I picked up 3 scrawny leftover plants at Tractor Supply about a month ago for $1 each. They were each between 8 and 10 inches tall at the time. One of them had a tiny tomato growing on it. I have no idea what variety they are.
The biggest one is now 41 inches tall and has 3 tomatoes on it. The largest is the size of a baseball and hasn’t started to get red yet, the others are golf ball sized. The other 2 plants are growing fine as well, and have lots of flowers. One of them has one fruit the size of plum.
I was too busy to do any planting other than to stick some Juliets in big cages this year and walk away. I forgot to look at them for a month. They’re six feet tall and covered with tomatoes slightly smaller than plum sized. They should keep producing until we get a hard frost. The DC area has crazy weather, and Juliets are the one type that always do well for me with no work.
It looks like we’re getting 18 tomatoes from the Early Girl plant. They’re smaller than expected, and ‘Early Girl’ seems to be a misnomer since it seems they’re taking forever. Tuesday we ate the two tomatoes that were ripe first. The SO said they’re not as flavourful as the Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. True, but not really a valid comparison. They should be compared to store-bought tomatoes. We both thought they were tasty. Four of the tomatoes fell off of the plant. The first one was still green, and is ripening on the patio. Three were more ripe, and are ripening more along with the first. One of those is split at the top and will probably be rotten before it’s ripe.
The Sweet 100s are coming along fine. There are too many to bother counting. At first there were two ripe ones, and then another two, and then six. They’re ripening in larger numbers now. We ate the earlier ones by themselves, since there were only a couple. I had some in a salad a week later, and the SO just ate hers alone as she didn’t want to diminish the flavour in a salad. Tuesday we had some with steaks and the two Early Girls. The Sweet 100s are aptly named. Very sweet, and very good. I normally can take or leave cherry tomatoes (I bought the plant not noticing what it was), but these guys are great.
I might plant more Sweet 100s next year. I’ll also plant regular tomatoes, but I don’t plan to plant Early Girls again. Maybe I’ll go for Heirloom ones instead.
Meh. They smell OK. Not objectionable, but not something I’d make a point to smell. The SO likes the smell almost as much as the rosemary.
Tomatoes begin to form shortly after you stop checking on them every day.
An acquaintance is an avid home tomato farmer. He wouldn’t leave 18 fruit on a plant because they’ll be overloading the plant’s resources and reducing the size and flavor of each tomato. He’ll also lop off branches that aren’t producing fruit. I have no idea if any of that matters, he may just be crazy.
(Someone has been bugging our group to play that tune, but we haven’t gotten to it yet!)
I also like the smell of tomato plants, pelargoniums (“geraniums”) and marigolds when pinching off suckers and deadheading. ISTR Williams-Sonoma used to have a tomato “flavored” line of soaps/lotions. Must have learned that my wife and I liked it, because they stopped carrying it!
Our ‘Sweet Millions’ are ripening at a rapid rate. We’ve been eating them with eggs at breakfast every day, sliced in half, salt & pepper and chopped fresh basil.
