Pleasant surprises and disappointments!

I was at my local feed store yesterday picking up some supplies for the chickens and cattle. While I was browsing around, a customer was standing at the counter talking about growing tomatoes with the owner. My ears were really tuned in when the customer commented that his tomatoes have been larger, more abundant, and tastier than any year in the past. The owner told him "all my customers have commented this year on how great the tomato growing season has been for the same reasons". He didn't know it, but he just stuck a pin in my balloon and burst it. I had been under the impression my gardening skills were the reason for the great year and it just wasn't true.

My standard varieties have proven their value again. I have eight or ten varieties which prove their value in good years and bad years in my garden. I have a few which seem to have good years and not so good years. I've never been able to figure out what makes the difference for those varieties.

I've had a few varieties which simply haven't done well for me though they were highly touted by other gardeners in years past.

Ted

Magyar Piros Boker has been a disappointment to me. I think my expectations were simply higher than reasonable based on other folks observations and comments. It just seemed anemic in production and taste. It may be a great determinate variety in other folks gardens, but not in mine.

Hanky Red is a variety I wanted to grow for years but I never seemed to have that extra space to include it. It got it's chance to shine this year and it didn't. The tomatoes were small and oddly shaped and had a very odd orange/red color. Production was low and the taste was nothing special.

Black And Brown Boar has been a difficult variety for me to assess it's value. I grew it a few years ago in a season which was not favorable to growing tomatoes. It flunked out that year as did most of my varieties. I decided to try it again this year but it got a rough start due to a late freeze. It was one of my few varieties which were frozen back almost to the ground. It still had some green color in the stem, so I left it alone where it was planted and it finally sprouted some new growth and has grown very well. It didn't get the opportunity to blossom until a couple of weeks later than most varieties. It's now a pretty large plant which has produced only three or four, beautiful, small tomatoes. I have to give it credit and say the tomatoes it has produced were among the best I've tasted this year. For those gardeners who grow for beauty or taste alone, it's a great variety. For gardeners who grow for production along with beauty and taste, I can't recommend it.

[SharonRossy]

Great post. We're far behind here in zone5b in Montreal. I'm not growing anything from last year's season with the exception of black cherry, sun sugar and Anna Russian and Aunt Gerties Gold. . I agree last year was not a great tomato season, and because we have a short season, I decided not to repeat the varieties that didn't well or didn't live up to expectation. I realize of course all the factors involved but with so many varieties too choose from, it just didn't seem worth it when new types were so inviting. Time will tell.