I have tried several of the early tomatoes but have never tried polfast.

I don't eat tomatoes, so my favourite is romas that I make salsa with. I usually grow early girl and sweet 100's or sweet million for DH to eat. I have tried several of the other early ones over the years but DH says they are all good and taste like tomatoes. Shrug....I don't know. All tomatoes make me gag. lol.

Sierra

Hmm, might try these out.

I had about six Balcony Charms/Tumblers on the deck last season, got about 2000 cherry tomatoes from them. My daughter just loved them. She actually won't eat supermarket tomatoes as a result.

Also had Early Girl, Sungold (these are awesome), and German Mammoth Gold.

I went ahead and ordered the Polfast - we'll see how they do.

Too funny, Sierra - I've never heard anyone else ever say that tomatoes made them gag, LOL. I don't like tomatoes with a lot of acid or juice. Roma's are my favourite, too, for cooking (I love a fast sauteed tomato over an egg for breakfast).

I grew Tumbling Tom last year in a raised 5 gallon container and had a good number of tomatoes from the one plant. I'll grow them again this year, and ordered Tiny Tim, too. I'm going to keep my eye out for Sungold - a friend of mine also commented on how good they are.

Has anyone tried that red plastic mulch for tomatoes? I bought some this year to try it out.

Hi everyone, I love tomatoes. I grew the polfast last year for the first time. They did very well, both in an unheated greenhouse and in the garden. Do not prune them, they were a true bush variety. They were a little bigger than the sub-artic and I did get red ones on the vine even though we did not have a great summer. They were a little sweet but any homegrown tomato tastes sweet compared to store bought. The sungold variety is one of my all time favorite (my 18 month old could not get enough) T&M also has a suncherry (red variety) and a sungella( larger fruiting sungold)both of which I will be trying this year, along with my 17 others. Can you tell we love tomatoes. Other new varieties I will be trying are chocolate, sweet chelsea, jetsetter, and amorosa ( which I found at the farmers market and saved seeds) I saved the seeds cause I have not found any information on them except from an arbitorium in California. Which said they were a European variety (bush) and a heirloom. So we will see. They lady at the farmers market was not willing to give me an info (kind or rude I though) I plan on starting them in mid March if I can wait that long. Cheryl

Have you tried the Beaverlodge series? I believe they were developed at the Beaverlodge Research Center in Alberta. There are 2 in the series that I know of--a plum and a slicer. The slicer has done the best for me, but both yield good-tasting fruit when others don't.

Hi Pudge,

From one tomato lover to another, the very best tomato I have ever tasted was Sungold cherry. They are so good you can eat them like grapes! I also have found that most of the bush beefsteak improved varieties are the best for one slice tomato sandwiches that make my mouth water thinking about them! As for early types, Ultra Girl and Fantastic.
About the only thing I can grow is tomatoes...something my green thumb father taught me well. I have grown almost every type that I have found thus far. This year I am trying Black Cherry (Choclate Cherry), Krim (black), Sweet Chelsea and Old German. Dad could grow great tomatoes but unfortunately, he stuck to the old tried and true every year. I will have to try Polfast as I am an insatiable tomato freak!

Cheryl- I found Sweet Chelsea, Jetsetter and Choclate Cherry at Vesey's this year. OSC has a large sellection of tomato seeds as well as Dominion Seed. Early's Farm and Garden in Saskatoon also.
Hope this helps somewhat.

Ginny Garden

Just one tip if someone wants to grow Sungolds: They split easily, so make sure they're watered well.

Thanks for the comments everyone. Cheryl, I'm glad to hear of someone who tried Polfast and had good results. Sometimes it's so disappointing to grow something for a few months only to discover it wasn't worth it, so it's always nice to know the opinion of others.

I'm going to order the Sungold from Dominion - too many folks are giving them a big old green thumbs up for me to not grow them (gives me a chance to order a few other seeds, too :)

I have not tried the Beaverlodge series but if I come across seed or plants in my travels I'll be sure to try them. I don't think any of my usual catalogues carry that seed.

Hi Pudge
If you don't like tomatoes with a lot of acid or juice you have to try Oxheart Tomatoes.Has no big ugly core like a beefsteak,Nice solid tomato. The only problem is you have to start them early (87 days)
Two plants I had outside, started mid April left over from the spring sale, put in the ground mid June produced a heaping beer flat full in fall & some turning ripe on the plant late Aug.
Here's a pic of the one in the greenhouse

Where abouts do you live in Sask.??

Well, now, if the sight of that plant doesn't just make a person ache for summer, especially since today feels like the north pole is just across the street - in reality I'm (shivering) just west of Yorkton.

Nice looking plant there, sprayman! Thanks for reminding me about Oxheart - my Dad used to grow these and yes, I did like the taste.

Oh, the sight of those tomatoes is getting me excited. How many more days are there until I can start planting!!!!. I have never heard of the beaverlodge series, I will have to do some research into finding them. I agree with everyone that Sungold is my favorite so far. My 18 month old could not get enough, she was even eating the ones that were half ripe. I'm hoping the Suncherry will be similar. If anyone else has one they can't seem to live without please post it. I'm always looking for the best. I think I will be expanding the veggie patch again. Cheryl

Nice area Pudge!! I had a grandma & great uncle that farmed half mile east of Good Spirite lake, than moved to Canora before passing on. When we were kids we used to go up there every long weekend. Really nice sandy fertile soil around there.
I live in Regina be the way.... Bruce

If you guys need a taste of summer, then start some Red Robins indoors. They're tiny dwarf tomato plants that get about a foot high, very easy to grow in a six inch pot. No need for supplemental light once the plant is established.

Well lucky for me I still haven't gone to the checkout with my Dominion order and they have Red Robin so have added them to the order. I have a coupe of south facing bay windows that should keep a tomato plant happy. Thanks, shazam, for mentioning that.

Bruce, if you ever find yourself at the Fort on a Saturday morning in the summer, I'm the cut flower vendor at the farmer's market.

Pudge, i checked as well, but they're $9 a package and i didn't think i wanted tomatoes that badly! LOL

I retried Stupice Tomato last year after a few years of trailing some others and it is still my favourite how ever it is a bit juicy. But has wonderful productivity and flavour! Even grown in a big pot in Northern BC. (Dawson Creek)

Wm Damn has a wonderful big oxheart like tomato called Grightmire's Pride i used to grow in a greenhouse was a great flavour sweet and not juicy perfect on toast!

Can you imagine life without fresh tomatoes? Any kind of fresh tomatoes? I have been on this computer checking out tomato seeds for a couple of days now and have found some super seed suppliers to order both heirloom and new varieties of seed. Maybe some of you already know about Seeds of Diversity. They have a fruit and vegie list of seeds grown in Canada last year. Lots of varieties available. And better prices, I find.
I'm excited to try some old and new this year.

Ginny Garden

No, I sure can't imagine life without fresh garden tomatoes. You know, for the most part I'm not all that crazy about vegetable gardening (even tho I love eating it all) but I enjoy growing a few tomatoes. But then, there's rarely a day goes by, even in the winter, that I don't eat at least 1 tomato.

While shopping today (okay, mostly hanging out at the seed racks, LOL) I came across seeds for Old German - looking forward to trying these, as well.

What's everyone's favorite staking method? I was thinking about using 4' rebar stakes pushed about a foot into the ground, 3 per plant and pantyhose.

I use 8' plastic stakes, which will be replaced by 12' rebar stakes this year. My Sungolds were twelve feet tall last season.

Has anyone tried Bonny Best, an heirloom tomato? Mackenzie Seeds has them on their rack this year, I've read mixed reviews about them. They seem to be a fairly short season tomato. While searching for information I ran across www.prseeds.ca website, they have a boatload of heirloom tomato seeds available.

I agree about the Sungold tomatoes, mine rarely made it all the way back to the house. YUM! The first time I grew them the vines must have been at least 10' long. Amazing!

Tomato planting time will soon be upon us. My starts are all doing very nicely albeit there's too many of them. I started Polfast, Sungold, Red Robin, Tiny Tim, Tumbling Tom, Viva Italia, and Old German.

12' Rebar stakes - wow, I definitely have to rethink my plan and go shopping at the Co-Op.

Started Subarctic Plenty, Stupice, Early Girl, Sungold, Tumbler, Mammoth German Gold and Red Robin (way back in Feb - they're already blooming now).

Well I had to start giving some of mine away. There are way too many to manage. So I have decided to keep fifty this year. I have 20 different varieties ( the number keeps growing every year) Next year especially bad since I just received my tomato round up envelop. Too bad it is too late to start some of them now. Just call me crazy for tomatoes. Cheryl