Tomato and other garden pictures 2014 - Page 3

Fiishergurl · October 11, 2014

How well did you end up liking purple bumblebee? Awesome pics.

Ginny

jmsieglaff · October 11, 2014

Well I guess I'll just write some notes on all the tomatoes for the heck of it. Since you asked about Purple Bumblebee I'll do that one first.

Purple Bumblebee - Vigorous plant with heavy foliage. Beautiful tomatoes. Flavor is good--rather tomatoey, fairly acid but lacked much sweetness. Texture is fairly firm with nice amount of juice. 7.0-7.5/10. Produced until end of season and exhibited moderate tolerance to leaf spot. Undecided about growing in 2015.

Golden Monarch - Very vigorous plant with moderate foliage. Large oblate tomatoes 8-16oz. Nice bright yellow color with touch of pink at blossom end when fully ripe. Flavor is nice balance of tart acid and sweetness with good tomato flavor. The tomato has medium firmness and abundant juice. 8.0-8.5/10. Produced until end of season and exhibited good tolerance to leaf spot. Likely to regrow in 2015.

Sungold F1 - Not going to write it up we grow multiple plants every year. Exhibited good tolerance to leaf spot and produces until the end of season. Definitely growing in 2015.

Black Krim - Average vigor with moderate to heavy foliage. Large round tomatoes 8-12oz with deep purple color and green shoulders. Flavor is deep rich tomato flavor, earthy, sweet, very delicious, just enough acid as well. The tomato is medium-soft and very juicy. 8.5/10. 2014 produced fruits with very little cracking and exhibited good tolerance to leaf spot. Production is good upfront but late season production lacked this year. Definitely growing in 2015.

Wisconsin 55 - Average vigor with medium foliage. Small to medium nearly round red tomatoes 3-7oz. Flavor is good mixture of sweet, rich tomato, and acid. The texture is fairly soft with quite juicy. 7.5/10. The tomato did not exhibit much tolerance to leaf spot so hard to know how production would have done during duration of season. The flavor and production early on was enough to warrant likely grow in 2015.

Celebrity F1 - Average vigor with heavy foliage. Medium sized red tomatoes 5-10oz. Flavor is more subdued--tomato flavor is there, slightly sweet, and fairly acidic. The texture is rather firm and fairly juicy. 6.0/10. The tomato did not exhibit very good tolerance to leaf spot but held out to produce most of the season. This was a variety I had grown in the past, but with Wisconsin 55 flavor was superior to this tomato and will replace it. Will not grow in 2015.

Experiment Tomato - Extremely vigorous plant with very dense potato leaf foliage. Bright yellow round cherry tomatoes, a bit larger than Sungold. Flavor is somewhat sweet, nice tomato flavor, just a bit of acid. The texture is quite firm, yet still juicy. 7.0-7.5/10. This plant produced fruit like I have not seen in growing tomatoes. It was seed from a store bought yellow cherry and in a side-by-side taste test looked and tasted very similar just a bit better being home grown. Good fresh eating tomato and make great tomato, balsamic, olive oil, mozzarella and basil salad. Will grow again in 2015.

Black and Brown Boar - Fairly vigorous plant and medium foliage cover. This was a container grown plant that quickly out grew its 5 gallon container so difficult to gauge some variables including season production. But the fruits that were produced were very tasty, acidic, rich, sweet, and these fruits were enough to save seeds for growing in 2015. 8.0/10.0

Vince's Haze Dwarf - Vigorous plant with dense foliage. The fruits are medium to large 5-12 oz. deep pink/purple color with oblate shape. Flavor is rich, rather sweet, nice amount of acid. Texture is average firmness and fairly juicy. 8.0/10. The plants produced nicely all season grown in 5 gallon pots and exhibited good tolerance to leaf spot. Will definitely grow in 2015.

Lucky Swirl Dwarf - Vigorous plant with fairly dense foliage. The fruits are rather large 12-18oz beefsteak shape with beautiful red/orange/yellow swirl. The flavor is nice rich tomato flavor and fairly sweet but lack even a hint of acid. The texture edges toward soft and is very juicy. 6.5-7.0/10. The fruits suffered from significant longitudinal splitting as well as cracking. Both plants exhibited very little tolerance to leaf spot. Will not grow in 2015--the flavor wasn't my favorite and other issues will make me try a different dwarf project variety.

Fiishergurl · October 12, 2014

Great report!! Loved reading it. For the ones you mentioned that I have tasted, I have the same opinion as you so we must have similar taste.

Ginny

jmsieglaff · October 18, 2014

A couple more pictures......one from the height of tomato harvest around Aug 20 and one of the balsamic/mozzarella tomato salad from all the cherries.

Salsacharley · October 18, 2014

Mighty tasty looking salad.

Alpinejs · December 12, 2014

I use those 5 gal. pails almost exclusively, but I think Menards,HD and Lowes charge about
$2.50 each. Find a busy oriental cafe and they get soy sauce and degreaser in 5 gal. pails.
I have gotten about 200 of them FOR FREE.

jmsieglaff · December 13, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpinejs

I use those 5 gal. pails almost exclusively, but I think Menards,HD and Lowes charge about
$2.50 each. Find a busy oriental cafe and they get soy sauce and degreaser in 5 gal. pails.
I have gotten about 200 of them FOR FREE.

Awesome tip, thanks! We have a good Chinese restaurant in town, I'll have to ask.

October 11, 2014	#32
jmsieglaff Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Southern WI Posts: 2,742	Well I guess I'll just write some notes on all the tomatoes for the heck of it. Since you asked about Purple Bumblebee I'll do that one first. Purple Bumblebee - Vigorous plant with heavy foliage. Beautiful tomatoes. Flavor is good--rather tomatoey, fairly acid but lacked much sweetness. Texture is fairly firm with nice amount of juice. 7.0-7.5/10. Produced until end of season and exhibited moderate tolerance to leaf spot. Undecided about growing in 2015. Golden Monarch - Very vigorous plant with moderate foliage. Large oblate tomatoes 8-16oz. Nice bright yellow color with touch of pink at blossom end when fully ripe. Flavor is nice balance of tart acid and sweetness with good tomato flavor. The tomato has medium firmness and abundant juice. 8.0-8.5/10. Produced until end of season and exhibited good tolerance to leaf spot. Likely to regrow in 2015. Sungold F1 - Not going to write it up we grow multiple plants every year. Exhibited good tolerance to leaf spot and produces until the end of season. Definitely growing in 2015. Black Krim - Average vigor with moderate to heavy foliage. Large round tomatoes 8-12oz with deep purple color and green shoulders. Flavor is deep rich tomato flavor, earthy, sweet, very delicious, just enough acid as well. The tomato is medium-soft and very juicy. 8.5/10. 2014 produced fruits with very little cracking and exhibited good tolerance to leaf spot. Production is good upfront but late season production lacked this year. Definitely growing in 2015. Wisconsin 55 - Average vigor with medium foliage. Small to medium nearly round red tomatoes 3-7oz. Flavor is good mixture of sweet, rich tomato, and acid. The texture is fairly soft with quite juicy. 7.5/10. The tomato did not exhibit much tolerance to leaf spot so hard to know how production would have done during duration of season. The flavor and production early on was enough to warrant likely grow in 2015. Celebrity F1 - Average vigor with heavy foliage. Medium sized red tomatoes 5-10oz. Flavor is more subdued--tomato flavor is there, slightly sweet, and fairly acidic. The texture is rather firm and fairly juicy. 6.0/10. The tomato did not exhibit very good tolerance to leaf spot but held out to produce most of the season. This was a variety I had grown in the past, but with Wisconsin 55 flavor was superior to this tomato and will replace it. Will not grow in 2015. Experiment Tomato - Extremely vigorous plant with very dense potato leaf foliage. Bright yellow round cherry tomatoes, a bit larger than Sungold. Flavor is somewhat sweet, nice tomato flavor, just a bit of acid. The texture is quite firm, yet still juicy. 7.0-7.5/10. This plant produced fruit like I have not seen in growing tomatoes. It was seed from a store bought yellow cherry and in a side-by-side taste test looked and tasted very similar just a bit better being home grown. Good fresh eating tomato and make great tomato, balsamic, olive oil, mozzarella and basil salad. Will grow again in 2015. Black and Brown Boar - Fairly vigorous plant and medium foliage cover. This was a container grown plant that quickly out grew its 5 gallon container so difficult to gauge some variables including season production. But the fruits that were produced were very tasty, acidic, rich, sweet, and these fruits were enough to save seeds for growing in 2015. 8.0/10.0 Vince's Haze Dwarf - Vigorous plant with dense foliage. The fruits are medium to large 5-12 oz. deep pink/purple color with oblate shape. Flavor is rich, rather sweet, nice amount of acid. Texture is average firmness and fairly juicy. 8.0/10. The plants produced nicely all season grown in 5 gallon pots and exhibited good tolerance to leaf spot. Will definitely grow in 2015. Lucky Swirl Dwarf - Vigorous plant with fairly dense foliage. The fruits are rather large 12-18oz beefsteak shape with beautiful red/orange/yellow swirl. The flavor is nice rich tomato flavor and fairly sweet but lack even a hint of acid. The texture edges toward soft and is very juicy. 6.5-7.0/10. The fruits suffered from significant longitudinal splitting as well as cracking. Both plants exhibited very little tolerance to leaf spot. Will not grow in 2015--the flavor wasn't my favorite and other issues will make me try a different dwarf project variety. Last edited by jmsieglaff; October 12, 2014 at 12:04 AM.

October 11, 2014	#31
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	How well did you end up liking purple bumblebee? Awesome pics. Ginny

October 12, 2014	#33
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	Great report!! Loved reading it. For the ones you mentioned that I have tasted, I have the same opinion as you so we must have similar taste. Ginny

October 18, 2014	#35
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	Mighty tasty looking salad.

December 12, 2014	#36
Alpinejs Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Alpine, Calif. in winter. Sandpoint Lake, Ont. Canada summers Posts: 850	I use those 5 gal. pails almost exclusively, but I think Menards,HD and Lowes charge about $2.50 each. Find a busy oriental cafe and they get soy sauce and degreaser in 5 gal. pails. I have gotten about 200 of them FOR FREE.