but I enjoyed a real treat this year - what I believe to be the Green Zebra tomato. Supposed to be heirloom, but actually created 20 years ago. A bit acidic, but great tomato-ey flavor.
Anybody discover a real jewel this year?
I didn’t discover a new tomato this year, but I discovered new things to do with green tomatoes. There are green tomato chutneys and jams. You can also make green tomato curries. I’m thinking that I’m going to try to get a hold of some green tomatoes from people with gardens this year.
I had a Japanese Black tomato this year.
I don’t know what happened with Harry Homeowner’s tomato crop this year. Normally, I have people bringing them to work, bringing them to the dog park, coming by the house. I just score on the generosity of others, but I haven’t had ONE tomato this year that I didn’t buy.
I did get some Jersey tomatoes a couple weeks ago, and I’ve had some decent ones from the Farmer’s Market. But, nothing really blew me away.
I had a “what the hell” moment in my garden in the spring and planted a Purple Cherokee. It was one of the most tasty, solid tomatoes I’ve ever had. Apparently the squirrels agreed because it by far was the tomato of choice for the furry snipers in my garden.
Nothing special, but this is the third year of volunteer Roma tomatoes in my garden. (Volunteer, as in they sprung up from last years tomatoes.) We had maybe five plants that I let mature this year and probably around 20 pounds of tomatoes that we have been enjoying since late July. I also had a beefsteak tomato plant that didn’t make it… I planted early and we had one last frost that it never recovered from-- Well, I got one tiny fruit about the size of a cherry tomato off of it, anyway.
The Romas are a really good all around tomato… small, sweet, and meaty with just the right acidity-- I’ve eaten a bowl of tomatoes and hot peppers from my garden nearly everyday for breakfast throughout late August and September just to keep up with them, even gave some away. I’m really getting addicted to this breakfast…it’s a real boost. I just cut up several tomatoes and a couple of hot peppers and put them in a bowl then drizzle with a little Italian Dressing or some Balsamic Vinagerette. It’s invigorating!
Hey this was my first year growing Green Zebras too. I HAD to grow them after tasting them at a Farmers’ Market last summer. They are so tomatoe-y, I know exactly what you mean. I had a problem with the dreaded Blossom End Rot with the first fruit set on my Zebras, seems they are a little more prone to it, as none of the other varieties I grew had any BER at all.
On the other end of the spectrum I grew Yellow Pears, which are very low in acidity and quite sweet.
Also grew my perennial favorite all-around tomato, Wisconsin 55s, they are everything a tomato should be.
This was my first year growing Health Kick hybrid Romas. Those are the ones with 4x the lycopene or somesuch. They made great salsa and marinara, but I think they are determinate, because I got a whole lot of them at once and then no more. Next year I will try an indeterminate Roma if there is such a thing.
I had to cover my 'maters last night because we had patchy frost. I hope they can hold on for those last dozen WI 55s that are so big and yet so green right now.
All my tomatoes this year were surprises from last year’s compost pile. I got some cherry tomatoes, and “regular” tomatoes but my favorite this year are the grape tomatoes. I remember buying some last year and I must have dumped some trimmings in the compost. This year one sprouted in a flower pot with other stuff in it. The pot’s too small, but I’ve been diligently watering & fertilizing it. Vine ripened grape tomatoes are much better that the store ripened ones I bought last year. I think I’m going to save some seed & see if I can grow enough of these buggers next year to can up some Tomolives.
It’s not really the end of the tomato season yet, here in central coast California. I’m still picking 'em and in fact we’re going to have grilled salmon with tomato/basil salad this very evening.
I don’t have a new tomato discovery. I plant the same hybrid variety every year, because it produces bushels of top-quality, meaty, almost jelly-less fruit: Celebrity. They have a deep, sweet tomatoey flavor balanced with just a touch of acid.
I am, however, processing my tomatoes a different way this year. I used to just cook 'em down into a thick sauce and pick out the skins at the end, then freeze the sauce in ziploc bags. Now I halve them, place them in a big shallow roasting pan, and broil them until their skins are blackened. When they’re cool enough to handle, I pick off the skins, pour all the softened tomatoes into a big tupperware container, and hit them with my stick blender. Then I pour this smooth sauce into ziploc bags and freeze it. The roasting gives the sauce a luscious, smoky, caramelized flavor, and it’s easy to pick away the skins this way. I ignore the seeds - the sauce tastes fine without removing them.
We planted a new variety this year too. Stupidly, I don’t remember the name. It’s a pale orange-yellow color with stripes, and the taste reminds me of peaches. :eek: It’s really good.
We discovered Cherokee Purple a couple years ago, they are the BEST!!! They are firm, juicy and full of flavor. What I like best about them is they don’t have as much of the goopy seeds as many tomatoes do. Alas, we only had one wave of them this year, then they stopped producing.
My Roma tomatoes didn’t do all that well, (I’m jealous, devilsknew!!) I tried planting them in a container this year and I guess didn’t fertilize them well enough.
We did also do the Green Zebra’s–they were really good in a green salsa I put together.
I never knew there were so many different colors of tomatoes until a couple years ago when our neighbor had us try the CP’s and some yellow and orange tomatoes. We were hooked!!!
Temps are cooling off, but I think if we get a couple more warm days we will have a bumper crop of volunteer Cherry Tomatoes. Yum!!
All of my tomatoes were total crap this year; very little was even edible.
Around here, my choices are mostly dominated by what will and won’t grow: Montana is not exactly prime tomato country. Of the varieties I’ve found, I’ve consistently had the most success with Early Girls. The fruits are smaller than some, but they produce enough to make up for it.
My experiment this year was actually Romas, since I had expected in previous years that they would prefer a more, ahem, Mediterranean climate. They turned out to produce reasonably well (though still not as good as my girls), but they seem to ripen to flavor a few days before they look ripe: When I picked them when they looked ripe, they were rather mushy and bland.
You have got to find out what they were.
I tried to grow Patio Princess in pots as directed. It absolutely wasn’t worth it. I can buy tastier termaters at the store.
Not going to try tomatoes again until I can put them in the ground.
I have really simplified and downsized my vegetable gardening. My 4ft. x 4ft. raised bed has one Celebrity tomato plant, still pumping out tomatoes, and oregano, chives, and rosemary. I also have two Hungarian Wax Pepper plants and a patch of white-edged thyme that have sneaked into the flower bed around the patio room. We’re going on vacation soon, and I hope to present my wife’s cousin with thyme in a bottle. 
I’m told the UK limited-space gardeners use “bag gardening.” You take a bag of potting soil, and you punch a few holes in the bottom side for drainage. Then you cut an X in the top side, and put your tomato plant in there. After a summer’s fertilizer salts, you scatter the soil somewhere, and start again next spring with a new bag. On the plus side, you get no nematodes, and no plant diseases; the stuff is steamed.
I haven’t tried that myself as I haven’t had to, but my sister back in Virginia has a horrible time with her tomatoes in the ground. This year she got those green plastic hanging bags to grow her tomatoes in and they went all ridiculous on her. She’s pretty impressed with them. I think a lot of people have problems trying to grow their 'maters in ground soil that’s turned bad for them. Pots and hanging bags seem to be the new way to go.
I have two 4 x 6 raised beds in which I planted Better Boys, and had a decent crop of very tasty 'maters grown mostly in sterile potting soil. Next year I’ll be trying the Purple Cherokees fer sure, that one sounds delicious.
Also had a bumper crop of jalapenos, grown in plastic and ceramic pots, but as usual they’re not very hot. Some heat, yes, but not what I would call potent.
Anyone know what determines the hotness of home-grown peppers? Is it strictly genetics, or do growing methods play into it?
I’ve been told that extra potassium helps make peppers hotter. Try mixing some wood ash into your soil.
Also, a friend of mine swears that cutting the heads off of a book of paper matches and putting them in the ground when you transplant makes them extra hot, but this is pure hearsay and I have never tried it.
Mr.stretch overwatered everything this year so some of my tomatoes weren’t as good as the could have been.
I tend to grow lots of varieties of tomatoes. This year I grew:
Sun Sugar cherry-very sweet, pretty orange color, small fruit
Green Grape–sweet, light green to yellow color, good size fruit for a grape
Super Sweet 100s–always a favorite
Volunteers Super Sweets–my volunteers turned out better than the one I deliberately planted because they got less water
Green Zebras–they were good, but we grew them in containers and I think they’d be happier in the ground
Black Krim–excellent flavor, deep red color, pretty meaty
Romas–didn’t do well at all
Patio Princess–waste of good soil and container, the fruit was crap
Yellow Brandywine–couldn’t be bothered to set fruit so I don’t know if it would have been good
Husky Gold–good tomatoes flavor, medium size, pretty orange fruit
Next year I’m growing Early Girls, some cherries, and one heirloom.