My Tomatoes 2012

[nicky]

We had our first large harvest this weekend & ended up having a great tomato tasting party on Sunday. It was our Pre-Olympic Closing Ceremony party.

Sorry, there are 2 mislabeled, too much pre-tasting wine - Cherokee Yellow is actually Brandywine Yellow and green chili is (close) Chile Verde. Most have large splits, as after no rain for 60 days, it decided to rain 3 days straight when I wasn't home. ARGH.

If anyone is interested I have posted most of the (subjective) tasting notes here (still a few to finish):
http://nickysgarden.wordpress.com/

Here is the ripe gang


Plate by plate





The tasting table:

[salix]

Beautiful pictures, Nicky - very much enjoyed your blog as well. Could we get an update on the chickens and "not Fluffy"?

[blackthumbmary]

Thanks for sharing such thorough (and fun to read) tasting notes! Beautiful photographs too!

I find these sorts of notes far more helpful than the generic 'everything taste good' type of descriptions found in most seed catalogs. As I am still new to the world of tomatoes, I really appreciate your notes as they helped inspire me to try some new varieties

[kath]

Enjoyed your photos and blog, Nicky! I don't envy you just at the beginning of 150 varieties ripening- I'm glad mine are winding down now.

kath

[nicky]

Thanks Salix! I saved some of the Guernsey Island Pink Blush seeds for you - only 1 problem. They aren't round cherries. They are exactly the same colour & look as prolific as the plants on Tania's database photos - but wrong shape. Pointy plums! I don't think that I mixed the plants up, I can't find anything close to a pink plum in my seed stash! Do you think the seed could have been crossed - or maybe I have a mutation? I kind of like the taste, but they are a bit hard. I will send you some anyway and grow out a few more next year & hopefully see what is going on!

Chicken update: Bah Debbie Hairy passed away in Mid July. She was quite old when we got her & likely died of old age. Everyone else is doing fine. We actually candled the eggs yesterday and found a viable one that the Polish laid! Woo hoo. A Polish/Mille Fleur D'Uccle cross! Hope it hatches! I will take some photos and update the old thread in the next couple of weeks!

Thanks Kath - I am actually pretty excited. This is my biggest ever harvest & my most varieties x3! I'm not sure how you do it year in, year out, but I am having fun so far! I picked a lot of the varieties based on the info in your threads!

[kath]

Originally Posted by nicky

I am actually pretty excited. This is my biggest ever harvest & my most varieties x3! I'm not sure how you do it year in, year out, but I am having fun so far! I picked a lot of the varieties based on the info in your threads!

Sorry to hear about Debbie Hairy.

Hope you continue to have fun- the first year was mostly fun and exciting for me. The second year not so much. This year, probably even less- although since I gave myself permission to rip out the plants that aren't producing tomatoes that anyone likes, etc. things are now at a level that I can maintain and yet still enjoy again- so I'm happy with that. It's also shown me what my upper limit should be from now on.

Sheesh- it makes me nervous to hear that you picked based on my threads. Hope you find some you really like.

kath

[RobinB]

I grew Guernsey Island Pink Blush last year (seeds from Wintersown) and got exactly what you did... pointy plums. They were extremely late for me (into September!), so I didn't grow them again.

I love your assortment of colors, sizes and shapes!

[Worth1]

I must say I have to admire all of the hard work and organizational skills that go into such things.

Good work.

Worth

[Ken4230]

From the looks of that grin, I would say that a considerable amount of wine was consumed. But as Martha says, wine is a good thing.
I've never been to a fancy tomato tasting. We have held a couple of informal ones. I hope to find a real one next year to attend. One within 3-4 hrs.

Enjoyed your pictures
Ken

[gardenfrog]

Wish I could be there with you, toasting to your beautiful 'maters!

[MarinaRussian]

Nicky, it is a lot of fun growing and tasting your own tomatoes! Love your pics!!!

My Fish Lake Oxheart doesn't look like yours. Sorry, I know this is your thread, but can I post my pic here, for comparison?

[carolyn137]

I always love pictures, but just wanted to point out that what you show as Lithuanian isn't and I know b'c I was the one who introduced it. And that Chile Verde I think should be longer than what you show and fatter at the stem end, but won't carp about that. It should kinda look like a long inverted "V".

Sheesh, and here I am with not ONE ripe fruit and staring at plates of them right in front of me.

[nicky]

Kath - don't be nervous! Anything that I don't like for fresh eating ends up getting cooked down as sauce, juiced, chili-ed, salsa-ed, dried, used as a base in curry.... None are so bad that they aren't enjoyed at our house! Your pics are an inspiration!

RobinB - good to know about the Guernsey Island Pink Blush. Mine have actually been fairly early, but they are very hard. I'm not sure what to do with them. Maybe salsa! Thanks for the info

Worth, Gardenfrog, Ken - thanks & wish you could all come and help taste them! Ken, I went to Remy's Buffalo-Niagara Tomato TasteFest™ last year. It was SO worth going! Kind people, excellent food - we made a weekend trip of it & had a great time. I'm sure that the one in your area would be just as fun!

Marina Russian - Most of my Fish Lake Oxhearts on the plant look more like yours. This is the first almost ripe & it isn't quite ready to eat yet. I'm still waiting Thanks for posting your pics - I think that it is great when you are looking through the threads for certain varieties when you see a few pics from different seed sources!

Carolyn - Lithuanian is supposed to be a beefsteak isn't it? I wrote that in my blog description. The imposter was the most highly rated for taste by hubby & myself. It is also pumping out a TON of these little globes. Hm... I don't think that it ended up mislabeled in the garden. I will check my seed source for X's. The Chile Verde in the photo ripened 1st - and is quite bulbous. I can't remember what the others on the plant look like - I will have to go & check when I get home.

Thanks for all of the comments! Tonight is the other half of the tasting - Couldn't con my poor hubby into another tomato dinner again last night!

[carolyn137]

Carolyn - Lithuanian is supposed to be a beefsteak isn't it? I wrote that in my blog description. The imposter was the most highly rated for taste by hubby & myself. It is also pumping out a TON of these little globes. Hm... I don't think that it ended up mislabeled in the garden. I will check my seed source for X's. The Chile Verde in the photo ripened 1st - and is quite bulbous. I can't remember what the others on the plant look like - I will have to go & check when I get home.

*****

Yes, Lithuanian is a HUGE PL PINK, not red, beefsteak and nothing like what's shown on the plate. I didn't go back and check but I remember getting it from Don Podolia many years ago and he worked in the coal mines of W VA and got this one from a Lithuanian coal miner he knew.

[kath]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Carolyn - Lithuanian is supposed to be a beefsteak isn't it? I wrote that in my blog description. The imposter was the most highly rated for taste by hubby & myself. It is also pumping out a TON of these little globes. Hm... I don't think that it ended up mislabeled in the garden. I will check my seed source for X's. The Chile Verde in the photo ripened 1st - and is quite bulbous. I can't remember what the others on the plant look like - I will have to go & check when I get home.

*****

Yes, Lithuanian is a HUGE PL PINK, not red, beefsteak and nothing like what's shown on the plate. I didn't go back and check but I remember getting it from Don Podolia many years ago and he worked in the coal mines of W VA and got this one from a Lithuanian coal miner he knew.

Lithuanian is in the center of the top row.