# Early girl. The red headed champion **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** gardening\ **Created:** [June 10, 2026, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805 "2026-06-10T19:06:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/1 "2026-06-10T19:06:49Z")
My tomatoes are coming in the kitchen. Wow. I can’t say I had a whole lot to do with this project. I’m the cheering section, nowadays. I did pick the variety “Early girl” They are gloriously red. Supremely juicy. But…the taste is not like our favorite. “Arkansas Traveller”. These are more like “Bradley county” variety. These will make the best Tomato soup. For sure. The seed situation is a bit off-putting. But we’ll manage. I know what my afternoon is gonna look like and smell like. Yay 🍅 🍅 🍅!!! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/2 "2026-06-10T19:13:59Z")
I’m jealous. Around here (Cleveland), we won’t be getting any until mid-July, at the earliest. But it could be worse. When I lived in Montana, Early Girl, and some cherries, were the only varieties we could even fit into our short growing season. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/3 "2026-06-10T19:30:10Z")
My son says “get ready, the maters are coming!” We had squash first time last night. He hasn’t brought any more of those in today. The tomatoes we can can or freeze what we cannot eat. Squash don’t work out so good and we always have too much. We donate/give away what we can’t eat. But still it’s an over-abundance. Cukes and Zukes too. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/4 "2026-06-10T19:54:03Z")
I’m fond of the “Rutgers250”, but I only got my plants in the ground a couple weeks ago. We had frost well into May. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/5 "2026-06-10T19:58:51Z")
You might try Porter or Porter Improved in the future. They’re smallish (ping-pong ball) sized pink tomatoes that were originally developed in Stephenville, TX, so they’re adapted for the heat around here. They’re pretty tasty and prolific. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/6 "2026-06-10T20:17:26Z")
Oh yes. We have 6 porters. We like them for salads. You’re right they love the heat and dry feet. They will be fully loaded by the 4th of July. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/7 "2026-06-11T03:50:52Z")
The weather here has killed more tomatoes than Hienz. Record heat, snow. Rinse and repeat. 4 cycles. I’m surprised my fucking Pine tree is alive. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/8 "2026-06-11T03:52:50Z")
That cracks me up. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/9 "2026-06-11T03:57:09Z")
Just doin’ my job, Tommy. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/10 "2026-06-11T14:39:58Z")
Porters are really the only ones along with some of the cherry varieties that actually will set fruit after about the middle of June. The rest won’t set, and they all get early blight. It must blow through the air; even container plants that have been carefully managed to avoid contamination get it. If the plants live, they’ll set again in September, and then it’s a race to see if they ripen before the first freeze. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/11 "2026-06-11T14:48:23Z")
I can’t raise cucurbits (nor can anyone else in the immediate neighborhood) because of something like that. I guess the ground is lousy with powdery mildew spores and as soon as anything susceptible gets growing good, it’s doomed. No amount of local drenching and spraying will prevent or help. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/12 "2026-06-11T14:51:15Z")
We’ve had that problem with pumpkins and watermelons, and believe it or not, spraying them with milk once a week keeps it at bay. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/13 "2026-06-11T15:02:20Z")
We’re lucky enough that if we plant the tomatoes in the second week of March or so, they’ll get big enough fast enough to put out a lot of tomatoes before the blight really kicks in. Doesn’t seem to matter what I do; repeated and diligent spraying with mancozeb, chlorothalonil, or copper fungicide doesn’t seem to do much; maybe delay the full onset a bit, but that’s it. For cucurbits, it’s totally cucumber beetles that are our biggest problem, except for summer squashes, and they get the vine borers something awful. But they’re like the tomatoes; usually you get a fair number of squash before the plants croak. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/14 "2026-06-11T15:09:08Z")
My cukes and squash have mated and made squash-umber babies. Or our cukes are some weird variety of yellow cucumbers. That taste ok-ish. Mid-dau gonna try to make pickles from some and see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/15 "2026-06-11T15:12:47Z")
That sounds like over-ripe pickling cucumbers. We inadvertently planted pickling cucumbers last year and didn’t pick them because they were so small. They did get bigger, but by the time they did they were yellow and mostly flavorless. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/16 "2026-06-11T15:18:13Z")
My Romas are turning red right now. I see BLTs in my future. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/17 "2026-06-11T15:19:09Z")
May be. We save seeds and sometimes things get mixed up. Actually I don’t think its possible for them to cross pollinate. But the whole thing has fascinated the grand kids. They are doing research. That’s how I know they probably didn’t really “fall in love, get married and baby makes 3000”, cause my eldest grand-wrek told me so. Mother Squash and Father Cucumber did not create Franken-veggie. It appears. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/18 "2026-06-11T15:22:56Z")
> [@Thumper668](#): > > That sounds like over-ripe pickling cucumbers. We inadvertently planted pickling cucumbers last year and didn’t pick them because they were so small. They did get bigger, but by the time they did they were yellow and mostly flavorless. That’s why I’ve stopped growing cucumbers. I always pick them too late. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/19 "2026-06-11T20:50:55Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > My Romas are turning red right now. I see BLTs in my future. I’ve never found romas to be very good for eating raw… They always taste kind of bland and pasty to me. I’ve heard they’re meant for saucing; they might be good for that. And I know that the taxonomists disagree, but I’m convinced that watermelons and cucumbers are closely related. Watermelons are bigger and sweeter, of course, but in nearly every other respect, they’re identical. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805/20 "2026-06-11T20:52:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve never found romas to be very good for eating raw… They always taste kind of bland and pasty to me. I’ve heard they’re meant for saucing; they might be good for that. That’s what I grow them for, they’re good and fleshy for sauce and salsas. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-girl-the-red-headed-champion/1030805.md?page=2)