Helen,
I wish I could offer information from growing it. I will be growing it for the first time this year. It came highly recommended to me. It is originally from France and a French type tomato is what I'm told. Sweet and excellent flavor. I've been told it does well under a wide range of stress issues and weather conditions. From soaked soil to drought conditions. I'm wondering if there isn't a few different strains/selections of it floating around. The reason why is I've seen everything from 2-10 ounces for fruit size and from 65-85 days for DTM. We all know both can vary some with conditions but for there to be that much difference it makes a person wonder. My seed source said hers ran 8-10 ounces I believe and approx 70-75 days in her garden. Her DTM's are usually a little shorter than I see. So expecting 75-80 days here. After the season is over I should have a better idea. Jay

Thanks, it was your list I saw it on. I got some free seeds from Trudi's winter sown site. I already have various tomato seedlings and plants out my ears so I was looking for an incentive to plant the seeds this year. I guess it would not be winter sowing at this date.

Helen,

Surely it is winter somewhere in the world right now. You could just pretend that you are wherever that is and "winter sow" the seed anyway. If your soil is warm enough, I bet you could direct sow it unless you're still having freezing nights.

I've been having tomato volunteers popping up in the lettuce garden for about 2 weeks now, but of course I am pretty far south and my soil might be a little warmer.

Dawn

I pulled volunteer tomato plants yesterday that were about two inches tall so I think it is time to plant. My plants aren't very big this year, but I am starting to plant them anyway. They should grow faster in the ground than they will in those little pots, now that the ground is warm.

I haven't seen any volunteer tomatoes yet but have seen several other volunteers. It is very warm for this time of year. The first time since I've had the cold frames that I have had to completely open the tinted storm door I have on top and pull shade cloth over. They are saying maybe one cool night early next week. I will have to either cover it good or carry them in. Probably cover it as I'm running out of room and still have one tray of tomatoes to go and 2 trays of peppers. I will wait till next week and then drop some in the ground. Some of my plants have gone bonkers. I have small tomatoes on 2 plum type plants. I have them in 2 gallon pots and will pot up again soon. I have used 3 commercial types of potting mix this year and one special mix from a nursery/greenhouse in Amarillo,TX. I will post my opinions on a new post for those that might be interested that can no longer find Pro-Mix like me. I just finished planting onions. Have a lot left. I bought some Dixondale bunches in case those I started didn't do well. They have done so well I only planted one bunch of the Dixondale onions so will be pawning them off on a coworker or somebody. I still have two smaller trays of different varieties I need to at least plant a few of. My potting up has went slow as I've grafted a few as I've went along. Hopefully I have figured out some of my problems. I have 2 grafted plants that are doing well. So hoping for a few more successes. I still need to set up the WOW's. I just can't convince myself that there isn't a cold spell ahead so not going to plant without them up. I had a friend yesterday ask why I'm planting so much earlier than normal. I said a hunch. But will keep enough back I can start over if needed. If it waits till May to freeze then I will be in trouble. And anyone living downstream of here along the Cimarron River had better be watching for a flood from my tears. LOL. As by that time I will have several things so big they maybe hard to protect. Jay

Jay, I always worry about a late freeze since my microclimate delivers them so regularly, but this year it is insanely hot, the ground is warm, and I an planting as fast as I can today. If we have a late freeze, I'll just protect what I can and hope I have enough backup plants to replace anything I cannot cover well enough to protect. It is supposed to be near 90 tomorrow and 90 or higher on Sunday before a cool front comes through and drops up back into the 70s. I'm not even ready for temps in the 90s.

This is going to be the oddest tomato year ever, because it actually looks like "Early Girl" is likely to be either the earliest or second earliest variety to produce a ripe tomato. You know, Early Girl is just never early for me, but I plant it because it produces so well late in the summer. So, Early Girl is in a big hurry and has two or three tomatoes the size of walnuts, and Chocolate Cherry has 3 or 4 that are pretty much full-sized but nowhere close to breaking color. We'll see if Early Girl sizes up and breaks color before Chocolate Cherry. Choc Cherry ought to be first based on when it set fruit, but EG is racing to catch up and get ahead.

You know it is a peculiar year if Early Girl actually is going to be early here. That's assuming the weather doesn't do something evil.

Dawn