Harvest pics

[Suze]

(click on thumbnails to enlarge)

Purple Russian. Tastes like a good dark variety, what can I say? If you like the dark varieties, you'll like this one. Pretty fruits, pretty plant.





New Big Dwarf





Green Grape (the indet, lanky one)

[Tania]

Suze - these are absolutely gorgeous.
Your pictures made me really jealous

[chilhuacle]

Beautiful Suze! I’m green with envy as are ALL of my tomatoes.

[Mantis]

Yes Suze, comments re NBD please, and how big is your plant.

[Suze]

Originally Posted by Mantis

Yes Suze, comments re NBD please, and how big is your plant.

Two plants, both have topped out at just a hair over four feet tall. Flavor is good to even very good, I daresay, but it's not quite up there with BW Sudduth, Earl's Faux, Aunt Ginny's, etc.

Medium to med-largish fruit (most are coming in at about 8 oz. - 1 lb.). Beautiful fruits and plants. Very Victorian looking. About 20 or so fruits set on each plant so far this season -- so, productive considering plant size.

Worth growing, in my opinion.

[Suze]

So...I was doing a search because I wanted to read what Grub had written on New Big Dwarf earlier in the year, and I happened upon this noteworthy comment which I immediately related to:

Originally Posted by Grub

I’m not sure what is happening this season, but every tomato I pick is just pure bliss. Don’t mistake this for me being non-judgemental, subordinate, or a case of looking through rose-coloured tomato glasses. It’s just that after a few seasons I’ve struck on a mighty fine growlist — thanks to my tomato friends and peers —

Couldn't have said it better myself. (That guy should be a writer )

Everything is just great tasting so far this year. (click thumbnails to enlarge)

Green Giant. Outstanding, unusual flavor -- hints of melon, at least to my tastebuds. Very fleshy, with most of the seed locules concentrated towards the outer walls. I personally wouldn't compare it to Cherokee Green in terms of saying one is definitely better than the other -- two totally different tastes! Large tomatoes, mostly averaging around a pound or so. As this is a clear-skinned green when ripe, don't expect to see it turn amber when dead ripe like some other varieties do. There may be a slight blush of pink at the blossom end. Not shy with the fruit either, plenty on the counter, and plenty still growing on the plants.



Wes. A real blockbuster, a special tomato.





Prue. Wow. Very sweet, and I don't mean in the sweet = bland sense, because this is one bold tasting tomato. Words fail me here... hints of honey and rich tomatoey goodness that linger on the palate.

[Mantis]

Sure looks like you are having a good time there Suze
Great pics and fantastic looking fruit.
Well only 16 more days and the days start getting longer again down here

[PNW_D]

Mantis, yes 16 more days however it is wonderful to have light at 4:30 a.m. and lasting until 10 at night for a few more weeks. Lots of good gardening hours after work 8)

Suze, where did you find the indet. green grape? Is it true the taste is better than the det.?

[Suze]

Denise, my source for Green Grape was Victory Seeds ('05). Their description is as follows:

Green Grape
65 days, determinate — Bred by Tom Wagner of Tater Mater Seed and introduced in 1986. Bush habit, 1½ inch small, globe-shaped, green-yellow fruits borne in clusters of four to twelve. Green flesh and excellent flavor.

However, my plant is at least 7 ft tall, definitely not bush habit, or setting fruit in any sort of determinate fashion. Not that I'm complaining -- I wanted the indet version anyway.

I can't compare the taste to the det version, never grown it. The flavor on whatever I have is very good, one of my favorite cherry types this year.

Mantis, when are you due to set your plants out?

[Mantis]

I cheat a bit Suze as I have an unheated greenhouse and with our sunny winter days I have them up and transplanted into 3 inch pots already. We are getting frosts nearly every night which is not really normal but lovely sunny days.
I don't plant any outside in the main garden until early September at the earliest.
I am hoping I can hobble around enough to put a couple in their final pots in the greenhouse after the winter solstice. Trouble is , I am getting some varicose veins removed on the 20th June. Yikes.

[Suze]

Mantis, hope your surgery goes well. Outpatient procedure, I hope?

[Suze]

Here's a few pics I've taken over the last week or so (click to enlarge):

Paul Robeson -- best tasting 'dark' for me this year, and I grew several.




Kalman's Hungarian Pink -- Sweet, but certainly not bland. Great flavor and texture, medium to large fruits, good production.




Aunt Ginny's Purple -- If I had to pick a best all 'round variety for the year, this would be it. AGP has it all. Fantastic taste, large, juicy fruits averaging about a pound, great production (at least for me), hasn't dropped off much in fruit size due to the heat. Between two plants, I've picked close to 100 fruits so far, with many more on the vine.




Aunt Gerties Gold -- great flavor, incredibly juicy and luscious. It really is 'all that'.




Pruden's Purple -- good flavor and production for me as per usual.

[Mantis]

I will be in hospital overnight they tell me.
Great looking Aunt Ginny there. Of my seedlings, she is the strongest by far.

[MsCowpea]

Absolutely beautiful pics. You have a rival in the picture-taking department Bruce.

I agree with your assessment of New Big Dwarf , beautiful plant and taste was surprisingly good. I didn't get near as many fruit as it was in a 5 gallon container but next season I will try it in something bigger. (plus it went through a hurricane but did pretty well while others bit the dust)

((Mantis, let me second suze's good wishes and hope you have a speedy recovery.))

[Suze]

Thanks, Ms Cowpea.

Still having a bit of fun here, but it looks like the wheels are rapidly coming off of my tomato cart. Plants have started to look like hell, and the spider mites have arrived.

Here's some from the last few days (click to enlarge):

Germaid Red. Terrific flavor, unfortunately not very productive for me this year. Also smaller than expected (could be due to the extreme heat).


Cuostralee. Large, luscious, and beautiful as per usual.




Carbon. Love it; a top ten for me.


Aker's West Virginia. Dependable, main cropper type, full flavored red beefsteak.




Cherokee Chocolate. Beautiful coloration, great taste.




Russian Red. Rugose foliage, Graceful, dwarf/tree type structure. 4-5 ft. Good tasting smallish fruit.


Black Cherry. Handles the heat very well, does not drop off in size or lose flavor, always does well for me. If I could only grow two cherry varieties, it would be Black Cherry and Sungold.


Gogosha. Took forever, but was worth the wait. Exquisite flavor.




Lucky Cross. Did take longer than it has for me in the past, but was also worth the wait. A dependably tasty bicolor, at least in my garden.




(that's enough for now)