Northern Gardeners - Zone 4

[recruiterg]

How is your gardening going this summer?

Any new discoveries? Anything new or interesting? Any new (or old) favorites?

My garden is coming into form now, but production seems to be down from last year. Part of that is my own fault for getting things out way too late and from being disorganized. I've had the best luck with Hege German Pink, Kosovo, Stump of the World, Brandywine Sudduth. Last year I had so many Black Cherries I didn't know what to do with them. This year, the cherries aren't doing so great. Cukes are really thriving. I made my first batch of refridgerator pickles & roasted tomato sauce this week, so things are looking up.

[Buck7762]

Recruiterg,

Sounds like we started out this about the same. most tomatoes are still green, but Black Russian (Thompson-Morgan brand), Super Marmande, Constolute Genovese, and one I don't have a clue what type are turning. I've been getting tomatoes from Stupice and Golden Nugget for the last 2 weeks. I live about 2 miles from Lake Superior, and most of the gardeners I know are about the same. Plants look great despite some pretty serious wind we've had the last month. I done some pretty creative staking to keep the cages up. One tomato I'm looking forward to trying is Mayo's Delight. I got it from a local (small) nursery, and the plants look great. I guess the tomatoes are sort of heart shaped. I've tried looking it up on the internet, but found no info except Tatiana's Tomato Base.

Good Luck,

Buck

[Wulfe]

I'm even further north in zone 3. Our summer has been terrible.. while its generally dry with lots of sunshine, this year its been wet, humid, with plenty of cloudy days and half days. With that said, I'm running Sweet 100s that are absolutely bulging with cherries, rutgers and marmande that are have a solid amount of greens on them and two Bonnie Bests which I'm learning aren't terribly fond of the weather here (the leaves and stems BOTH curl up as soon as the temperature drops in the evening - next morning they look wonderful again .. but they're pretty skimpy on fruit - 2-4 per plant).

Everything is slow to ripen... a few red cherries so far - that's it. And the forecast isn't looking wonderful 65-70 with more cloud than sun... lows starting to get into the 40-45 range already.

[dokutaaguriin]

In my Zone 3 garden, I am experiencing the same weather as Wulfe. The British Columbia forest fires are not helping things, too.
My outdoor tomatoes are suffering. I am hoping for a nice warm (long) fall to ripen them up.
In my greenhouse, the star performer has been TAUPO OP. My new standard for a medium red- so sweet and juicy.

Jeff

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

Still trying to get a good comparison done this year between Cowlicks and BWS. The first Cowlicks I had (3 weeks before BWS) was very good top 3 for sure but due to the heavy rains we had a few weeks ago I have allot of split and waterlogged tomatoes. I did have a BWS last that I think was right up there the Terhune tomato that my neighbor Tom brought over last weekend but I cheated and had salt and pepper on the BWS. Further tests will have to be done with growing a Terhune plant myself next year. Down side to the BWS is that it has been a shy producer nothing compared to Cowlicks or Brandy Boy.

Craig

[ddsack]

I am just now picking blushers from Terhune, Earl's Faux, and Cowlicks, nothing coloring up from BWS yet. I have had a few from Spudakee, Hege's German Pink, JD's Special C-Tex, Wes, Prue, Eckert Polish, Tiffen Mennonite and Chapman among others. So far, I have been disappointed in the flavor of all of them, most taste somewhat bland and the same. I suppose the abundant rainfall is to blame, since we have had a good summer for heat here. I keep hoping the later tomatoes will improve in flavor, especially if the rain ever quits. Just got another inch overnight.

I do feel sorry for you guys NW of me in the Canadian provinces. Last summer was a frustration for me because of the cold. Normally, I get what you guys had three or four days earlier. The jetstream sure is weird this summer.

A new, nice surprise this year was Lauerer. A small egg shaped pretty pearly pink, a bit larger than a cherry, with a sweet flavor and meaty consistency of a paste. Thanks, Darwinslair! One plant developed late damping off stem rot just after blossoming, but struggled gamely on, and produced a crop of tomatoes despite having only a small bit of it's stem functioning and wilting daily in the sun. I thought for sure I would end up pulling it, but it's still in the ground with the last few tomatoes. I am in awe of it's will to survive. I think a tomato sauce made from these will be devine!

I also had some interesting results with some of the Dwarf Project tomatoes that I am helping grow out. I'll be posting my findings in the Dwarf forums in the near future. These will be a real find for gardeners who can only grow in pots but want big tomatoes with big flavor.

In summary, I guess it was a good growing season, except for a bit too much rain. But at least we didn't get the flooding that some folks suffered through, so I shouldn't be complaining, right?

[recruiterg]

Interestingly, of the Brandywine types, I've found the taste of Cowlicks, BWS, Stump, Aunt Ginny's Purple to be pretty similar this year. Usually BWS is the clear winner, but this year they are all pretty similar with no clear winner. BWS & Stump have been the most productive.

I grew Shannon's this year which is a nice tomato and a fun one to try.

[Quickstrike]

Are any of you Zone 2/3'ers pinching off the blossoms?

Right now I have quite a few green tomatoes, but no sign of blushing [except from the Cherry tomatoes].

[Wulfe]

Just this morning I attacked my tomato plants. Blossoms and (sometimes large) growing tips were snipped off. There's little in the way of summer like weather coming down the pipe so it was definately time to help the greens get there.