A few of the mysteries to be solved in 2006....

[nctomatoman]

Every season has its mysteries - and for me 2006 has loads! Here are the varieties I am anticipating the most this year....

1. the Nine Dwarf F1s (8 by Patrina, 1 by Bruce) - we know that the crosses took since all nine are indeterminate, and seeds were saved from fruit from the dwarf parent. But - what size, color and shape will these be? We are doing this to try to find larger fruited, different colored dwarf types (people can follow this project in the Research and Development section).

2. Gold cherry tomatoes - I am growing Sungold F1, Sweet Gold F1, Katinka and Sungold Select II. Also in the mix are two plants from gold colored cherry volunteers that popped up in unexpected places last season. How will all of these compare? And what will the plants from the two volunteers give us?

3. Finally growing Earl's Faux and Granny Cantrell - looking forward to tasting those from my garden!

4. Anna Banana - hoping to get a delicious pale yellow heart shaped variety (a Washington State market gardener sent me this, which originated with Anna russian)

5. Silvery Fir Tree- growing it in a pot, will it last longer before getting diseased? Will it taste better than Carrot Like, which I got at the SSE Campout many years ago?

6. Citron Compact - how will it compare to Golden Dwarf Champion? And will it give me some fruit before meeting its demise - last year it went down very quickly and I didn't get to taste it.

7. What's up with Saucy Green and Sophie's Choice and Marmande, three varieties I've had for a few years and finally getting to try them out.

8. Do I FINALLY have an Indeterminate version of Green Grape (got seeds from Jennifer in Canada)

9. The colors and flavors of some of Brad's varieties - Black Heart, Pork Chop, Fuzzy Cherokee, Giant Green Zebra, Beauty King, Berkeley Tie Dye, Large Barred Boar...can't wait to see and try these!

10. Will I get something large and green from the regular leaf seedling from Reinhard's Green Giant? And how about the regular leaf and potato leaf from Grub's Mystery Green Seed.

11. Will the potato leaf seedling from my saved seed from Yugoslavian give me a large pink potato leaf heart?

12. Looking forward to trying a few family heirlooms that are new to me - Mountaineer Mystery, Grandpa Ludolph, Yoder's German Yellow, and a few more I've had for awhile but finally getting to - Kellogg's Breakfast potato leaf, Earl of Edgecomb, and Noire do Coeusboeuf

Finally lucky 13 - what sort of variety, color, flavor will I get from the dozen Brandywine F3s I'm growing (from last year's most interesting F2s)...and the 35 of these that are growing remotely (by a coworker of Lee).

And Bully - your mutant Stick seed gave me typical looking potato leaf seedlings and I have one of them growing. What is THAT going to give me!

Now we just need to escape Tomato Spotted Wilt, Fusarium, weeds, deer, stink bugs, deer, downburst wind thunderstorms, tropical storms, drought, ......