... which would you grow?

We have a teensy spot for produce gardening, and 3 tomato plants was too many this year (one cherry and two non-cherry [the plants got large but the tomatoes didn't get very large]).

My 5-year-old had a ball growing the tomatoes but he doesn't eat them.... however, *I* do, and the grandparents are very happy to share the bounty and he's proud to take his harvest to them of course.

I think we'll skip the cherry tomatoes and concentrate on the slicers. I'm originally from New Jersey so am wondering how the Rutger's (aka Jersey) measures up to the newer varieties. Naturallement I would prefer heirloom so we could start a tradition and keep it going.

Thanks in advance for any advice and all your opinions.

Chuck the heirloom in favor of hybrids?!?! Blastphemy!! I guess you could do that if you don't grow tomatoes for taste.

Are you looking for something that produces or for something that tastes good? Are you looking for a more compact plant? Are you looking for something that you could save your own seed from?

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John - Zone 6

I say go for it. Don't let anybody talk you out of it either. I've never grown Rutgers, but just about any homegrown tomato is going to be much better than store bought. New Jersey is good tomato growing country as well, so you'll be just fine.

* * * *
According to my calculations, the problem doesn't exist.

quote:

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Originally posted by roflol:
My 5-year-old had a ball growing the tomatoes but he doesn't eat them.... however, *I* do.

I think we'll skip the cherry tomatoesThanks in advance for any advice and all your opinions.

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Opinion on that one...

Never skip the cherries in my eyes, especially if you're tryin' to get them to eat from the garden...

Never skip something cause they don't eat it..
*at least for 5 or 6 years.. and even then always give them some to at least try...
Tastes' change*

*and this is a proven theory, that if you continue to give a child something on their plate, even if they don't eat it... eventually it'll be there so many times, that if you put that on their plate when you introduce a new food, they will at least try the old food, cause they've seen it so many times, they are more familiar with that food than the new one you put on the plate...~~~>does that many any sense?<~~~
And IMHO if your little one sees you eating them, then your chances are reasonably good he may too..
*I snack on them all the time while doing gardening chores and my kids don't exactly like tomatoes, but are willing to keep tryin' them, because they see how fanatical their mother is about them...*

And last but not least in the opinion department..
if you have a small growing area...
don't forget about growing tomatoes in 5 gallon food grade buckets...
Works really good...

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Celebrity is a nice slicing tomato,looks almost like sirloin inside (solid meat,little juice) and a nice taste.I favor pink brandywine for taste,they are ugly but great tasting.Sun Gold for the best cherry tomato.

Roflol, do you stake your tomatoes? If you stake them and train them to only 2 main stems or so, you can space them 2 feet apart. How much space do you have?

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Terry

May the force be with you

quote:

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Originally posted by tkhooper:
Sorry if I offended. I didn't mean to.

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Ohhhhhh no Tammy.. D
You didn't offend anyone....
Not at all...
We just love Tomatoes so much..

But I know how staunch some gardener's can be with certain types, brands, varieties of 'maters..

And I know they both like to joke about their tomatoes being the best..
*which they are veryyyyyyy good...
i just never get around to growing them*

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Ciao roflol,

My favourite tomato, bar none is Brandywine Sudduth. It doesn't produce a ton, but what it does will make your eyes roll back in your head. It's a gorgeous, slightly flattened pink tomato that will fill a piece of bread nicely and makes an absolutely heavenly BLT.

Another one I adore for slicing is German Red Strawberry, a heart-shaped variety, which is actually pink, not red. The only difference between a pink and red tomato is the skin colour..pink tomatoes have a clear skin, red tomatoes have a yellow skin. I'm quite partial to pink and purple tomatoes.

My third choice would be Black From Tula, a dark purple slicer, which for me has a very rich, almost smoky flavour I really like. This plant is what I'd call a compact indeterminate. It won't get huge, but in my garden, it gets quite bushy and will absolutely need staking. This year it got to about 5' tall.

My favourite green when ripe tomato is Aunt Ruby's German Green with it's almost spicy flavour. This one's a monster and can grow over 8' tall in the right conditions so consider that before you plant. It's a great producer, too.

Orange Strawberry was a huge hit this year as well. Gorgeous colour, very dense, meaty tomato, really great as a sandwich tomato.

I'd say those are the standouts. If you like a really huge tomato, grow Marianna's Peace. It's another pink and the tomatoes I got from it in 2005 were averaging 2 lbs each.

Cheers,
Julianna

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Terry, your comment explains a lot. We only had a 3x2 raised bed to work with (size was determined by how many cinder blocks we scrounged) and we didn't prune a single branch back (unless obviously dead... I just couldn't make myself do it) so it's no wonder the tomatoes didn't overwhelm us, lol - they didn't have enough room (to make matters worse, they shared that bed with the doomed pumpkin vines). But we did stake (with anything that would hold them up) when they started to fall all over each other.

Funny how it looked like there was all the room in the world for the 3 of them when we planted them, though!

Welllll, y'all are not making the choice easy of which variety or two for me to grow, are you? *Everything* sounds so good!

Do all the varieties you've been discussing come true from seed that you've saved, or do you buy new seed year to year? (I am still learning about this bit).

Thanks again for all the information, everybody.

quote:

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Originally posted by roflol:
Do all the varieties you've been discussing come true from seed that you've saved, or do you buy new seed year to year?

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Without mechanical pollinator barriers or adequate geographical isolation there is always a chance of tomatoes cross-pollinating, but with the natural structure of the tomato flower the percentages are only in the 5-10% range.

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John - Zone 6

quote:

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Originally posted by johnCT:

quote:

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Originally posted by MrClint:

I took a plate of EG to Tomatomania here a few years back, and sat them right next to the brandywine this-eth, and the cherokee that-eth and marveled at the comments. One lady proclaimed, "Now that's how a tomato should taste!"

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Anyone used to eating hybrids or supermarket tomatoes is going to say that.

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Taste is completely subjective. In reality, most folks grow both hybrids and heirlooms. There are productive and tasty tomatoes of both kinds.

* * * *
According to my calculations, the problem doesn't exist.

I have to butt in here for a bit..
Sometimes when first time gardeners get
even interested in gardening at first..
I am grateful that they are willing to take the
time to grow a tomato, no matter what brand..
And when a person starts to garden, how do they know what is or is not available to grow, especially they start with growing what's available..
And if the hybrids' are what's available..
How would that gardener know?

Some don't have the internet connections,
or even maybe savy *of knowing how to surf and get/find info* so, they again are limited to what they are given or what's available to them..

I still stick by my HO that ANY tomato HOMEGROWN is waaaaaayyyyyy better than any store bought..

But I truly understand the need for heirloom seeds to be kept and continued...
And for those who are so deeply involved in them to help educate and spread good will with those
"heirloom varieties* that are falling behind the way side to those "pretty" new hybrids...

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Oby, yes, the Cherokee wouldn't win any beauty contests, but it was so good it really surprised me.
I also really like the yellow pear, and want to grow the red pear too.
And the little Reisentraube and for fun, the teeny Micro-Tom.
Oops, I just remembered that this thread is about slicers.

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Well for slicing I have been growing Brandywine for many years, they are large, not always pretty to look at, but that doesn't change the taste at all, and a very good slicer. And as stated heirlooms are not always the prettiest as far as looks, but some of them are very tasty, So you should try heirloom tomatoes and other heirloom veggies....Our ancestors grew them and were satisfied.

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I agree with MrClint!
This year i grew a F1 hybrid called FERLINE, and it was the best tom ive grown.
every year i grow at least 1 new variety, FERLINE will be my first choice again next year, because its the only one ive grown that has'nt had any problems.
The reason i grew it, was because it was said to be blight resistant!
and yes it was
my dad grew his old favourite MONEYMAKER (op)beside mine and they got blight.
Taste was great'and a bonus was nice thin skins

* * * *

Mark

quote:

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Originally posted by MrClint:
I would urge anyone that hasn't already made up their mind about hybrids and heirlooms -- to continue keeping an open mind. Otherwise, you might miss out on some truly great tomatoes of either type. The Internet is a great resource, but so are your neighbors, state and/or county extension, and local nursery person. I hope that sounds more reasonable than, "if you disagree with me it means you don't know any better."

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I do not disagree (but I probable don't know any better either ) , and being open minded is a very good way to be. When I first moved to Arkansas...I ask the locals what kind of tomato they grew...Arkansas Traveler is what everyone around here swears by, Ok..so I tried them the first year...I hated the taste the skins were tough, it was horrid to me...But to them they love them....So yes a person needs to try different things and find the perfect one for themselves, whether it is heirloom or hybrid.

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Ciao all,

I think John was misunderstood. I think what he was trying to convey is that for most people, they will buy what's easily available and if the nursery has it, whether it's heirloom or hybrid, that's what they'll go for. He and I both discovered heirlooms and after really amazing success, decided to go totally nuts and grow as many as we could shoe-horn into our yards. And now we're totally hooked. BUT..I actually got seeds from an absolutely outstanding hybrid from this same guy..Sungold F1, an orange cherry which is arguably the sweetest tomato on the planet. So it was the only hybrid in our yard, but still, we're not totally anti-hybrid for the sake of it. Show me a hybrid that tastes as good or better than an heirloom and I'll give it a shot. The downside is we can't save seeds from these things, but at $4 a pop for Sungold F1 seeds every single year if that's the only tomato I have to actually fork out money for, I'm ok with that. I'm also totally ok with trading with people because like John said, cross-pollination is still a very low probability even without bothering to bag blossoms and I got some very interesting tomatoes this year from another tomato-growing addict which were accidental crosses.

Cheers,
Julianna

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I've been in these hybrid versus heirloom discussions elsewhere. Nobody ever wins these things. Posts usually end up getting pulled or users banned. Heirloom fans are very passionate, almost driven! I like both types of tomatoes and choose to judge the plants on their own merits. Most folks are basically pragmatic versus being simply uninformed.

As for sungolds, they are simply awesome tomatoes. I am "ordered" to always grow them. Other great tasting hybrids that I am ordered to grow are momotaro, and juliet. This further proves the rule that taste is subjective, as each of these is the favorite of at least one family member. The juliet fan in the family does not care for sungold at all... So on and so forth.

* * * *
According to my calculations, the problem doesn't exist.

I admire your passion MrClint!

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Deborah...You are so funny, no one is going to ban you because you say you didn't like the taste of a certain kind of tomato. Everyone is different, as are their tastes. Also as was pointed out...alot of other factors can change the taste from garden to garden of the same kind of tomato. I'll be trying a few new varieties this next growing season and I hope to find a few I really like the taste of, I'll be growing only heirloom varieties, as I like to be able to save seed, esp if it something I really like the taste of.

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I get to stay !!!

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At the end of the day most folks want it all. Since growing space is limited, we need taste, production and high quality fruit. It does us little good to focus on only one of those elements and forsake the others. I mention fruit quality because it can be a huge waste to carve out all the cracks, splits, scald and other bad spots from a completely mis-shapen tomato.

I've tasted a large number of tomatoes both heirloom and hybrid and have favorites of both kinds. The tables can be turned and one can ask an heirloom fan how many hybrids they've grown/tasted. You can't judge all hybrids on the boys, bigs or girls.

* * * *
According to my calculations, the problem doesn't exist.

quote:

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Originally posted by MrClint:
You can't judge all hybrids on the boys, bigs or girls.

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Then what are you going to judge them against? Surely not on the ones sold in grocery stores.

You know exactly the point I'm making. You have quite an eloquent way of being argumentative. I've seen it on other forums as well. Fools some I guess.

* * * *
John - Zone 6

Aww..how nice of you Deborah! I have a thread going in "Gardening with Disabilities" about Jamie...though I haven't added to it in quite some time.
They are beautiful looking tomatoes aren't they?
Thanks again,
Christina

* * * *

I'm sorry if the discussion has gotten anybody testy, I certainly didn't mean for it to.

I'd like to clarify something in my very first post that I think had I been more specific and less poetic in describing *may* have avoided all this:

quote:

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I said:
Naturallement I would prefer heirloom so we could start a tradition and keep it going.

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By this, I meant I wanted to save the seeds of whatever variety we chose and keep growing it year after year (if we liked it). I'm still learning the nuances of hybridization, but is it correct that it's heirloom I would be wanting for this purpose, as hybrid may or may not grow true from seed? Please correct me if I am wrong there.

I was silly thinking there was one tomato that would be a hands-down favorite to grow and eat. Heck, I had no idea there were so many different tomatoes to begin with!

I am in the process of obtaining a few different varieties (Rutgers original for the bed, and Brandywine {pink and red} and Purple Cherokee for buckets, and still hunting for Tumbling Tom for baskets) and hopefully someday when somebody even newer than I comes on the board and asks this question I can tell them my experience with those tomatoes.

I can tell you (because I just dug the tags out of my seed box) that the tomatoes we grew from plants bought at Wal-Mart were Bonnie brand Heartland and Husky Cherry Red. Both were better than store-bought; that's about all I have to compare them to at this point. Maybe next year I can specify better compared to what I grow from seed.

Obviously everybody has different tastes. I appreciate everybody sharing their opinions and telling their favorites.