Garden Gem available! sort of...

[Fred Hempel]

Does this mean that you think Garden Gem is not as flavorful as Maglia Rosa? It is being billed as roughly equivalent.

Originally Posted by dfollett

I donated, received and grew Garden Treasure, Garden Gem and "New Hybrid". I can't speak to germination (I always overseed and eliminate most). They were very hardy plants that stood up to foliage diseases better than most. They produced very uniform, good looking fruits - no cracking or cat-facing, which I get a lot of because of hot days and very cool nights. They had good flavor - not WOW flavor, but certainly much better than average.

The biggest difference I saw was shelf life, which is one thing I think they were after. They do not go mushy quickly after ripening. They stay firm and seem to me that they would stand up to handling and shipping reasonably well. They also seemed to have a little thicker/firmer walls than most.

It you're growing for the great flavor of fresh picked and grow enough you have fresh coming in daily, they probably aren't for you. If you are growing to have something to sell that looks good, has decent shelf life and beats the pants off the taste of most tomatoes with good shelf life and would stand up to quite a bit of handling, I think they are definitely worth trying.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

Would anyone who grew Garden Gem be interested in trading F2 seed (harvested from F1 plants this summer) for something I might have of interest?

I'm interested - sending you a PM.

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

Would anyone who grew Garden Gem be interested in trading F2 seed (harvested from F1 plants this summer) for something I might have of interest?

I'd be happy to. PM me your address and I'll send some right away and you can let me know what you have available.

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

Does this mean that you think Garden Gem is not as flavorful as Maglia Rosa? It is being billed as roughly equivalent.

I just went out and picked one before answering this. The taste was VERY good. Not sweet (I don't like sweet except for the candy cherry sweet). It was not tart or acidic (I prefer a little tartness or bite). It was VERY tomatoey in a good way (if that makes sense).

I planted three Maglia Rosa this year (not sure off-hand of the seed source) and all three were different, so I'm not sure I know what Maglia Rosa tastes like.

[greenthumbomaha]

I'd be interested in the Garden Treasure f1 when you southerners have had a chance to grow them out. Hopefully better germination rates , you need to show them how LOL. In exchange I'm saving seed of favorite varities from the end of year harvest now. Aiming for two plants to try next year.

- Lisa

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

I'd be interested in the Garden Treasure f1 when you southerners have had a chance to grow them out. Hopefully better germination rates , you need to show them how LOL. In exchange I'm saving seed of favorite varities from the end of year harvest now. Aiming for two plants to try next year.

- Lisa

No problem - I will post their progress this fall in this thread. I only planted 2 seeds and both germinated but one a week behind the other. So one has been ready to be transplanted out of the cell but the other is just getting 2nd leaves. Hopefully tomatoes by December and they taste good

---

Originally Posted by dfollett

The biggest difference I saw was shelf life, which is one thing I think they were after. They do not go mushy quickly after ripening. They stay firm and seem to me that they would stand up to handling and shipping reasonably well. They also seemed to have a little thicker/firmer walls than most.

It you're growing for the great flavor of fresh picked and grow enough you have fresh coming in daily, they probably aren't for you. If you are growing to have something to sell that looks good, has decent shelf life and beats the pants off the taste of most tomatoes with good shelf life and would stand up to quite a bit of handling, I think they are definitely worth trying.

Thanks for the info on GG.

Long shelf life is more important to me (Florida) during the spring season. If they produced late in the season combined with a long shelf life would make them very desirable to us in hot/humid climates.

[Barb_FL]

Thought I would update:

Lisa - I have several tomatoes on one of the Garden Treasure plants. Not even flowers on the later/smaller plant.

I updated a different Garden Gem thread awhile ago and have massive amounts of GG tomatoes. None are ready to eat or turning color, but the largest is now the size of a goose egg. Overall my tomatoes look much larger than those posted on the facebook page.

I'm going to post on the GG Facebook page; my 2 GG plants are < 3' tall, and are acting determinate. I'm not seeing any new growth; but it has been unseasonably warm in Florida this fall.

Our night time lows are still too high for fruit set; they are the same 74 as in August.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

I'd be interested in the Garden Treasure f1 when you southerners have had a chance to grow them out. Hopefully better germination rates , you need to show them how LOL. In exchange I'm saving seed of favorite varities from the end of year harvest now. Aiming for two plants to try next year.

- Lisa

Are you still interested in trying Garden Treasure F2 seeds? I saved/fermented some.

I also have lots of Garden Gem F2 seeds.

BTW - my 2nd runt Garden Treasure plant is looking really good now and I expect fruit set.

[rhines81]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Are you still interested in trying Garden Treasure F2 seeds? I saved/fermented some.

I also have lots of Garden Gem F2 seeds.

BTW - my 2nd runt Garden Treasure plant is looking really good now and I expect fruit set.

Hi Barb - How did you like the Garden Gem F1 ?? Did you find it lived up to the hype. I will be growing it this Spring, but just wondering.
Will the F2 seeds grow true? I thought I read somewhere that they would revert back to whatever they were crossed with.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by rhines81

Hi Barb - How did you like the Garden Gem F1 ?? Did you find it lived up to the hype. I will be growing it this Spring, but just wondering.
Will the F2 seeds grow true? I thought I read somewhere that they would revert back to whatever they were crossed with.

What I liked about Garden Gem was that it was really early and produced tons of tomatoes, fruit held well both on the vine and off.

The fall season in Florida (at least East coast Central and South FL) was very challenging in that the night time low temperatures were too high for fruit set. Several of us from Florida were buzzing our flowers daily for fruit set.
I did not have the torrential rains like S Florida, but was affected a lot by white flies.

So Garden Gem performed and produced lots of tomatoes; however, once I had OTHER tomatoes I lost interest in it.

This winter I planted some F2 seeds, totally ignored the seedlings but finally got them planted out. No fruit yet to compare. They were tough little seedlings though.

OTOH, this winter I planted Maglia Rosa (a parent of Garden Gem) and it already has tons of flowers and some fruit set just like GG did. Maglia Rosa (and anything with wispy type foliage did horrible in the fall).

[Fred Hempel]

Great summary, Barb.

[rhines81]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

What I liked about Garden Gem was that it was really early and produced tons of tomatoes, fruit held well both on the vine and off.

The fall season in Florida (at least East coast Central and South FL) was very challenging in that the night time low temperatures were too high for fruit set. Several of us from Florida were buzzing our flowers daily for fruit set.
I did not have the torrential rains like S Florida, but was affected a lot by white flies.

So Garden Gem performed and produced lots of tomatoes; however, once I had OTHER tomatoes I lost interest in it.

This winter I planted some F2 seeds, totally ignored the seedlings but finally got them planted out. No fruit yet to compare. They were tough little seedlings though.

OTOH, this winter I planted Maglia Rosa (a parent of Garden Gem) and it already has tons of flowers and some fruit set just like GG did. Maglia Rosa (and anything with wispy type foliage did horrible in the fall).

Thanks for the info!

[jpop]

Thanks Barb. Have you ever grown a high temp fruit set plant like heat wave, solar flare, Sioux etc. If so, how was the taste and texture?

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by jpop

Thanks Barb. Have you ever grown a high temp fruit set plant like heat wave, solar flare, Sioux etc. If so, how was the taste and texture?

Where I live it rarely goes above 90, and if I look at the average temperature charts, it looks like I should be able to grow tomatoes that set fruit ALL YEAR long; That is not the case at all.

From my experience the night time lows must be < 72 for normal fruit set. This was the problem we Floridians had from April '15 through Christmas. The 2015 spring got hot early and it just never cooled off like other years.

I first read about Heat Wave (Burpee) setting fruit in 94 F a couple of years ago. Bought the seeds, sowed them late in the spring; no edible fruit. I'm sure they do perform in 94, but in a climate that has cooler nights.

Someone here gave me old Solar Flare seeds (from like 2007) which germinated and grew fine; again no fruit.

I never tried Sioux in that manner.

Actually, the best I ever did was with Porter tomatoes in 2014; they were in an EB, that I rolled out from under the porch around 7 AM and rolled back in around 1PM every day. I had fresh tomatoes until August 10th. I didn't spray one time for leaf or bug issues. Actually, I was doing it with 4 EB but Porter was the best performer. It was really a drag; I vowed never to do that again as I felt like I never got a break between seasons.

In 2015, I was doing great with BCD (BrandyWine Cherry Dark) tomatoes in a 7 or 10 gallon Root pouch. They were setting lots of fruit through June when most other varieties stopped setting in April due to the heat. But I broke my wrist, had surgery, and couldn't go outside until the stitches were out. My husband watered but not enough so I will never know how it would have played out.

Ginny (Fiishergurl) always buzzed her tomatoes with an electric toothbrush; I started that this past fall but went with the Vegibee. I think it really helped a lot.

[jpop]

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Do you use the spoon and dip the blooms in the extracted pollen or solely buzz w/o dipping

[Barb_FL]

In December, I sowed some Garden Gem F2 seeds, germination was great, left them outside on my porch when I went on vacation for 2 weeks. They only got watered if rain blew in. I ignored them when I got back. Somehow they survived and were really leggy.

After planting everything I had, I planted them in undesirable buckets, reused potting soil that was not solarized, and gave them the worse sun exposure possible. By the time I planted them they were between 2-3' string beans just sitting on the porch. One was so long, I wrapped the plant within the pot to see if it would get new roots.

To say they were a low priority would be an understatement.

Here they are today: I have 5 plants spread out.

The first picture is the one I wrapped around the pot.

The 2nd picture, in the HD bucket, I didn't notice that it wasn't wicking properly so finally just dumped water from the top after branches wilted.