!! THE RACE FOR JUNE TOMATOES IS ON !!

[rainbowgardener]

My tomato plants definitely survived weather colder than that, down in the 30's, after they were in the ground (that was back in April!). I did cover them and they were fine. They didn't have blossoms on them yet, though. So the cold weather could trigger some blossom drop and you would have to start over on the quest for ripe tomatoes. But your plants if well hardened off should be fine.

[gixxerific]

Dono - so nice to come home, isn't it? Good looking produce! And looks like you have some Black Cherry after all =)

Tomatoes on the left - what are they?

Regards,
D

Not sure what those are. Maybe some BFT. To the right of those I believe is a brandywine. Than Black Cherry's and Isis candy and another mystery at the top right.

I have about given up on my labeling. I thoroughly screwed up somewhere. All the Black Cherry I have Were supposed to Spiridonovskie. And well not sure on the others. We will just have to wait and see.

I'm beginning to think the little ones at top right that I thought were Black Chery's area actually Spiridonovskie.

[applestar]

Alright Gixx, I know you get used to your own codes -- I have QAG and QAR peppers, for example, and let's see, PBT-D and B&BB tomatoes. What is BFT?

Rainbowgardener, about taking close-up photos, I find standing AWAY from the subject and using the tele-zoom upto approx. middle of the camera's range capability works well.

[gixxerific]

Alright Gixx, I know you get used to your own codes -- I have QAG and QAR peppers, for example, and let's see, PBT-D and B&BB tomatoes. What is BFT?

Rainbowgardener, about taking close-up photos, I find standing AWAY from the subject and using the tele-zoom upto approx. middle of the camera's range capability works well.

Black From Tula, I knew D_V would understand.

[Decado]

Rainbowgardener, about taking close-up photos, I find standing AWAY from the subject and using the tele-zoom upto approx. middle of the camera's range capability works well.

Ya it actually looks more like you were focused on the wrong area and less of a close up problem RBG.

[Brandywinegirl]

Cool!! I have tomatoes on all 15 of my plants and can't believe that by the end of June I will have some Cherry Tomatoes ripe & ready to eat. Has anyone tried growing Porterhouse Hybrid tomato seeds? Amazing!! Lastyear mine were 1-2 pounds each.

[garden5]

I'm glad to know I'm not alone, Gix. I planted seed that was supposed to be Eggplant. I then put the row in alongside my tomatoes. Guess what, you can't tell the difference, these are definitely tomatoes and I know that nothing was mis-labeled (at least on my part).

I guess there was a mix-up at the seed factory in the "labeler machine." Oh well, at least now I can look forward to some mystery tomatoes .

[rainbowgardener]

I planted seeds as part of my indoor seed starting this early spring that were supposed to be thyme. Guess what, they turned out to be some kind of mint! I was very disappointed/ irritated -- I did NOT need more mint and every blasted one of those seeds sprouted and turned into a mint plant... Mint plants are even hard to give away. Anybody that has any interest in it already has a lot!

[applestar]

Yeah. I tried that with a neighbor of mine. Took her a box of uprooted peppermints. She turned to her husband and said "She's trying to give me MINT PLANTS!" I came home with my box of peppermints to put in my "English Ivy and Mint dry compost pile" but she did accept the Japanese Parsley. I DID warn her that it's at least as invasive as mint if you let it reseed itself.

[TZ -OH6]

I have first blush on my early started, potted Stupice (small red), with a big yellow sure to follow (Native Sun). The garden plants are just now starting to bloom so my potted earlies will have to hold me until the end of July. I actually broke down and tasted a store bought tomato two days ago.... and spit it out. I totally understand people who say they don't like tomatoes.

It looks like it might be another bad Late Blight year so these might be the only tomatoes I get this season.

[jerseyguy1996]

Not sure if it counts, but I picked my first cherry tomato today.....red and beautiful!

[Liska]

Nothing I can pick yet, but one of my plants has 9 baby cherry tomatoes on it! And lots more flowers to go along with it- wooO! They're getting bigger every day, about the size of my thumb now, so maybe I'll get one in the next few weeks

[rainbowgardener]

My Ultimate Opener tomato pictured on p. 13 is now officially blushed! Definitely ahead of the Early Girls!

[applestar]

In a different thread,

On June 5, I took down one of the trees shading it, and it got a little better.

... You'd go to any length for The Race, eh?

[Ozark Lady]

I have lots of blooms in June, so getting something!

[Duh_Vinci]

In a different thread,

On June 5, I took down one of the trees shading it, and it got a little better.

... You'd go to any length for The Race, eh?

No kidding!!! So you will have a June tomato afterall

Regards,
D

[rainbowgardener]

In a different thread,

On June 5, I took down one of the trees shading it, and it got a little better.

... You'd go to any length for The Race, eh?

whatever it takes!!

No kidding!!! So you will have a June tomato after all!

I will indeed! Since the sun came out the last couple days, they've been making good progress and I have several blushed tomatoes. If we would have a couple more days of sun, I will have ripe tomatoes very soon!

[garden5]

Well, it's June and I do have tomatoes on the plants (had to put them in May 1)......so I guess, technically, I do have "June tomatoes."

[albucsfan]

Picked my first Brandywine a few days ago....we sliced it into BLT's before anyone got a chance to take a picture (so I don't expect it count) (I got really lucky with the weather, because I put them in the ground in late march!!)

But YUM!!

Even the boy (who doesn't eat tomatoes...he says they are "too juicy") seemed to really enjoy it....

As far as the grape tomatoes go, my little girl (2 years old) picks and eats them all before anyone else gets a chance, so I have no idea how may of those we've gotten

[rainbowgardener]

[img]https://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt102/rainbowgardener/June_R_tomatoes.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt102/rainbowgardener/June_R_tomatoes2.jpg[/img]

From left they are Big Beef, Ultimate Opener, Early Girl.

In the sliced picture, the middle one, UO, was sliced top to bottom, the other two were sliced cross ways, that's why it looks different.

Taste test: the EG was watery, bland and disappointing. The UO was tarter and tomato-ier, better. The BB was a little less acid than the UO, but very tomato-y and flavorful. Probably I would rate it by a small margin better than the UO, but that would partly be personal preference.

Breakfast this AM was three tomatoes!

I think I will give up on the EG's after this... The Ultimate Opener beat it in speed of ripening and taste as well as size, so why grow EG's any more!

First time I've actually done the head to head taste test like that; it was interesting and revealing.

(Something else interesting, if you click to enlarge, you see the cropped and edited version, other wise you are looking at the original. I don't know why that is.)

[applestar]

Ooh, looks deelicous!
I'm not sure if any of my tomatoes are going to make it. My best chance is still Moskvich heirloom Tom. This morning the skin looked lighter so we'll just have to see.

Btw, I noticed Photobucket just needs time to update/catch up or something when you replace a photo with a cropped one. I'm seeing same presumably cropped photo for both.

[gixxerific]

Dang those look good RBG. I have been getting tomatoes for a while but they all have looked a little ragged. Those are perfect tom's, good job.

Got a few I'm going to pick tomorrow that don't look so bad maybe everything will be alright if we ever get out of this hellacious heat wave we are in.

Good job RBG June it is.

[rainbowgardener]

Ooh, looks deelicous!

Btw, I noticed Photobucket just needs time to update/catch up or something when you replace a photo with a cropped one. I'm seeing same presumably cropped photo for both.

Are you seeing something different than I am? As I look at the sliced tom picture in the post, I see the table edge & some chair legs and some of the deck floor. When I click on it to enlarge it, all that is gone and it's cropped right close around the tomatoes and ruler.

[gixxerific]

Ooh, looks deelicous!

Btw, I noticed Photobucket just needs time to update/catch up or something when you replace a photo with a cropped one. I'm seeing same presumably cropped photo for both.

Are you seeing something different than I am? As I look at the sliced tom picture in the post, I see the table edge & some chair legs and some of the deck floor. When I click on it to enlarge it, all that is gone and it's cropped right close around the tomatoes and ruler.

No chair legs here just some good looking tomatoes.

[Duh_Vinci]

Rainbow - congrats, you made it!!!

Beautiful tomatoes, beautiful photos, really nicely done! I love to see the comparison of all three in size and sectional cuts!

How many days from the transplant was your Ultimate Opener?

Regards,
D

[rainbowgardener]

Rainbow - congrats, you made it!!!

Beautiful tomatoes, beautiful photos, really nicely done! I love to see the comparison of all three in size and sectional cuts! Thanks! I got the idea for photographing the sections from you of course!

How many days from the transplant was your Ultimate Opener? Jeez... I really should keep better records... I should go back through and see if I posted here, exactly when I put them out. I think it was right around 9 wks (63 days or maybe a few more). They are advertised for a few days quicker than that, but mine are growing in part shade and we didn't have a lot of sunny weather, lots of rain. If you had optimum conditions, you could probably shave a few days off it.

Regards,
D

[gixxerific]

Today's spoils.

[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/DSC03839.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/DSC03840.jpg[/img]

Not sure what the big tomato is. I have it marked as Giant Syrian but the GS's I have seen are 2-3 times that size. The first fruit was much bigger, another thing is they are more pink like a brandywine. Whatever it is was very awesome, sweet and juicy.

Here is a giant syrian from another site
https://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs200.snc1/6768_599253015449_45801074_35622868_5425386_n.jpg

[garden5]

Looks good, Gix. Are the purple ones chocolate cherry?

Giant Syrian? WOW! Now, that's a tomato. I guess I know what I'm going to try to grow next year .

I could only imagine what a GS super-bloomer would look like .

[gixxerific]

The black ones are Black Cherry they are so awesome. The other cherry's are Isis candy cherry. The plum size ones are I believe spiridonovskie. Still out on the brandywine looking one it isn't a potato leaf plant. But the Giant Syrian ripen to bright red and this is the second pink tomato I have gotten from this plant.

[Duh_Vinci]

Nice "little" harvest you got there, love the color varieties!

Regards,
D

[applestar]

My guy is looking like this:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7314.jpg[/img]
Will he make it? 5 days left!

[Duh_Vinci]

The one on the right seem to start to blush 5 days - well, if the weather continues to stay in the upper 90's like we have - keep your fingers crossed

Regards,
D

[rainbowgardener]

It took mine about 2 weeks from there... but mine are grown in part shade and we didn't have a lot of sunshine. If you have optimum conditions, just MAYBE. But if somebody forced me to put money down on it, I say no, not quite.... but very likely a 4th of July tomato! The whole country will be setting of fireworks and celebrating Applestar's first ripe tomato!

And a beautiful one it is! What variety?

Incidentally I posted those same two ripe tomato pictures on my FaceBook page. One of my FB friends who is coordinator for a local farmers market asked me if she could use them for their newsletter!

[NCSUchick27]

I have a lot of green tomatoes, but none that are close to turning yet.


Yellow Pear Tomatoes
[img]https://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs089.snc4/35814_809709453719_11801828_43955800_1015451_n.jpg[/img]
Sorry that it's a little blurry.

Sweet 100
[img]https://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs049.ash2/35814_809709463699_11801828_43955801_8201412_n.jpg[/img]

Better Boy
[img]https://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs089.snc4/35814_809709483659_11801828_43955805_4158228_n.jpg[/img]

[rainbowgardener]

Re: "I have a lot of green tomatoes, but none that are close to turning yet. "

Next year, start a little sooner! One of our members in south carolina (I know, probably a zone warmer than you) had ripe tomatoes in May.

[NCSUchick27]

I wish I could have, but I moved into my current residence at the end of April. The plants were in the ground by mid May. I will definitely start sooner next year.

[gixxerific]

I had May tomatoes. But D_V here is kicking some butt. All the tom's he is displaying in the other thread are gorgeous. What am I doing wrong.

I need to set up some hidden camera's to find out his secret.

I bleive he has 3-4 times as many tom's going as most of so he has a slight advantage, not that I'm complaining. Much love D_V.

I just wish I had some more ripe ones we will all be good I have to keep telling myself "It's not even July yet and I am eating fresh tomatoes" The season has really just begun.

I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has for us.

And D_V keep sending those pics, we all love them. I would participate in your tomato detail thread but I haven't had much worth photographing yet, though edible they haven't been so pretty.

[applestar]

This is Russian indeterminate heirloom Moskvich (60 days)
Wee bit more color since yesterdy...
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7320.jpg[/img]
4 days left

I also found this one -- a Cherokee Purple from Reimer (differentiated with ones from Park Seed... I accidentally bought from both places ) but it's even further behind. Interestingly, this is NOT one of the 4 super early June Race entry toms and was started two weeks later.
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7323.jpg[/img]

[Duh_Vinci]

I need to set up some hidden camera's to find out his secret. ...

No secrets here, boss, just cow poop and compost Though I must say - Alex is probably swimming in tomatoes more than anyone here - time for him to post some pics

Apple - looks like Moskvich has gotten twice the shade since yesterday, now - that's the race!!! Have you grown Cherokee Purple before? I absolutely love the sweetness in them, one of my favorites! I'm also growing Spudakee this year, PL "variation" of it, said to have same taste, but more productive with slightly smaller fruit - so far all true...


Regards,
D

[stella1751]

Applestar, that's a pretty big difference in one day. Now you've got me excited, hoping you make it. Bring on the cheerleader squad! You Can Do It! (I think you'll need to take your June 30 photo in the evening, though, just before the sun goes down )