Saturday, June 30, 2012

Tomatoes

Darn. I seem to have accidentally deleted a post about tomatoes. No time to rewrite the whole thing, but it was a note to myself that Virginia Sweets and Mountain Magic did very well for me. Here's a brief list of tomatoes I have had good luck planting for my spring garden. I'll reiterate: These need to be large seedlings, in the earth no later than March 1. You'll have an abundant harvest all spring, beginning at the end of April, and they'll peter our towards the end of June. The small-fruited ones might make it through the middle of July. Our tomato season is, at best, two months. (We have another season that runs October and November, but I never bother.)
  • Tomande. Pretty, ribbed tomato that produced really well for me last year. Great flavor.
  • Juliet. Hands-down the best for Florida. Small (3/4 ounce) Italian-style plum tomatoes. Very meaty. Can be cooked in a sauce or eaten like a cherry tomato.
  • Jetsetter. Produces early and well. Fine flavor.
  • Sungold. This year, I swear the seeds that TGS sent me aren't the same as the ones in the past. This year, the fruit was very small and they tended to pop and crack. That's not been the case in the past. But, generally, a great little tomato. 
This picture has Virginia Sweets (the gold/red striped), Mountain Magic (Campari-sized), Juliet, Jetsetter (back, right corner) & Sungold:

5 comments:

Leah Brooks said...

This is what you posted yesterday: A reminder to myself: Virginia Sweets and Mountain Magic did very well for me. The Virginia Sweets produced large and beautiful gold/red striped tomatoes that continued to set and ripen fairly late. Mountain Magic--touch, campari-style tomato. Still setting fruit at the end of June.

Leah Brooks said...

BTW, I only knew that because I had the page open to your site because I was reading it last night. All I had to do was hit the 'back' key and copy what you had posted yesterday. I'm not stalking you, LOL!

I do tomatoes hydroponically so we have a few all year round in FL. Not a big harvest, but just enough for sandwiches and salads.

Anonymous said...

The Virginia Sweets did great for me here in Central Florida. In fact, up until I planted Amelia's this past spring, the Virginia Sweets were my best performing variety. I like to try a new one each year - looking for the "best". So now Amelia's rate number one, with the Virginia Sweets a close second. I'll be growing these two - as well as trying the Solar Fire F1 next.

Bird Feeders said...

It's making me hungry looking at all those tomatoes!!!

I've never really thought about the seasons - I grew up on supermarket bought food where we ate tomatoes pretty much every night, all year round. It must have been so different in the days when everyone grew their own or bought locally, to only eat tomatoes for a certain portion of the year - must have made them taste that bit sweeter ;)

Dawn said...

I will have to try the Virginia Sweet and Mountain Magic tomats. I also have grown Juliets for years and agree they are a prolific producer in Florida, mine however seemed a little dry and meaty this year though....Tried "Solar Fire" this last season...a complete dud, along with the Cherokee, but I'll give both of them another shot, I could have just got weak plants.