Garden Gem available! sort of...

[Fred Hempel]

Does this mean that you think Garden Gem is not as flavorful as Maglia Rosa? It is being billed as roughly equivalent.

Originally Posted by dfollett

I donated, received and grew Garden Treasure, Garden Gem and "New Hybrid". I can't speak to germination (I always overseed and eliminate most). They were very hardy plants that stood up to foliage diseases better than most. They produced very uniform, good looking fruits - no cracking or cat-facing, which I get a lot of because of hot days and very cool nights. They had good flavor - not WOW flavor, but certainly much better than average.

The biggest difference I saw was shelf life, which is one thing I think they were after. They do not go mushy quickly after ripening. They stay firm and seem to me that they would stand up to handling and shipping reasonably well. They also seemed to have a little thicker/firmer walls than most.

It you're growing for the great flavor of fresh picked and grow enough you have fresh coming in daily, they probably aren't for you. If you are growing to have something to sell that looks good, has decent shelf life and beats the pants off the taste of most tomatoes with good shelf life and would stand up to quite a bit of handling, I think they are definitely worth trying.