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slazin

Best tomatoes for PNW?

slazin
11 years ago

I'm overwhelmed by catalogues. Guess I'm getting old, but it seems there are just TOO MANY choices.

Anyway, I'm trying to decide on tomato seeds. I always grow Tumbler and Juliet, and they do well. Sometimes Celebrity does well, sometimes not. Same for La Roma. What I need are some suggestions for early and mid-season, medium (no beefsteak types), resistant to everything they need to be resistant to, that you've found tasty and relatively foolproof.

I grow them in 5-gal pots in a hoophouse, with cages. I live in the Gulf Islands, BC. We often get hotter, drier summers than the mainland - but with the crazy weather over the last few years - who knows?

Thanks, from a mentally exhausted old gardener (and I haven't even started on the annuals yet . . .)

Comments (10)

  • hemnancy
    11 years ago

    After a few rather cold summers I have started trying to mostly keep the DTM down to 72 days and below, and growing more Determinates, though up here it takes way more than those dates anyway.
    * Juliet has been about the earliest tomato for me many years, but I don't grow the hybrid but saved seeds, which are slowly getting bigger and more elongated or round. I like the tomatoey flavor and non-cracking, not the super sweet and very crack-prone Sun Gold.
    * Jetsetter has been a good tomato, Indet., small productive round, unblemished
    * Bloody Butcher early, round, unblemished
    *Legend very good, larger, round unblemished, supposed to be resistant to late blight,
    *One supposed to be Napoli but was instead a round tomato borne in clusters with peculiar rounded foliage, Det, very productive.
    *Heidi, nice paste with luscious texture,
    San Marzano bigger paste, longer, more productive
    Martino's Roma small paste, Det, productive
    I like hearts-
    *Verna's Orange Oxheart has been about the earliest one for me, nice succulent flesh, fruity flavor,
    *Ukrainian Heart - large, pink,
    Bicolors-
    *Lucky Cross misshapen, but wonderful fruity flavor, very large

    Nancy

  • vinnybob
    11 years ago

    Stupice and Siletz do well here on the west side.

    This post was edited by vinnybob on Sun, Jan 27, 13 at 21:07

  • briergardener_gw
    11 years ago

    I like Glacier that I bought last year from BoutifulGardens.org. Very early, good flavor.
    For containers, my best pick so far Taxi, yellow, early with good flavor.

  • Yuzgermeestetik22
    11 years ago

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  • larry_gene
    11 years ago

    Turkish cosmetic surgeon, apparently won the Silver Gowny award.

  • laurell
    11 years ago

    I had great success with Stupice and Glacier last year. I had ripe fruit from both starting in mid-july. The stupice were acidic, bright, clean, and fresh tasting, comparatively, the glacier tasted almost like ketchup. Super sweet and in your face, perfect for sandwiches.

    Also grown in the same bed last year were:
    Taxi yellow - grew fine and produced well but wasn't particularly special taste-wise
    Green zebra - produced a ton of small fruit but took forever to ripen - wasn't eating these til mid-late Sept.
    Persimmon - 2nd year I've attempted to grow these, has a predilection for blossom end rot - even with the bed full of crushed egg shells, poor production, and slow to ripen - I think I was able to eat a total of 3 fruits from this plant

    This year I'll definitely be planting stupice and glacier, try giving green zebra another shot, and see what other early-season varieties Seattle Tilth has for me to try this year

  • larry_gene
    11 years ago

    Persimmon can be an outstanding orange tomato in favorable years. At most we have gotten 12-15 tomatoes per plant, but they are large. Probably a good variety for those who have some garden space to experiment with. Not as productive or large when tried about 4 years ago, haven't tried since.


    From 2006 (tuna salad under tomato slice)

  • laurell
    11 years ago

    Holy Cow Larry! I ended up with much smaller tomatoes, they might fill a slice of baguette! Looks beautiful and was exactly what I was hoping for. No such luck in my Bothell-area garden. I guess that's part of the fun of being in a coolish microclimate.

  • larry_gene
    11 years ago

    Yes, the things were gorgeous. Some maybe a pound.

    Had 3 or 4 years in the late 90's to mid 00's with a decent Persimmon crop. My wife took over most of the vegetable gardening and the space was needed for paste tomatoes processed for the freezer. Persimmon will return here some day.

  • Patrick888
    11 years ago

    I use most of my space for ornamentals, but always make room for a couple of tomato plants. I've quit messing with medium or larger sized varieties. I was a Sun Gold fan for awhile, but they do split too much. Then came Sungella which for about 3 years has been my tomato of choice. Last year, 2 of them shared a large nursery pot and ripened close to 200 tomatoes for me. I'm adding a link to a post on the GW Growing Tomatoes Forum which mentions Sun Gold, Sungella & Sun Sugar (I'd like to try the latter).

    Here is a link that might be useful: Sun Gold, Sungella & Sun Sugar Tomatoes