railing...

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,
D

[TZ -OH6]

All of them will do fine in an Earthtainer. Giant Belgium is not any larger than most other big beefsteak varieties (1-2 lb, not the 5 lbs advertized), and although good, not generally considered to be one of the best, flavorwise. Black from Tula, and black cherry, however, are on the top of may people's lists. I would place the other two varieties below those three. But there are other factors to consider because all five are very different from each other.

Cherrys will grow anywhere, so if you want to test the Earthtainer I would go with something else. Black from Tula plants get large (5-7 ft), but not as large as Giant Belgium so it might fit better seeing as the Earthtainer adds more than a foot to the height.

[Duh_Vinci]

Thank you very much for your advise, it is indeed appreciated!

Based on what you described about varieties I've listed, I went ahead and planted the Black Tula. Had a large 24" pot, used old plastic hamper for the resting tray, wicker basket from the Dollar Store, heavy duty cage, organic planting mix and mild organic fertilizer. So here it is, buried way down:

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/tearth_tainer_black_tula_5_22_09.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/earth_tainer_black_tula_5_22_09.jpg[/img]



I'm looking forward to see how this container tomato would do...

Many thanks for your advise!

Regards,
D

[Duh_Vinci]

Well, two weeks has gone by. Black Tula seem to like it in it's new "Earthtainer" style home. Deep green, grown a bit:

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/tearth_tainer_black_tula_06_05_2009.jpg[/img]

Regards,
D

[Duh_Vinci]

Now that the never ending rain stopped, I went to foliar feed the plants this morning... And what do you know, I'm very happy to see that this little guy is giving it's first blooms!

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/first_bloom_2_earth_tainer_black_tu.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/first_bloom_earth_tainer_black_tula.jpg[/img]

Very excited to see it's doing well!

Regards,
D