I have been writing a series of posts spotlighting specific varieties of edible plants. I’m loving the series but lately I have been struggling for varieties I feel passionate (or particularly knowledgeable) about . As a result I’m not going to write a spotlight every week – only when I have something I really want to spotlight. I would love it if others continue to spotlight good varieties though. Like Live in the Yard has done with Rainbow Carrots this week. A great post by a blogger I hadn’t come across prior to receiving the link. Thankyou!
If you do write a post please continue to let me know and I will add it to the index. I will also link to it in my Monday Harvest post if I haven’t written a Spotlight in that week.
Anyway enough of the housekeeping and on to what I wanted to write about today: Tomatoes – lots of varieties.
I have chosen to grow mainly, but not solely, apricot sized varieties this year. This is partially because my parents usually have incredibly prolific plants that supply most of my saucing needs and partially because I find the apricot sized ones the most useful for eating fresh. My kids like them that size and I enjoy them in combinations in salads etc. I figure by concentrating on just one main size of tomato I should be able to figure out which ones I like best and will grow in future.
So this year I am growing: Juane Flame, Green Zebra, Purple Cherokee and Yellow Pear (all thanks to Yvonne for the seed), Tommy Toe, Tiny Tim, Tigerella (thanks to Diana for the seed ), Black Cherry, Tomatoberry (thanks to Nina), and Rouge de Marmande. I might plant a few more but just reading this list is making me feel a little overwhelmed….
I sowed my seed at the start of July and the seedlings are well a truly up and looking good. This is what the majority of varieties looked like at the end of July:
They are about double that size now and look a lot sturdier. Interestingly the ones I put outside in the ‘Bunnings special’ mini greenhouse seem to be growing better than those on my daughters window sill. Perhaps they get more light.
The only variety which hasn’t done well so far is Green Zebra – only one came up and it isn’t looking super healthy so I think a resowing is in order. I suspect they prefer slightly warmer conditions.
I plan to pot my seedlings up at least once, possibly twice before I plant them out in the garden – probably during October if our Spring is reasonably warm. Hopefully the rodents stay away from this year and I get a bumper crop.
Which tomato varieties are you growing this year? Any apricot sized varieties I have missed that you would recommend?
I hope yours do better than ours have this year – we have just got our first red one of the season. We did get some earlier but those all had blossom end rot!
Very nice – mine barely have second leaves. I’m about to leave on holiday so I’ve planted all mine outside this weekend and have covered in garden fleece. I hope they survive! I did end up getting a baby greenhouse but I wasn’t sure my housesitter would be able to handle that. I always have a good word for Garden Peach – a great variety!
Oh poor you Sue and you have had such lovely weather as well. I have to confess that I have brought 2 seedlings (I know they are super easy to grow as well) tomatoberry and pink pearl both have great flavour but after being away I felt I had to get a move on.
I linked to your site today and also did a spotlight on the tomatoes – one in particular I’d recommend that fits your size group – red zebra as it’s great for eating both fresh and in salad.
Look at all those cute little tomato seedlings. You’ve got a good lineup of varieties. I’m growing Jaune Flamme too. It is one of the first to produce in my garden and I find it to be quite tasty. My other early tomato is Nyagous, a smaller sized “black” tomato, and delicious also. The rest of the bunch, other than my runty Galinas cherry and the Fiaschetto plum are still hard green rocks.
I wrote up a Saturday/Sunday spotlight post about my favorite sprouting broccoli:http://fromseedtotable.blogspot.com/2013/08/saturday-spotlight-on-sunday-or-monday.html
I know you’ve already written a spotlight about sprouting broccoli and this is very similar, but perhaps it’s a bit different too.
I grew Jaune Flamme and Tigerella last year. Tigerella is always a good producer although Jaune Flamme did quite well. I did plant Green Zebra as well but didn’t get many off it. This is, however, my hands down favourite tomato and luckily there is a guy at the farmers market who had better yields than me 🙂 I haven’t decided what to grow this year yet. I am relying on seedlings from the grower at the markets as i havent the time to do my own this year so will wait to see what she grows. She always has something interesting.
Pretty and cute tomatoes. I’m with you, I’ve decided smaller size tomato is more suitable for our family. I grew Green Zebra 2 years in a row and didn’t get to taste it, I gave up.
Interesting that you should consider Cherokee Purple “apricot-sized”. Mine are huge! If you liked Tigerella (and I suspect you did), why not try some of the other “-ellas”? I have Sungella on the go at present. Lovely brght yellow fruit, turning orangey when very ripe – almost like apricots, in fact!
Am very impressed with your tomatoes…
Yum! Green zebra & black cherry are delicious! I have found that lemon drop cherry tomatoes have a way better flavour than yellow pear & grow like weeds in melbourne. Although the little pear shape is super cute… Happy growing!