2021 garden recap

[PaulF]

Except it will be mostly tomatoes: peppers did great, zucchini fair, potatoes OK, melons got shut out again, wonderful crop of asparagus.

Now the main course. These were the varieties grown in '21: Anzehela Gigante, Big Cheef, KBX, Cherokee Purple, Blitznetski Serdtse Heart, Portuguese Monster, Wisconsin Gold 55, Estler's Mortgage Lifter, Clear Lake Heirloom, Winsall, Orange Russian #117, AH Scorbii, Koral London, Sheryl's Portuguese Heart, Yasha Yugoslavian, Willow's Bulgarian (aka No Name Bulgarian), Babushka Byka, Rozovyi Izmumni, Blake's Magnum (aka Unknown Magnum), Heshpole, Big Rainbow, Black Cherry.

In my garden, this was an average year for production (results later). Seeds were started on March 1 which was two weeks too early as all the seedlings were too tall and skinny by the outdoor planting date of May 12. The year began very dry and warm, then cool and wet then dry again. All this set back tomatoes by about two to three weeks compared to the average growth stages the past 15 years. Tomatoes began forming mid to late June but none ripened until late August. Reflowering was sparse which foretold of a down year.

Now the more boring number crunching: With 22 plants that survived the total production was 203 pounds at just over 9 pounds of tomatoes per plant...I do not weigh or count cherries.
The most productive varieties by weight were KBX(328 oz.), Portuguese Monster (310 oz), Big Cheef (300 oz)
Most total tomatoes: Big Cheef-42, Wisconsin 55 Gold-40, Koral London-38.
Largest single tomato: Portuguese Monster (27.2 oz), AH Scorbii (22.4 oz), Yasha Yugoslavian (19.9oz)
Largest average for the entire season: Portuguese Monster-13.5 oz, KBX-9.9 oz, Winsall-9.9 oz

Production was in the middle range for the 16 years in this location, so even with the late start we had plenty of tomatoes to eat and share with friends and family. It was not a complete bust as I anticipated but by no means a bumper crop.

Now the most important result...flavor: Usually I pick out several outstanding varieties by taste. This year it was noticeable that the sweet tasting varieties were not as sweet as usual and the most tart varieties were not as tart. Every tomato tasted a whole lot better than any hybrid or grocery store offering but in a range of 1-10, everything was in the 6-7 area. Very good but not great. People trying my tomatoes for the first time told me how wonderful they were...in my head I was saying,"just wait til next year." I imagine weather conditions had more to do with flavor output than any other factor.

No decision has been made for next year's varieties but I think I will go for what has been the best tasting in the past just get back to some 9s and 10s . Any suggestions, comments or questions are welcome. If you have slogged through all this, Thank You and sorry.

Paul

[Salsacharley]

9 lbs per plant ain't too shabby! I would consider that pretty good in my chronically miserable conditions. It looks like you had a lot of eastern European varieties. Did you get your seeds in the USA?

[eyolf]

You had me at Heshpole.

It wasnt particularly good for me this year (drouth).

Winner for flavor is always subjective: I don't grow Heshpole to eat fresh, but to fill canning jars, it shines. My wife supervises the tomato skinning and prep: she loves the meaty texture and large size which fills jars quickly. They aren't quite as high on solids as a paste, but higher than most slicers, too.

My bride and I canned about 50 quarts, and at least as many pints of reduced sauce.

Something new we tried this year was roasted fresh cherries over pasta. I had two Johnson Dwarf Cherries, a black cherry, Ildi, Isis Candy, and a variety promoted as a grape (not impressed); JDC delivered lots of cherries at once and is about 85% of what got roasted, then canned for winter reminders of the joys of summer.

JDC will definitely become a staple.

Great idea for a thread.
Thanks

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[Greatgardens]

Did Johnson's dwarf cherry taste sweet to you? Most of the dwarf project "cherries" taste more to me like regular tomatoes. They are fine for salads, but IMO not very good for snacking.

[Yak54]

Thanks Paul for your really good documentation of your tomato varieties for 2021. I like the fact that you not only reported total fruit on the individual plants but also the largest individual fruit for the various varieties I was hoping to hear how many fruit your Cherokee Purple plant produced. Last year I grew it was 2019 and it produced 32 tomatoes for me. I always wonder if other people get more or less from this variety.

Dan

[Yak54]

So my 2021 tomato season was reasonably productive growing 8 varieties in 15 gal. grow bags. Dester produced 81 tomatoes. SOTW produced 35.
Volovie Uhko 42. Polish 42. Lucky Cross 35. Casey's Pure Yellow 43. Green Giant 21, and Karkiano 28. My largest Dester was 21-1/2 oz. Volovie Ukho was 29.8 oz.. Casey's pure yellow 28.4 oz. Green Giant 25.6 oz. SOTW was 21.3 oz. and the season champ was Lucky Cross at 32.13 oz. Didn't get a Polish or Karkiano that was big enough to weigh cause I don't bother unless I'm pretty sure they are over 20 oz.

Dan

[PaulF]

Originally Posted by Yak54

I was hoping to hear how many fruit your Cherokee Purple plant produced.
Dan

The year began with a couple of nice CPs from older seed but they bit the dust too late to reseed so I purchased a CP from a nursery in Iowa on a visit to family. It was OK, but not the Cherokee Purple I was used to. A smaller plant and smaller fruit. Taste was OK, but then all were OK. The one plant put out 22 tomatoes for 9.5 lbs for 7 ounce average...16 ounce was the largest. I need to go back to the original seeds with a line straight back to seeds from Craig.

[Yak54]

Thanks for the update. Yeah seeds that go back to our friend Craig is always a good idea.

Dan

[eyolf]

Originally Posted by Greatgardens

Did Johnson's dwarf cherry taste sweet to you? Most of the dwarf project "cherries" taste more to me like regular tomatoes. They are fine for salads, but IMO not very good for snacking.

Of the varieties I grew this year (and I neglected to mention Brad Atomic Grape) JDC wasn't as sweet as Isis Candy, not as complex as Brad or Black Cherry, and not particularly bold.

I still enjoyed eating them fresh.

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