What is making a return to your garden in 2016?

[kath]

Originally Posted by nancyruhl

kath, how did Indian Zebra compare the varieties we are all more familiar with like Indian Stripe and Cherokee Purple? M

Missed your pictorial and evaluations this year.

Indian Zebra was a taller plant than Indian Stripe with larger fruits and less cat facing than Indian Stripe. I tried seeds of Indian Stripe from several different sources over several years always with consistent results. Hoping for larger fruits I tried Indian Zebra and am very glad that I did. Haven't grown CP in so long that I can't really make a comparison.

My camera no longer seems compatible with my Mac since I "upgraded" to Yosemite- can't get the pics to upload and I haven't made the time to do anything about it, so I haven't bothered to take photos of anything since last winter. Maybe next year...

[kath]

Originally Posted by dustdevil

Nice to see you posting

Thanks, Dust- sweet of you to say.

[kath]

Originally Posted by MissS

Those are some great ones. I like your taste.

I see that Daniel Burson is a fave of yours, Patti- the only reason I don't grow it any more is because of the cracking and the fact that every year it goes down so fast to the nasty, crunchy leave diseases. Love the taste of it, though.

[kath]

[QUOTE=drew51;508831]I had good luck with Romeo and Opalka. Pastes are not that easy to grow. Getting them to size is the challenge. Once full grown they do a lot better. That wispy foliage is deceiving as to if the plant is OK or not?
Polish Linguisa was a nice late season tomato. It didn't produce a lot although was nice to have as Romeo and Opalka started producing smaller tomatoes. PL kept the big pastes coming!
[/URL]


Great pictures! Thanks for your input, too. I've tried Opalka twice with no luck but I have seeds for Romeo to try. I'm anticipating issues with BER no doubt but I've already had good luck with Work Release Paste (although I'm hoping to find something drier with fewer seeds) and a couple of paste types I grew from Carolyn in 2014. Altogether I've got 35 varieties to try.

[efisakov]

[QUOTE=kath;509152]

Originally Posted by drew51

I had good luck with Romeo and Opalka. Pastes are not that easy to grow. Getting them to size is the challenge. Once full grown they do a lot better. That wispy foliage is deceiving as to if the plant is OK or not?
Polish Linguisa was a nice late season tomato. It didn't produce a lot although was nice to have as Romeo and Opalka started producing smaller tomatoes. PL kept the big pastes coming!
[/URL]


Great pictures! Thanks for your input, too. I've tried Opalka twice with no luck but I have seeds for Romeo to try. I'm anticipating issues with BER no doubt but I've already had good luck with Work Release Paste (although I'm hoping to find something drier with fewer seeds) and a couple of paste types I grew from Carolyn in 2014. Altogether I've got 35 varieties to try.

Kath, you need to figure out the camera problem. Your expertise, pictures and descriptions are much to valuable to TV members. 35 varieties needed to be documented.
If you can see pictures on your Mac, than using shift+command+4 allows you to take snap-shot, that takes much less memory.

[MissS]

Originally Posted by kath

I see that Daniel Burson is a fave of yours, Patti- the only reason I don't grow it any more is because of the cracking and the fact that every year it goes down so fast to the nasty, crunchy leave diseases. Love the taste of it, though.

I am a bit surprised that you had problems with this plant. For me it has not had a single cracked fruit and absolutely NO disease issues at all. My plant is 6 1/2" tall. Produces 10-12oz fruit that are blemish-free with a consistent size and shape. The fruits have a great flavor, keep well on the counter and have a good texture.

I had a plant go down next to it with bacterial wilt but Daniel Burson remained unscathed.

Different areas grow the same plants differently I guess. For me, it will remain on my "Must Grow List".

[kath]

Originally Posted by MissS

I am a bit surprised that you had problems with this plant. For me it has not had a single cracked fruit and absolutely NO disease issues at all. My plant is 6 1/2" tall. Produces 10-12oz fruit that are blemish-free with a consistent size and shape. The fruits have a great flavor, keep well on the counter and have a good texture.

I had a plant go down next to it with bacterial wilt but Daniel Burson remained unscathed.

Different areas grow the same plants differently I guess. For me, it will remain on my "Must Grow List".

Hmmm...my fruit size for DB was usually less than 10-12 oz. and while I've never seen bacterial wilt here, most of the blacks I grow seem very prone to grey mold and Septoria. My seeds came from Carolyn's seed offer for 2011, I think. Would you send me a PM if you're willing to trade some seeds? I'd love to grow it out next season. It's still a yearly request for my neighbor and I'm sure she'd love a larger fruit size, too. Thanks!

kath

[Lindalana]

I've grown this year DB and had so so result, was one plant that went off early with some kind of problem, taste on those that managed to ripen was no better or worse than many blacks but not remarkable in any way. Did not have a good year on some plants so DB might get a chance sometimes in the future.
I just took last tomatoes from Black Magic which did prove to be a Magic!

[kath]

[QUOTE=efisakov;509153]

Originally Posted by kath

Kath, you need to figure out the camera problem. Your expertise, pictures and descriptions are much to valuable to TV members. 35 varieties needed to be documented.
If you can see pictures on your Mac, than using shift+command+4 allows you to take snap-shot, that takes much less memory.

Just noticed this post, Ella. Really, I've no expertise outside of growing a sample or two of quite a few varieties and I'm happy if the pictures I posted and the experiences I shared were helpful to anyone. In retrospect, I think that while making growlists from others' recommendations may be helpful for many reasons, it often results in disappointingly different results for even more reasons. That being said, I may decide to share photos and/or results from the paste trial depending on just how boring it may prove to be. Again, what works for me may not work for you.

I am hoping to find out whether my now older digital camera just isn't compatible with my new OS and purchase another camera if I must. Having no computer savvy, I freely admit that I don't even understand your last statement. Do you mean that I could take tomato pics using my computer???

kath

[BackyardFarm]

Originally Posted by BlackBear

Just IMO that you probably want some companion plants selected for

your Tomatoes ....Basil , marigolds, etc.
peppers , oregano , borage ,...even lovage
.

Rue and sage does not go with Tomatoes ...many plants do not like Rue ...

also no dill with Toms etc.

I think you pay a big price for mixing Rue in with the Toms ...what works for me is to add a container of Catnip for the cats separate and they focus on that ....as

Catnip is definitely more interesting to cats .

Thank you! That's good to know about Rue. Maybe I'll stick it in with the roses instead.

I have planted Catmint Walkers Low and regular catnip along my yard's border flower bed late this summer so maybe that will help since it's the other side of the house?

I also moved my roses and peonies to in front of the south facing wall (the place I had my earthtainers this year) to create a new flower/perennial herb bed in front of my kitchen windows.
And I've ordered a motion sensor activated sprinkler head.
I'm hopeful the combination will keep the outdoor/semi feral cat from driving my indoor cats nuts and also keep him off the tomatoes that are now going on the patio next to the windows.

[BackyardFarm]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Plastic fence from Lowes does the job for me. keeps my dog (dachshund) and neighbor cats away from my tomatoes. Squirrels are all different animal to deal with.

The earthtainers were working to keep the cat out of my tomatoes. Until the cat figured out he could jump up on them and snuggle down on the nice black plastic and get all toasty warm.

Next year I have a new set up with a larger vegetable garden (room to plant tomatoes now!) and less earthtainers sitting on a patio. Which I can't put fence around. So I have to figure this out all over again. I've got an automated motion detector sprinkler head coming so that should help.

Any suggestions for the evil squirrels? I could do netting around the tomatoes on the patio...maybe?

[efisakov]

[QUOTE=kath;509396]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Just noticed this post, Ella. Really, I've no expertise outside of growing a sample or two of quite a few varieties and I'm happy if the pictures I posted and the experiences I shared were helpful to anyone. In retrospect, I think that while making growlists from others' recommendations may be helpful for many reasons, it often results in disappointingly different results for even more reasons. That being said, I may decide to share photos and/or results from the paste trial depending on just how boring it may prove to be. Again, what works for me may not work for you.

I am hoping to find out whether my now older digital camera just isn't compatible with my new OS and purchase another camera if I must. Having no computer savvy, I freely admit that I don't even understand your last statement. Do you mean that I could take tomato pics using my computer???

kath

Kath, do you have camera eye in it?

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by BackyardFarm

The earthtainers were working to keep the cat out of my tomatoes. Until the cat figured out he could jump up on them and snuggle down on the nice black plastic and get all toasty warm.

Next year I have a new set up with a larger vegetable garden (room to plant tomatoes now!) and less earthtainers sitting on a patio. Which I can't put fence around. So I have to figure this out all over again. I've got an automated motion detector sprinkler head coming so that should help.

Any suggestions for the evil squirrels? I could do netting around the tomatoes on the patio...maybe?

Squirrels are resilient. They find their way around most of the traps. Hot pepper is the only thing they despise.
The problem with applying it is that it has to be reapplied consistently.
People that recommend to place water for squirrels to avoid your vegetables and fruits eaten by them are just ...
I have plenty of water around. They ate my cucumbers, tomatoes, ...

[BlackBear]

You may not believe me ....but I actually leave a big pot of catnip near the

front door of a dome garden ....and as I have passive cooling I have left side doors open and opened up the front hemisphere about 1/2 half so the garden is exposed to the out side and much better ventilation with also some turbine vents

The cats like to visit the nip ....I have no problems so far with cat spraying and no problems with kitty using the main garden beds/ pots .....as the beds/pots are triple raised off the ground for height and air /sun ....I also have not noticed Mr.
Mouse / or rat make a visit ....even when the doors / hemisphere were mostly open for the whole record breaking hot summer this year .....

So on balance the cats are a helpful part of my garden ecosystem ....ha ha ha

Sentinel cats are encouraged !


But they are not helpful when Mr. deer Jumps the fence !

Originally Posted by BackyardFarm

Thank you! That's good to know about Rue. Maybe I'll stick it in with the roses instead.

I have planted Catmint Walkers Low and regular catnip along my yard's border flower bed late this summer so maybe that will help since it's the other side of the house?

I also moved my roses and peonies to in front of the south facing wall (the place I had my earthtainers this year) to create a new flower/perennial herb bed in front of my kitchen windows.
And I've ordered a motion sensor activated sprinkler head.
I'm hopeful the combination will keep the outdoor/semi feral cat from driving my indoor cats nuts and also keep him off the tomatoes that are now going on the patio next to the windows.

[Labradors2]

Catnip and Catmint are not the same animal. Walkers Low is Catmint. It’s a great plant because it blooms practically all summer, but I don’t think cats would think much of it!!!!

Linda

Originally Posted by BackyardFarm

I have planted Catmint Walkers Low and regular catnip along my yard's border flower bed late this summer so maybe that will help since it's the other side of the house?