Well, this was a decent crop despite the fact that it rained every day starting August 1 and by mid-September all the leaves had fallen off these plants due to some kind of fungus. I don't think there is a living thing or surface outside right now that hasn't been colonized by some kind of fungus.
I would definitely plant the supersonic and cherokee purple varieties again. Supersonic was a good slicer and it ripened early. Cherokee purple is a big, fleshy beefstake style tomato that really gives you a hunk of fruit. Both are tasty.
Amish paste was OK, but I think I could have hoped for more fruits per plant. But it could have been the soil or some other factor.
Mr. Stripey gets these ugly scars all around the top (possibly in part because of all the rain cracking the skins) and then they rot there. Plus it's hard to tell when they are ripe. I'm not doing this one next year.
Doug's grandmother's tomatoes' descendants did quite well. Small slicing tomatoes with good flavor.
The need to rotate is a problem. I don't have enough space to rotate properly, and I really don't want to reduce the number of tomato plants I plant. Tomatoes are not THAT cheap, and I've been freezing them as diced or sauced tomatoes. I think next year I will plant them inside the rabbit fence. There haven't been tomatoes in there for years, and that will give the rest of the garden a break. Plus, I can start them early because I'm planning to put a hoop house over that part of the garden in a couple weeks. Also, I can still put the early spring crops in there because they'll grow between the tomatoes until the weather gets too warm for them and the tomatoes crowd them out.
As far as a mix of varieties, I'll plant at least 4 slicing tomatoes, 1 cherry tomato, and at least 4 paste tomatoes. I'd like to plant something that is good for drying as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment