Karen Olivier’s Short and sweet project 2021

[aclum]

Everything looks amazing, Karen! What are those buckets you're using (with the handle cut-outs)? I don't think I've ever seen them before and they seem really cool .

Anne

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by aclum

Everything looks amazing, Karen! What are those buckets you're using (with the handle cut-outs)? I don't think I've ever seen them before and they seem really cool .

Anne

Hi Anne those are just some inexpensive plastic buckets I found at the dollarama store. Drilled some holes and they are a good size for my smallest dwarfs I find

[KarenO]

June 1. I counted up and there are 80 dwarfs from several crosses of various sizes and forms growing in pots in the greenhouse as well as scattered about in the garden. All sown March 21 with the exception of the F7 sweet Baby jades in the purple pots that got month head start in February.
Excited to taste that one very soon the plants are loaded up with green cherries under all that pretty dark green foliage.
The potato leaf Multifloras look great as well so far.
KarenO

[KarenO]

Sweet Baby Jade. Now saving stable F8 seeds planning with Teresa for it be released later this summer
Potato leaf dwarf green cherry with a tangy- sweet flavour
Plants are bushy and productive 2-3’tall
KarenO

[Salsacharley]

Beautiful! I like the white freckles. Are they consistent?

[KarenO]

Hi Charley, Gold dust
Yes but may be environmental. Weather has been unseasonably cold here
KarenO

[hl2601]

Karen, just wonderful work with this one! H
ave you grown Lime Green Salad before? I ask because I wonder if you can do a taste comparison?
Thanks,
heide

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by hl2601

Karen, just wonderful work with this one! H
ave you grown Lime Green Salad before? I ask because I wonder if you can do a taste comparison?
Thanks,
heide

hi Heide
I don’t believe I’ve tried that one, I read that it is a tart saladette?
This one I’d say is fairly balanced but I would say a bit more sweet than tart And a cherry not a saladette on a potato leaf bushy dwarf about 2-3’ tall.

[Milan HP]

Hello Karen,
I bow to your efforts and results. They should put them on the front page of the Time magazine or suchlike.
Milan HP

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by Milan HP

Hello Karen,
I bow to your efforts and results. They should put them on the front page of the Time magazine or suchlike.
Milan HP

Ha! That’s a Laugh and a half
Some important ( to me) larger professional trials of some of my varieties going on this season though so perhaps getting them out there in my small ways is getting them noticed by larger growers.
Meantime I keep on working on my new ones in my garden and posting here and on my northerngardener fb and ig to document my projects

KarenO

[hl2601]

"hi Heide
I don’t believe I’ve tried that one, I read that it is a tart saladette?
This one I’d say is fairly balanced but I would say a bit more sweet than tart And a cherry not a saladette on a potato leaf bushy dwarf about 2-3’ tall."

Lime Green Salad is possibly more tangy/citrusy to me rather than tart- I love it. Its coloring alone makes it unique in a salad etc.. It grows to maybe the same height as yours and is easy to throw into any green spaces. If you would ever want seeds just PM
Can't waIt to try more of your babies.

Despite the hail, my Taiga, Midnight Sun and True Colors are still plugging along nicely. Of all of them, True Colors is the strongest plant. It is not exhibiting any wispy quality and the potato leaves look like they want taKe on the world. Great job with these!!!

[GoDawgs]

Wonderful stuff you're doing! Having only grown the larger tomatoes, I started trying micros this past fall/winter indoors as something to keep me occupied over the winter. Scratching that gardening itch! Now that I'm working my way through various micros out there, thoughts are turning to trying dwarfs and I have three started.

I'll be watching this thread to see what you're coming up with and to watch for releases! Keep up the good work.

[KarenO]

Thanks! It’s been very interesting observing the progress. My crosses have not been made with any of the dwarf project varieties but rather between several different very small commercial dwarfs and full size very flavourful Indeterminate beefsteaks or an unreleased dwarf breeding line I stabilized myself crossed with non dwarf OP Tomatoes including some of my own now. Looking for early enough to grow here as I find many dwarfs are quite late as well as something original and flavourful on healthy and productive plants. A tall order for “ “short and sweet” dwarfs and very much still a work in progress although Teresa and I feel Sweet Baby Jade is stable and consistent so F8 seed will likely be made available later in summer. It’s not a house sized micro though at 2-3’.
The project has evolved to include all my dwarf tomatoes in progress not just the smallest mostly due to low productivity and less flavour in many ( most) very small plants available in general ( no matter what the seed sellers might tell you ) they are fun to grow to chase away the winter blahs but the indoor micros ive grown have universally disappointing flavour and are often very slow to fruit. Grown in the greenhouse or outdoors though some can be really quite good so it’s definitely environmentally influenced. Real sun is a beautiful thing.
I think These will be best grown outdoors or in the greenhouse but for those with good indoor setups they might be worth a try as well. I grew some indoors and had some pretty decent fruit this winter but they are way better in the greenhouse imo
KarenO

[KarenO]

A sampling of the dwarfs around the yard and in the greenhouse. I have about 85 in total this summer of various sizes and forms from several different crosses.

[KarenO]

F1 microdwarf. Bloomed at 45 days from seed back in March and still going strong ripening it’s third flush and still blooming. Still healthy too
Large flavourful oval fruit