PNW tomato season

[velikipop]

Tania,

Lots of fruit but few are ripe or starting. So far only the small grow out from Tumbler has ripe fruit and a few Sungold. Grub's green has about six to seven small tomatoes on top of the plant and that is it. It is the strangest plant that I have.

Many of my large beefsteaks, some close to a pound have black spots on them. I suspect it is early blight and did remove them. I hope the other fruit does not get effected otherwise this season will be a huge dissapointment.

The most resistant so far are Milka's, Rhodes' Heirloom, Kosovo and a few others. Ashleigh is a pleasant surprise. A huge plant with lots of medium to large round tomatoes.

Peppers have recovered I just hope we can get some fruit before it gets too cold.

Alex

[squibT]

Same here, lots of fruit not much ripe yet. Had some Health Kick ripen and lots of Grape but waiting on Stupice, ML, Gardeners Delight and others...<sigh>...so much rain and cloudy weather here over the last month...shady back yard dont help either...

[keithaxis]

What a past week as far as fruit set with the beefsteaks...wow, each night I walk out I see more new ones set on the plants. I have eaten two kimberly's and the next to ripen is Sungold. Thank goodness for August with the 10th wettest July ever on record. Here are a couple shot of the garden in it's current state. Plants are all lusch and happy but one (azoychka) and most are putting fruit out that are holding on. The biggest struggles for me as far as plants setting fruit now are Kellogg's Breakfast and Brandywine Suddath. They may have a couple hidden set fruit but not nearly what the other plants are doing now.
Below is Tom's Yellow Wonder...It is now setting fruit big time...



Here is full garden in the nice northwest afternoon/early evening..

[cukes]

Nice pic of Rainer keithaxis.
So far in the HEB- Sungold and Matina been picking for 3 weeks.
Just ripening ML, AR and BCW.
In the greenhouse CP is really coming on strong with ripe fruit. BW is starting to blush.
I will never grow yellow pear cherries again. Just a waste of space for mushy no flavor maters. Nobody likes them.
Sweet 100's are pumping out about 30 aday now.
Early Girl had a BER issue but is under control now.
I will try and get some pics and post them later.
Bill

[velikipop]

Keithaxis,

My what a beautiful setting you have!! I had one big tomato on my Sudduth's but it was blighted. Still have a few fruit on the plant that I hope survive. Brandywine types have never lived up to the glowing descriptions often ascribed to them.

Cukes, I agree on Yellow Pear. It is one of the worst tasting tomatoes for my taste preference.
Alex

[maryinoregon]

Not one ripe tomato, not even a cherry. Some of my plants are really small. I was wondering if it was the potting soil. I don't think so however. It comes from a local, very well known company. I just don't get it. I do have some plants that are growing well and those are setting fruit. I hope August and September stay warm, or it could be a sad harvest. During the really bad heat in July, I had lots of blossome drop. I was thinking I will have to dig for some finished compost and maybe brew some tea. Have never done it, but a friend who used to post on GW told me that when she used it on her tomatoes, it was like they were on steroids. They grew big and produced lots. Hope everyone has great harvests.

I gave a neighbor lady Yellow Pear this summer. She loves the darn thing. I also have some other friends who love Yellow Pear. They are great people otherwise. I grew Yellow Pear one year when it surprised the heck out of me and tasted a bit bolder. It had more of a beefsteak taste. But that was before I started saving seeds. maryinpnw slaps head. What was I thinking to not save seeds?

[maryinoregon]

Keith, that's a great shot of Mt. Rainier. And your garden is beautiful. When I was growing up in Yakima, WA, we could see Adams, Rainier, St. Helens and Hood from our front window. We could see more of Mt. Adams than the rest though. Brings back a lot of memories. Thanks for posting.

Noting that you are growing Tom's Yellow Wonder. I will look forward to reading how it does for you. Glad it is prolific, but especially interested in taste, size and how hardy the plants are. I read in the Tom's Yellow Wonder thread that it seems especially disease resistant. I don't have too much problem with that, except for some backsplash. Wonder if we have enough heat to do TYW justice? Have never had much luck with good tasting yellow slicers. If it does well, will you offer seeds? I would like to try it down here.

[dice]

Mary:

I have plants like that: they flowered but refused
to set fruit in the cool, rainy weather in June,
found it too hot during the week with the record
temperatures in the first of July, set a few during
the week after that, then sat there and did nothing
during the ten days of rain in mid-July. *Now* they
have decided that it is ok to set some fruit.

Some that seemed impervious to the weather and
set fruit all along: Stupice, Super Marmande,
Gregori's Altai, Red Siberian, and a mystery PL with
pointy, golf-ball sized fruit, flavor similar to Stupice.

Lots of fruit set on 3 different early determinates
and one early hybrid semi-determinate that sets
fruit in bunches, but none of those have blushed yet.
Ditto for Galina.

Even Siberia doesn't have ripe fruit yet. I have one in
a pot in the sunniest spot in the whole yard, and while
it is covered with fruit, none of them have blushed.

I'd say it's just the weather. If you can get hold
of some dried Comfrey leaf without too much
trouble, comfrey tea watered into the soil would
give them a boost. The potassium in it is especially
valuable during flowering and fruiting, and the
calcium in it will help protect against BER. For one
plant, a couple of tablespoons in a quart of hot
water, let cool to room temperature; for multiple
plants, a couple of handfuls in 5-gallons of water,
let it sit for a few days before using. You don't need
to strain it to water it in.

For any skiiers or photographers reading, a great view
of the Cascades can be seen in late afternoon on
a sunny day from the trail on top of Mission Ridge,
just after you get off the top chair lift.

[keithaxis]

Originally Posted by maryinpnw

Keith, that's a great shot of Mt. Rainier. And your garden is beautiful. When I was growing up in Yakima, WA, we could see Adams, Rainier, St. Helens and Hood from our front window. We could see more of Mt. Adams than the rest though. Brings back a lot of memories. Thanks for posting.

Noting that you are growing Tom's Yellow Wonder. I will look forward to reading how it does for you. Glad it is prolific, but especially interested in taste, size and how hardy the plants are. I read in the Tom's Yellow Wonder thread that it seems especially disease resistant. I don't have too much problem with that, except for some backsplash. Wonder if we have enough heat to do TYW justice? Have never had much luck with good tasting yellow slicers. If it does well, will you offer seeds? I would like to try it down here.

Hi Mary, I will be saving seeds from Tom's Yellow Wonder. I will also post in the research thread when I get fruit that is closer to ripe. There is one early fruit that is close to a pound (it appears) but then next phase of fruitset just happened over the past 9 days when those rains left us.
I had good luck last year with Dr wyche's and brandywine yellow so hopefully tom's produces as they did. This year the tomato plants get 11 hours or so of sun so that is 2 hours more than last year...of course that weather makes more difference than the sunlight I think..also, TYW does seem real good as far as disease resisantance and also grows pretty darn huge and healthy so far...

Keith

[maryinoregon]

Dice, thanks for the encouragment. I had a few plants like this last year too. Two years in a row. Never had this problem before that I recall. Depressing. I will look for the comfrey. I have a place or two in mind to get it. Shouldn't be much problem.

Keith, glad for any info on a new to most of us tomato variety and that you will be saving seeds. I thought about asking Tom, but figured I would ask you if I had a chance. Best to get a variety that's spent a summer in the northwest. My plants in the back yard get 8 hours max, but I can plant some in the front yard and get a few hours more.

Some years it's feast or famine with tomatoes. But at least it's going to be hot. Highs in the high 80s to low 90s. I've got fair fruit set.

The one I'm really following closely is Atkinson, since it was developed down south. I thought it might do really well here. Some of our southern Tomatovillians seem to like it. I will report on taste and all particulars when it gets big enough and ripens.

[dice]

Mary:

Another alternative to comfrey or nettles is chickweed.
One can often find it dried and chopped in herb stores,
because it is edible for humans, but lots of us have it
in abundance around the edges of our gardens. It is that
low, trailing stuff with round, slightly pointed green
leaves that has little white flowers.

(
http://www.cloudnet.com/~djeans/FlwPlant/chickweed.htm
)

I just grabbed a few handfuls and pureed them with
water in a blender to pour on a couple of plants showing
some slight chlorosis in the lower leaves (probably robbing
them of some nutrient to feed the growing tips of the
plant). I don't know how the nitrogen content compares
to nettles or comfrey, but it has decent amounts of calcium, iron, phosphorus, and potassium:

http://www.prodigalgardens.info/Nutr...20Analysis.htm

(And it is free if it just grows naturally in any uncultivated
space in your yard, like it does around here.)

In the spring, I make tea with a tablespoon each of
comfrey, alfalfa pellets, nettles, and kelp in a quart
of water (or handfuls in a 5-gal bucket of water), but
by midsummer my plants do not usually need more
nitrogen, so I switch to just comfrey (and kelp if I
have it) for anything that looks like it could use a
little boost. Now I can add chickweed to the mix (or
use it in place of one of the others).

Chickweed is both a blessing and (potentially) a curse
in the garden. It is edible (works better in a soup or
stew than a salad, in my opinion, because then you
don't have to separate the stems, just chop it up
and toss it in there), it fixes nitrogen on the roots like
clover and other legumes (available the following year),
and it provides nutrients to the garden if pureed and
watered in, added to compost, turned into the soil in
spring with last year's mulch, or just buried under mowed
cover crop by no-till farmers.

The curse is that it is attractive to thrips, which carry
Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus, so it is worth keeping it
under control if you have had that problem with your
tomatoes.

Edit:

"...to pour on a couple of plants..." should be:
"to pour around the base of a couple of plants"

(Pouring pureed vegetation on the foliage
of plants is probably not real helpful, unlike
strained herb or compost tea, which might
be ok for that.)

[maryinoregon]

Many thanks. I love to learn new to me garden stuff!

[cukes]

Here's some tomatoe and veggie pics.
All are in HEBs.

[PNW_D]

August 6th - first pick of the summer ......... from 12 o'clock, clockwise: Mano, Persey and Sophie's Choice with 42 day cherry (picked earlier) interspersed

Finally

[velikipop]

Those look fantastic. I can only wait with anticipation for my crop to ripen. Have had a few cherry tomatoes but nothing from the big guys yet.I've become so desperate for a good tasting tomato that I had to visit the local farmers market in Vancouver. Alas, we were about two hours too late. All the good heirlooms were sold out!!! Oh well maybe in a few days.

Alex