My 2013-2014 season Downunder

[gnol]

Hi everyone.
Once again I endeavoured to grow lots of tomatoes this season and I have been fairly successful albeit a bit slow to post some of my results on Tomatoville as I have been very busy.

I grew about 20-25 varieties this year with the majority being new ones for me.
Season started of very average with a very cool late spring and very cool December which is our first month of summer. I got spider mites on my cucumbers and what I suspect may be russet mite on my tomato plants but I still have a few standing with green ripening fruit on them.
On top of that I had some weird thing going on with the leaf stems growing twisted which I have never seen before nor could I work out what it is and to really top it of some record breaking 5 day heatwave in early January.

I also had a bad time with birds again but thems the breaks I suppose.

Most of you will now be starting to look after your seedlings looking forward to harvesting in the next few months and I'll be looking at your pics salivating as I usually do here in the winter.

So on to a few pics.

First harvest was early January. Just before the heatwave.



Then we had the heatwave. I'm surprised those pumpkins survived and produced.



Thankfully, things settled down after that and things got growing.
This one was a robust unknown variety that grew in my youngest daughters flowerpot so we decided to plant it.
Good producer and taste. I suspect it may be a Paragon but have no real way of knowing.



Cornu des Andes



Another weird thing I noticed from early in the season this time around was splitting. I normally have a good watering regime but something was not right this year.
Here I was picking early due to splitting. Later I was picking early due to birds.



Large Barred Boar.

[gnol]

Finally started getting ripe fruit. This pic is dated 28 January.


Birds were enjoying them as well the rotters.





I gave some seedlings to a good neighbour. I'm sure this is a Katinka cherry. Mine did not get half that high but produced fairly well. The fence is over 6 feet high.



Using a prop to try and keep the birds out in the morning.

[gnol]

Rainys Maltese. Great tasting pink and a good producer. I had two of these.



I was trying to put what I could in jars as well.



Started getting some bigger harvests.



Kids washed her hair and tidied her up a bit for looking after the tomatoes.



Unkown slicer that I grow every year now, Great taste minimal seed and big yeild.
Seed was given to me by mcsee.
I do love this tomato.





First of the Big Rainbow. Birds enjoyed it as well.

[gnol]

Boxcar Willie.



My first batch of passata with some slicers.



Garden was in full swing by now. Amaranth was trying to take over. Pic was taken 15 February.



Katinka Cherry.



Then of course all the tomatoes wanted to come in at the same time.







I'll try and post some more tomorrow.

[b54red]

Looking good. It seems you are getting a lot of tomatoes and a lot of variety.

Did you have some heavy rain that caused the splitting or was it just from watering them during the heatwave?

We had a drought that went on for many years here in the southern U.S. and had the same problems with splitting and birds pecking the fruit during the hot dry weather. I found that I had to go to a much denser mulch to retain a more even soil moisture. I started using Cypress mulch and it helped a great deal because it kept the soil much cooler than straw or grass clippings and retained moisture better. It cut my watering in half and kept splitting to a minimum. I try to keep my bird baths full of fresh water to help keep the birds out of the tomatoes. I also had to pick most fruits once they started to blush and ripen them on my screened porch. The last two years the drought was broken and we got more than normal rainfall and the birds didn't ruin nearly as many fruits; but all that rain brought a different set of problems.

Bill

[BucksCountyGirl]

Wow...looks like you had a great season. Congratulations!
What is the name of that beautiful purple heart shaped tomato? Those fruits are gorgeous!

[gnol]

Bill,
No heavy rain that would cause the splitting and I only watered as I normally do about which is about twice a week. Seems like it was just a weird season.

Kelli
that is a Brads Black Heart. Great tomato. My best of the new ones that I grew this season.

[Vespertino]

Congrats on the bountiful tomato harvest! I love the pics. All I can think of is a nice BLT to eat after looking at all those tomatoes

[gnol]

Originally Posted by Vespertino

Congrats on the bountiful tomato harvest! I love the pics. All I can think of is a nice BLT to eat after looking at all those tomatoes

Thanks Vespertino.
Is now a good time to show off my home made bacon

lol....

[JamesL]

Wow!
Great pics Gnol!
I went from salivating over the tomatoes to absolutely drooling on the bacon.
Mmmm bacon....

[gnol]

Making my second batch of passata I got some clear tomato liquid.





Cant remember what this one was.



Big Rainbow



Giant Italian Beefsteak



Jaune Flamme always does quite well.

[MissS]

Your gardens are just gorgeous! So very green and lush.
Gosh, you are making me drool. First all of those luscious tomatoes then you top it off with that beautiful bacon. I can smell it just looking at it... I do not even have my seed started yet. Oh the wait I have to endure until I can taste such treasures.
I am glad that you have had such a productive season in-spite of your short heatwave. What will you be growing again and what will you not repeat growing?
Patti

[gnol]

Hi Patti,
the heatwave was 5 days in a row 40C and over. 104F for you over there. We may get one or two days in a row with that heat but haven't had it with so many days since they started keeping records.

I will; grow again the Brads Black Heart and the unknown slicer I have in the pictures above. May give Prudens purple another go. Great taster but not the best producer for me. I'll put it in a spot that gets more sun next year as it is a late producer.
Rainys Maltese is going on the grow list next year as is probably Mortgage Lifter. Grew it for the first time and it is a great tomato.

I'm lucky enough to be a member of a forum down here where one of the other members has a great selection of seeds and offers them out every year. Hope Raymondo continues to offer seed.

[Barbee]

Looks great! Have a BLT for me please

[Whwoz]

Gnol,

some nice looking photos and a good harvest there. Would be interested in swaping seeds of a few if there are some spares.

Woz in trafalgar.