Already Nostalgic

[obispo45]

Covered some of my stuff up tonight, namely a few pepper plants and some herbs. Was a good year all in all, actually a great year!! Had our first frost tonight, with record lows for the date. Was 26 out as I returned home from my oddly houred shift just a bit ago. Naturally its supposed to be back up flirting w/ the high 70's and low 80's by Monday.

Froze, processed, made, etc....many dishes and the like incorporating tomatoes for the winter. The freezer and pantry runneth over thankfully. Nothing quite like that fresh from the vine taste though. Already nostalgic for one of my 2007 taste winners....Berkeley Tye-Dye. Pictured are my first ones of the season(July 25th) and a random other pic or two. Since they were so yummy and many friends wound up adoring them nothing wound up getting preserved of course. Already hungry!!

[strmywthr3]

everything looks wonderful!

I'm starting to feel it a bit too. I'd gotten used to the several boxes of tomatoes lying around the kitchen waiting to be used. now the boxes are emptying faster than they're filling up.

[dokutaaguriin]

Beautiful pictures. What kind of comments did people make about Berkeley Tie Dye?
Jeff

[Patrina_Pepperina]

The colours are simply stunning! Lovely photos

PP

[Sherry_AK]

Just looking at those pictures should cheer you up this winter! Beautiful.

[rnewste]

Here is an additional photo of a grouping of Berkeley Tie-Dyes from Brad's Wild Boar Farm NORCATT event. Can't wait to plant some of my own next year!!

Ray

[cosmicgardener]

Stunning pictures - great produce, I'd be making a poster out of those pics. You've obviously put a great deal of effort into your growing and it has paid off. Congratulations!
Cosmic

[arnesr]

Beautiful pictures Obispo45. I grew Berkely Tye Dye this year too and plan on growing it again. What other varieties are shown in that first picture? The purple one is an unusual color for a tomato....very pleasing.

Rnewste, are you saying that all of those tomatoes are Berkley Tye Dye? I have gotten several fruit from one of my BTD plans, but all of them have been sort of green with orange stripes, like in Obispo45's picture. Do the colors vary that much by plant or are there other varieties shown from Brad's Wild Boar Farm?

[obispo45]

Most folks were "mildly shocked" by the outward appearence of the BTDye dokutaaguriin. They didn't want to eat them since they were too pretty...LOL. Then after they were tasted they were only too happy to ask for seconds and thirds and inquire about seed availability for next year. My dreadlocked, bearded free spirited neighbor informed me that "Jerry Garcia would be most impressed even from beyond the grave!!" Hey....if Jerry is impressed and would approve I'm a happy guy.

Arnesr....the purplish one is appropriately named Purple Calabash. There is an odd-shaped Speckled Roman on the plate, as well as a Green Sausage. Was a good early season day for non-red tomatoes that morning I guess. The larger orange ones in the other pic are Orange Heirloom. Generic name for an otherwise awesome cultivar(my overall #1 variety in 2007).

[cosmicgardener]

I keep coming back to your pics to drool over those black and purple bell peppers - can you give me the names of them - I want to grow some - I'm only just venturing beyond red and green peppers because I believed for a long time it was too cold in Tasmania, but have had success the last two years in the greenhouse so now I need to take the next step.

[obispo45]

Hi Cosmic....be more than happy to fill you in. The black one is a variety named Mavras f1. It was my first season growing it. Purchased seeds from the Totally Tomatoes catalog... to my knowledge they are the only ones that carry the seeds. Our friend, good ol' Craig L. informed me that Stokes Seeds has a very similar looking hybrid cultivar named Black Bird. I'll grow it again....I had such high expectations for it that I wound up slightly disappointed. Fruits were just gorgeous, matured early and were "uniformly blocky" but I found the yield to be fairly low and the plants not very vigorous. Taste was decent and the fruits kept excellently. That said for looks alone I'll be growing it again.

The purple beauty is Tequila f1. This is probably my new favorite hybrid bell. Cannot really say enough good things about it!!! Purchased seeds from Tomato Growers Supply Co. Pretty sure others stock it as well. Very early, very very high yielding, very tasty, vigorous tough large plants and IMO the purplest of the purple. Goes from green to purple very quickly and remains purple for a long period...eventually ripening to an orangish/red. Similar in many regards to the equally wonderful Islander f1(Johnny's Selected Seeds). IMO Islander's color changes are more impressive with a slightly larger yield but Tequila is "purpler" and fruits are usually larger. Can't go wrong either way, both are awesome.

In that middle picture there is a really fun brownish, slightly elongated bell named Hershey f1(need to find more pics of those). Color of a milk chocolate candy bar. That one is from Tomato Grow. Supply Co as well, taste was just incredible and retained its color beautifully when cooked. Was a little later season and also remained brownish for the majority of the season. Similar in some regards to Tawny Port f1, another absolutely great colorful yummy pepper. Good growing my friend, have fun!

[cosmicgardener]

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. I'll look into getting some seeds from the sources you mention.

Question for Craig. Is the Islander that Obispo mentions the same line as the Islander F3's you sent over here?