I find that avid tomato growers will find varieties that are their favorites. I have found a new favorite, and therefor I am faced with a space vs loyalty issue for next year.
I am playing around with new heirloom varieties. I always have loved and grown Brandywine, but I found Black Krim that is by far my favorite. Next year I may not grow Brandywine, but feel like I am ditching an old friend.
Am I too much into my tomato growing? I am a geek at heart, but may have jumped from geek to garden nerd.
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hendi_alex
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My tomato varieties have changed considerably over the years. Thirty or more years ago big boy was the only one we would grow. Then better boy took over the throne. Next came Park's whopper, which became the all time favorite. Over the past few years I've come to appreciate a handfull indeterminate slicers and generally plant five or six varieties but just one or two plants of each. More recently salad tomatoes have come into the picture. They tend to be earlier producers, more tolerant of the soil borne diseases, and in general much more reliable at producing a large prolonged crop. This year '4th of July' got replaced by 'Sweet Cluster' as sweet cluster edged out the taste test and seems more disease resistant. Next year will be an experimatation year with heirlooms. Have grown bandywine a couple of years but am less than impressed. The tomatoes taste very good, to me not particularly superior to my other slicers, but their downfall is in the very limited production of just a few tomatoes per plant. Next year will plant German Johnson, brandywine, a russian black, and maybe a couple of others. Will likely settle on the two favorites from that experiment. Will grow the next year along with another couple of new ones to try.
To me gardening involves constant experimentation and trying new varieties. Sometimes a new variety is so superior to an old, that one can no longer justify the space for the previous favorite. In making those decisions however, it is important IMO to make a distinction between "better" and "different." If the new variety is truly better, then to me the decision is easy. If the new variety is simply different, then there may still be room that old favorite.
To me gardening involves constant experimentation and trying new varieties. Sometimes a new variety is so superior to an old, that one can no longer justify the space for the previous favorite. In making those decisions however, it is important IMO to make a distinction between "better" and "different." If the new variety is truly better, then to me the decision is easy. If the new variety is simply different, then there may still be room that old favorite.
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WAYNE BODKINS
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Vanisle_BC
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Haha, that sounds TOO easy, Wayne; must be something wrong with it!WAYNE BODKINS wrote:this sounds very simple, but why not grow half of each variety?tHat way, you are not ditching your old friend and can still have the new favorite!
More seriously, I identify with eshenry's liking for Black Krim. We too enjoy its juicy flavour; but I'm giving up on it because it was producing so many ugly "catfaced" fruits. Stilll tastily edible, but ugly. This year I'm trying another couple of purples - Cherokee and Paul Robeson; hoping they will have similar taste but more consistent shape.
One of my first loves was Sweetie for its sweet flavour and good production. But it's prone to cracking in some years so now I usually grow only a couple and have largely switched to Camp Joy (Chadwick's Cherry) which is bigger, just as sweet (?) and crack-resistant. Still, that weird loyalty thing keeps me planting 2 Sweetie every year.
Oddly, the one time I tried Brandywine, based on its reputation, I found it watery and insipid. Maybe the seed was mislabelled, or maybe the local environment doesn't suit it. Whatever the reason, I've never tried it again.
You actually brought up a great point, not something I've had to face until recently... Up until now, we've owned a house in the country with acreage and ability to grow and experiment with 30-50 varieties in a given year presented no issues with "leaving old friends" behind...eshenry wrote:I find that avid tomato growers will find varieties that are their favorites. I have found a new favorite, and therefor I am faced with a space vs loyalty issue for next year...
Life has changed, and now I live closer to town, bought smaller house with a land typical for a modern HOA community and a garden plot space for no more that 6-8 varieties to be planted - I see exactly what you mean! I've spent a week deciding what to grow and what to leave behind... At the end, there always 3 in my garden that I grow, tried and true and will always take priority: Bull's Heart Pink, Grubbs Green Mystery and Cherokee Purple (or Spudakee).
This year would be no different, but since the space is so limited, only select few others will be growing along those 3: Reinhard Green Heart, Reinhard Chocolate Heart, Cherokee Green Pear, Orange Strawberry. Can you tell I'm Oxheart bias?
Good luck deciding all!
Regards,
D
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Vanisle_BC
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Oh, Duh_Vinci, what an interesting point. We don't yet have to move onto a postage stamp city lot but it's only a matter of time. Less work might be welcome, but NOT less room to play.
If I was stuck with ONE tomato (of those that that I've grown) I think it would be Camp Joy for its sweetness combined with reasonable size, productivity and crack resistance in our local summers.
If I was stuck with ONE tomato (of those that that I've grown) I think it would be Camp Joy for its sweetness combined with reasonable size, productivity and crack resistance in our local summers.
Forty years ago all my tomatoes were hybrids and everything I grew were the boys, girls, biggers, betters, etc. Then in 1999 I discovered heirlooms and later heirlooms/OPs. For the next several years every tomato was "new to me". It took a few years to find my favorites. With so many varieties, after a while I grew my favorites and added in others. The ratio was 2 new for every 1 familiar. Several years after that the ratio reversed and that has been my plan since.
Some years, like 2016 because of my seed saving activities, almost all the 35 plants I have room for are familiar varieties so the seed inventory of older seeds can be reduced and /or replaced. Having grown maybe 200 different varieties, which is not really all that many compared to many growers, I will keep experimenting with new to me varieties while keeping many of my favorites. I continue to find new favorites every year to add to that list and it is difficult to decide what to grow each year as that list expands.
Some years, like 2016 because of my seed saving activities, almost all the 35 plants I have room for are familiar varieties so the seed inventory of older seeds can be reduced and /or replaced. Having grown maybe 200 different varieties, which is not really all that many compared to many growers, I will keep experimenting with new to me varieties while keeping many of my favorites. I continue to find new favorites every year to add to that list and it is difficult to decide what to grow each year as that list expands.
I only have room for 3 tomatoes and the wild ones grow whereever as long as they don't get in the way. I have yet to find the perfect tomato so I don't have your dilemna yet. But I do have ones that have been good and I plant more than once, but I alternate them. I plant a reliable one I know and two new ones. That way I know I will get at least some tomatoes.
I am further restricted in my choices by the need for disease resistance especially to fungal diseases, nematode resistance, and heat resistance. It narrows the field considerably. I don't like cracking either, but I prefer cracking to tough skins.
I am further restricted in my choices by the need for disease resistance especially to fungal diseases, nematode resistance, and heat resistance. It narrows the field considerably. I don't like cracking either, but I prefer cracking to tough skins.
)I think that is probably the main problem with tomatoes. So many varieties to pick from and the fact that people want have different criteria for what they think is an ideal tomato. Some tomatoes work better for some people than others. I can't really grow a tomato that likes cold weather because it sure won't be heat tolerant. People with short seasons cannot grow the long season tomatoes that I can and my tomatoes can last a very long time. I think some of it is like the Vidalia onions. The same tomato grown by one gardener may taste different to someone growing it elsewhere. Some of it may be taste preference, but often it is the growing conditions soil, light, water and nutrients that make it taste different.
I just harvested some "brandywine" tomatoes that looked a lot different from the brandywine I planted a few years ago. The leaves were rugose but the fruit looked a lot more uniform in color, it was smaller, round and not lobed, and did not taste quite the same. Even a classic can be adulterated apparently.
I just harvested some "brandywine" tomatoes that looked a lot different from the brandywine I planted a few years ago. The leaves were rugose but the fruit looked a lot more uniform in color, it was smaller, round and not lobed, and did not taste quite the same. Even a classic can be adulterated apparently.
You got nice looking fruits on your Black Krim??? Mine produced retarded misfits that seemed like a tomato was growing of the tomato, so while still having bone hard green tomato on one side, it was starting to rot on the other end, so most turned bad before I could make good use for them. I didnt get any good flavor from them either, quite watery to my taste...
Maybe heirlooms aint something for me, but that variety was said to be perfect tomato for my growing conditions.
Back to the subject: Grow the ones you like the most, period. Ditching an old favorite when found a replacement I see nothing bad with, but keep seeds maybe you experience some future problems with your new favourite.
Maybe heirlooms aint something for me, but that variety was said to be perfect tomato for my growing conditions.
Back to the subject: Grow the ones you like the most, period. Ditching an old favorite when found a replacement I see nothing bad with, but keep seeds maybe you experience some future problems with your new favourite.
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Vanisle_BC
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Vanisle_BC
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Ah no, Mr Green. It seems we misunderstand each other - sorry. When you said "You got nice looking fruits on your Black Krim???" I assumed you were responding to someone who said they got those nice looking fruits. I wanted to read their post but wasn't finding it; so I asked you who it was. Perhaps you really meant something else? Of course I read your whole post.Mr green wrote:
Well if you read my whole post you will understand what I meant, I did describe the issues.