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prairiemom
08-17-2012, 03:46 PM
Here are a few of the tomatoes we brought in yesterday:
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g275/prairie_chuck/rainbowtomatoes.jpg

The two cherries are Golden Nugget and Brownberry. Brownberry is our absolute favorite for flavor. Golden Nugget tastes great and has the added advantage of ripening a good 10 days to 2 wks before any of the others.

Just below the cherries is a bunching grape variety, sort of a large cherry-sized. It is and heirloom called Indigo Rose. (More later.) In fact, all my tomatoes are heirlooms.

On the left is Black Krim, a Russian heirloom that is the absolute best tasting tomato. It's the tomato that converted my teenage son from a tomato hater to a tomato lover.

The next two are Amish Paste. Do you see why this is my favorite paste tomato ever? It's the first tomato to ripen in my garden and produces large fruits. The one on the right is about the size of my fist. Great tomato flavor.

Finally, comes Dr. Wyche's Yellow. The flavor is pretty good, production is good, a large beefsteak size. This is our second year planting it, but last year was such a failure for all my tomatoes (too much rain!) that I decided to with hold judgment give this one a second chance to prove itself. It's not as meaty, more juicy than I'd like. Even so, I think it's a keeper.

Here are the tomatoes from today's lunch:
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g275/prairie_chuck/Tomatoes.jpg

Purple Prudens--not pictured in the first picture. It's sometimes called the world's ugliest tomato and it is ugly, poor thing. It's all lobes and scars easily. But it's our favorite tasting red. It really sets the standard for a good tomatoey flavor. But because it's so ugly I don't often take pictures of it.

Then the Dr. Wyche's Yellow with Black Krim on the bottom. You can seen how meaty the flesh is. A nice green-black color inside.

And finally, our Indigo Rose on the bush:
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g275/prairie_chuck/PTDC0002.jpg

Isn't this just the prettiest bush of tomatoes? BTW, the cage is 5' tall, so you have an idea of how tall it is. For us this is a little smaller than average. All our tomato plants are a minimum of 5', most are 6' or taller. Finding cages is always a challenge. I still have to shore up many of the sturdier cages with a stake of rebar.

It produces a beautiful fruit, deep purple on one side (the side facing the sun) and a rosy red on the other. The flesh is red. But I hate to say it: that's all she is folks, she's just good looks. The flavor's not the great and she takes forever to ripen. So far, we've only gotten 4 tomatoes from a very prolific plant. I talked to a lady at the nursery where we bought this variety and she said that was her opinion as well--flavor is only so-so (and when there are some many varieties with eye-popping flavor, so-so just doesn't get you another planting.) and slow to ripen. So I was glad to hear it wasn't just me.

prairiemom
08-20-2012, 02:45 PM
See? This is why I like Amish Paste. With just 6 tomatoes I have enough for a batch of salsa. The smallest one weighed 7 oz. Most were 11-15 oz.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g275/prairie_chuck/AmishPaste.jpg

And of course, they aren't the only big ones in our garden. Here we have Purple Prudens on the left, weighing 1 lb, 5.5 oz and Dr. Wyche's Yellow on the right comes in at a very impressive 1 lb 11.5 oz.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g275/prairie_chuck/Comparetomatoes.png

arbilad
08-20-2012, 03:44 PM
I like Roma's. I imagine that Amish paste would be as good or better.
BTW, when I say like, I don't mean like as in I like to eat them. I hate tomatoes. But we grow them and I make salsa and ketchup, the only two acceptable ways to eat tomatoes.

Earthling
08-20-2012, 11:28 PM
I grew this variety from seed this year that was developed by a Utah man called Bart's Best. My tomatoes are the size of grapefruit! Never seen anything like that in my garden!

HeatherC
08-21-2012, 10:30 PM
I never knew there were so many interesting varieties of tomatoes out there. Thanks for sharing pictures of your harvest with us. It inspires me to try some out next year.

prairiemom
08-22-2012, 09:28 AM
If you want to see wonderful variety, check out Baker Creek Nursery: http://rareseeds.com/

I wrote a more extensive Tomato Report for my blog, if you're interested: http://www.providenthomecompanion.com/tomato-report/

Earthling
08-22-2012, 10:40 PM
I planted a variety by seed this year that a Utah man developed called Bart's Best. Wow - these things are the size of grapefruits! They are almost ripe so I am hoping the flavor is good too.

Julie
08-23-2012, 09:46 AM
I tried the Amish Paste this year but a wind storm killed all the plants. Didn't touch any other tomato plants but the Amish Paste. Go figure. I did some giant paste tomatoes called Big Mamas. They have done really well. I did a rainbow variety that I found at the store and they have been fun. I have a Golden Sunburst that has been very prolific.
I need to take pictures and post too.

HeatherC
08-23-2012, 05:24 PM
prairiemom - my mind is officially blown. White tomatoes?!?! And your blog is cool. I would try those green and pink ones just because they are so pretty. Thanks for those links.
Heather

prairiemom
09-01-2012, 02:55 PM
Another tomato update:
Today's harvest from just one Purple Prudens: 16lb 5 1/2 oz. The largest one on the right) weighed 2 lbs 3/8 oz. Another weighed 1 lb 15 oz. But being so big, the bruise and split easily, so they are already in the freezer, to be made into sauce later this fall.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g275/prairie_chuck/PurplePrudensharvest.png

(Sorry the photo is so blurry. My son left my camera outside in the rain and the photo function on my video cam is pretty mediocre. I'm hoping to find a good camera on sale--SOON!)