In the past, I bought most of my plants from the local garden centers, Lowes, Home Depot, WalMart, etc. There were a fair number of tomato varieties available, though Better Boy, Avalanch and a few others dominated. I picked up some Park's Whoppers from Home Depot two years ago, and we really liked them, so I looked around last year until I found them again...at Home Depot. This year, I got myself a "mini greenhouse", actually just a four shelf unit with a plastic cover, to which I added a couple of cheap grow lights. So....the great tomato experiment begins! So far, I have three Park's varieties going: Whoppers, Razzleberry, and Beefy Boy. To them I've added Brandywine, Beefmaster, Roma, San Marzano, a red Cherry, Snow White Cherry, and a tomatillo. I'm going to see if I can find seeds for one of the dark purple-black cherries, like Cherokee Purple or Carbon locally, since I don't want to mail order just one pack of seeds. That should give me a decent variety of tomatoes. I don't care for the yellow tomatoes usually, and the Snow White cherry is the only one of those I'll have. What are the rest of you doing for tomatoes this year? Also, if you've grown tomatillos, do I need to stake those?
I always have good luck with big boys and better boys. I planted several varieties last year, and they all produced about equally well, however it seems one variety had a problem with some type of virus, or disease while the others didnt'. My problem is, by the time they starte making, I have lost those little plastic tags I stuck in the ground to identify them. Think this year I will try and track them better.
Boy that sounds familiar. I started some plants last year and by the time I put them in the ground I had totally lost track of what they were. I had written the names on some plastic tags using a permanaent marker, but even that wore off after a while. As it turned out, last year was so bad for tomatoes that it didn't make much difference. This year I'm using a wax pencil on some plastic strips I cut out of a couple of big jugs. A friend told me the wax pencil seemed more resistant to rain than the permanent marker. We'll see.
By the way, my sister tells me that spraying tomatoes with a solution of Epsom salt, magnesium sulfate, seems to help stop the kind of black rot that got my tomatoes last year.
One huge benefit of growing your own tomato seedlings is that you don't run the risk of bringing a family of insecticide-immune aphids home from the nursery. I'll make a little hotbed one of these days.
I'll plant 6 Better Boys and 6 Beefsteaks this year. I haven't tried the Parker's before so I may get a couple of those going for grins. I've tried staking, caging, and combinations of both. This year I'm going to experiment by taking my old oak tomato stakes and fashioning Y-shaped trelli to tie my plants to.
If tomatillos are what we call tommytoes then no you definitely don't stake them. They're of the runner family and won't produce well unless allowed to ramble. Rutgers, romas, and many of the heirlooms also won't produce if contained
My grandfather never staked any tomato. He would turn his tomato patch into a big stump burning pile every winter and then in spring just sow his seeds and rake them in. Never touched a plow or a hoe. I'm thinking what he was doing was killing all the weed seeds, fungi, and bugs in the soil, I dunno but it worked.
I staked my tomatillos last year, but probably didn't have to. They are a sturdy plant and don't grow real tall (at least in Central NY).
We really enjoyed the tomatillos. They were great for eating out of hand and can be used in lots of different salsas and other southwestern/mexican dishes. They also sold well for us at market - once someone tasted one they usually bought a pint.
I hope I get to. I started five seeds donated by my friend in my new high-tech seed starting facility. With two grow lights in that small space, the temp is about 80F which should make the tomatillo seeds happy. After a week I only have two sprouts. I think these seeds were from last year, but my friend probably stored them in decent conditions. Anyway, if I only get two plants maybe they'll be productive.
I always enjoy experimenting with new varieties. I order seeds from tomato grower's supply. This year I am growing Big Bite, Brandywine OTV, Champion VFNT, First Prize VFFNT, Goliath VFFNT, Mortgage Lifter, Sugary and Sweet Million. The Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter and Sugary are new to me--the other's I've grown before with success. I've also got a variety called Azoychka growing--it came free with the others--I think it's a yellow variety. I put out 42 plants in the garden.
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