I have huge boxes of tomatoes!
I grew some heirlooms that have out produced my big boys and better bush and early girls.
First time this year I have a green variety, cherokee purple, yellow gold. As always I have german pink, brandywine, and mister stripey.
My early girls have me buried in enough to can about 30 quarts.
I don't use any chemicals, just manure, H2O, cages, hoes, and an almanac! I started all the heirlooms from seed.
I considered selling some, but have decided I am too greedy. I will can all the ones that will, eat some and share with my friends and family!
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WAYNE BODKINS
- Full Member
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2008 3:08 am
- Location: KANSAS
I have to know the varieties also. I really don't track how much each plant gives. Off the top of my head I would say I have:7 Better Bush plants. I like them because they are sturdy compact plants. They produce large well shaped fruit steadily throughout the season. nice for slicing, they can well, but don't come in at once. I get about 1 or 2 a week from each plant. My favorite hybrid slicer.
8 Big Boys. They give big pretty fruit, they give..... not sure how much each plant.
8 Early Girls. They give small to medium sized, red fruit (they seem smaller this year?). They give me at least 14 fruits each day. They are slowing down now.(whew).
4 "Mister Stripeys". My husband bought these plants. One is actually an yellow of unknown etiology. One is a beautiful large green tomato that looks suspiciously like Aunt Ruby's German Green. Yummy, what a good tomato! It has given 3 or more each week (once I noticed that it was a green one). The remaining 2 stripeys are slow and give one a week per plant.
4 Black Krim. They are give 2 or more a week per plant. Fruit is HUGE, and YUMMY! This is the first time I have grown them. I will certainly save seed and grow them again.
4 Bradywines that give 2 or more each plant per week.
3 Golden Sunbursts (not yellow gold). I really am not a big fan of yellow fruit. My daughter's friend who lives with us, and her boyfriend, take care of eating them.
2 Cherokee Purple that has also given about 2 a week per plant.
In retrospect the Early Girls, as always, have been my best producers.
Heirloom Tomatoes are my favorite. You just can't beat the taste and they are such sturdy plants. I am just blown away by the Black Krim and the mystery green tomato.
I will play with the photos today sometime.
WAYNE BODKINS wrote:I think I'm like petalfuzz in that I like to know details. When a fellow gardener mentions that he or she is growing tomaotes, I want to know varieties, how they are growing them, how well they are doing, etc. I am surpised to find that by and large they don't know the variety!
amazing!
I plant by the signs, and cage most of the plants, but I do let some of the heirloom plants run.
Oh, it's so easy: after you make the salsa, spoon it into some tupperware-style containers and pop them in the freezer. Try to fill the containers all the way to the top to avoid condensation.eshenry wrote:petalfuzz wrote:You can also freeze some!
Never tried freezing them. How do you use them? Are they mushy? Do you leave the skin on? Tell me more!
I made 16 pints of salsa, 2 of them were made with green and yellow tomatoes.
If you want to freeze the actual fruit, it's a tad more complicated:
cut each fruit in half and spoon out most of the gel. Place skin side down on a foil-lined baking sheet (get the anti-stick kind). Place in the freezer and wait until solid. then put frozen tomato halves into plastic bags and keep in the freezer. When you use them, they'll be mushy like a canned tomato but not as juicy. So they're best in cooked dishes this way.
Good luck! And it's perfectly normal to want to keep all your bounty for yourself--you worked hard for that loot!!
