2011 season Wyoming & Mexico

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Home for a few days so wanted to post some info on my 2011 growing season and my Son's season in Wyoming both growing same varieties.

I had previously mentioned that I would be trialing "Venetian Marketplace" with seeds I saved from a big, ugly paste tomato bought at the old market in Venice.

WOW! Plants loaded top to bottom! Red-red, big, averaging 1.5 lbs in my Mexico garden and 1.0 pound in my Son's Wyoming garden. Plants were huge, lush and held the tomatoes snugly on branches. Stems on fruit were thick and I had to cut stems to remove ripe tomatoes.

Only about 30 seeds per tomato and very dense flesh. Dry-ish but not as dry as some others I grow. My Son emailed me a photo but I have nowhere to post it to link back to and I guess you cannot directly upload photos from your computer to the forum? I do not own a camera, do not take pictures and have no pictures in my home so I can claim "photo technique" ignorance!

Nile River Egyptian- HUGE classical heart-shape (had 2 that were more than 2 lbs) very red, few seeds and dry. I originally got these seeds from an SSE member (who brought them home from Egypt) and she said her production was lousy and never offered them again. This was my third year growing these and they did equally well in my Wyoming garden. One of my first to ripen in my Wyoming garden and ditto for Mexico. These are on my "Top 10" list of favorite tomatoes, grown for my particular needs and criteria () Dense flesh and hardly any juice or seeds.

Zapotec, one of the most underrated tomatoes IMHO and absolutely on my top 10. NEVER fails to produce a HUGE crop of big tomatoes. Considered a "stuffing" tomato, they really are only about 1/2 hollow. They also have a fine, zingy flavor. Perfect for drying and I love to stuff these with pasta salad. In Mexico, they use this tomato almost entirely for making their salsa because it has little juice.

Chico Grande- Seeds from SSE member 3 years ago. Big paste tomato that really is not a heart and is not a plum looking type. Has a very definite point on the bottom. I have grown these three years, both locations and they put out a massive crop of 1/2 to 3/4 lb pointed red paste tomatoes. Excellent tangy flavor and they seemed to take whatever Mother Nature handed out. These are one of the driest fleshed tomatoes I grow.

Mushroom Basket-Russian, seed from Baker Creek. BIG ruffled/fluted/ribbed tomato. Dense flesh. Sweeter variety. A little too sweet and a little to wet for my needs but certainly a wonderful tomato. Only one glitch...Baker Creek describes this as a "determinate" variety and mine were anything but. Big, tall plants that set fruit throughout the season. They are the correct tomato as mine looked and tasted exactly as Baker Creek's description said they would but definitely not determinate. No matter, my husband will continue growing these as he was impressed with their size and taste. Photo below Baker Creek



These above were my standouts. Federle and Carol Chyko, utterly unremarkable and always did well for me in Wyoming but Mexico, forgetaboutit.

Romeo and Big Momma were at least good enough to grow again.

Cows Tit...not real big tomatoes but these plants were just covered with these crazy looking things. They look like a cayenne pepper (fatter) but really pointy and stick out in all directions from the plant. Probably the zingiest flavor of all the paste types I grew.

One other, I am going to call this "Chorizo Plano". (Flat Sausage) Seeds from Guatemala. 5 to 6" long, bright red and look very like the variety "Sausage" but look like someone put their hand on them and squished them down. 6" long by 1/2 " thick. Weird dudes. These were so prolific, I actually thinned the plants a little and got tired of picking them. I used these almost exclusively for salsa. I am jazzed about this tomato.

Tomatillo- Large Purple from Baker Creek-These were all bigger than a golf ball with many larger than that. I also grew Purple Jalapeno and I made "Salsa Violeta" (Violet sauce) I canned this salsa in 1/2 pints and will send as xmas gifts. Beautiful looking salsa with a bite! Tomatillos were a deep purple and much sweeter than other tomatillos when fully ripe. Purple Jalapenos were pretty darn hot but also very fruity.

Home for a few days then off to Cozumel to lay on my posterior with a Margarita and my Kindle and do nothing for a week. Will then be flying to London to see my Brother for the first time in 23 years. Son coming down in October and he will be shipping out seeds I offer in November. Mexican Postal Service is a nightmare. To Rome to catch a cruise in November that will hit several cool ports in the Mediterranean (Morocco!) & eventually cross the Atlantic to Fort Lauderdale. Upon return, will be time to start my plants.
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I have watched the news detailing all of the terrible weather all over the US and the destruction of the fires. My heart goes out to all of you trying to garden in such adverse conditions.

I am enjoying our new life immensely and love that I can see what others are growing as we travel country to country.

Thanks to Suze who told me how to upload it! Click on it for full size.