My cherries are coming on, have been for nearly two weeks. They are severely abused, in small hanging containers. This is the first year I've done them in hanging baskets, and must say I like the results. They aren't as pretty as I thought, most likely because they dry out so fast and therefor aren't lush. The sure do taste good though.

Tracy in Binghamton

My brandywines are massive, and flowering, but no tomatoes. My others are heirlooms of indertiminate type, and they're getting big but usually don't get tomatoes early.

Tracy, what variety of cherry tom are you growing? I am waiting for chadwick cherries. AND guess what, Hammerl??? I discovered baby green b'wines today! Yay! Do you know about my sermon on shaking the plant?

I have a new "window box" roma tomato plant that is covered in green tomatoes, and actually have a few very orange ones in the mix... I'll be able to pick them by next week I suspect!

Greetings! This is my first year growing any sort of vegetables. I have 25 Tomatoe plants scattered around this year! Last night, a huge tempest blew in and really drenched and buffeted everything. I lost some sweet corn, and the tom's were flopped over. Good thing my intention was to stake them! All the stakes are in, and no losses. Here is what I have:

Roma, just beginning to flower. Some are getting huge and sprawling...

Mountain Gem, big plants but not much else...

Grape, lots of flowers, and small green fruits about 1/4".

I hope I'm doing this right? I selected bamboo stakes at a 4 foot length. I hope they are sturdy enough to support my crop???

Patience! Last year it took 6 weeks for the fruit to ripen once those little green fruits showed up. Granted this has been a better year for gardening. I'm thinking I might see my first red one at the end of July.

madorley - what about shaking them? They are already monsters, easily at least three feet tall, with leaves the size of my hand. I think if I shake them they'll attack me! They'll outgrow their stakes soon.

Six weeks! I think six days should be reasonable; I ripen in the sun in less than 5 minutes.

I don't think the thing will let me poet this, but: Shaking tapping jiggling tomato plants that are shy producers aids in moving the pollen down the closed flowers to the staemens for self-pollination. Worked like magic with our brandywines last year!

The first of our Sun Golds (a cherry) are just starting to ripen - of course they mature orange, not red. I, too, would like to know what variety Tracy is growing in her hanging baskets.

Madorley - have you grown Chadwicks before? I am also growing them this year, and was wondering how they compare to the usual varieties (like Sweet 100's, etc.) Supposed to be biggish for a cherry, is that right?

-Caroline

Although I've had the seeds since 2001, this is our first year growing them. there's a bunch of tomatoes on the bush, and some of them are 1 1/2 inches across (unless they are the orange 'caro rich' tomatoes, but I don't think so). I ususally buy my seed varieties based on flavor recommendations, so I hope these are particularly tastey. I like to roast/dry them in the toaster oven and use as sundried tomatoes, too. Nothing even close to red in my garden. one maturing zuke, a bunch of nice looking small hot peppers, and some small white onions, about 2 inches, that we've started using and sharing. I do have bean flowers, but no cuke flowers. It looks like I have the very small beginning of a couple eggplant.

Picked my first Stupice this morning. A good red, a bit bigger than a golf ball and very tasty. After debating on various ways to eat it, I just made three bites of it. Good tomato flavor and the plants are loaded with fruit. this variety is supposed to be 50 days from planting to eating but in this case it was 52 days.

I don't have any red ones yet. The first tom plants I put in the ground have tons of green toms on-- One Roma plant and one Big Beef Hybrid. I planted cherry tomato plants out much later and they are flowering now. Two other plants I have in an area that gets part shade are just forming tiny toms out of their blooms.
Hoping the heat and all the rain we're finally getting will advance the ripening.

We have had just one ripe one -- on a Husky plant that we got at a nursery. It fell off in my hand when I handled it gently yesterday and tasted ok but not spectacular. All the other plants (6 different types) have lots of green fruit, but nothing coloring up yet. I think that first one was a freak.

Mary

One nearly ripe cherry tomato. Lots of greens, including Roma, Better Boy & Celebrity. My first garden this far north (in the Northern Adirondacks.) With temps in the low 30's two days into summer, I didn't expect to see red tomatoes until mid-August. But it will be nice to have this little "preview of coming attractions" in a salad in a couple of days.

Wayne in the Adks.

I have had ripe tomatoes on a variety called Glacier for about a week now. They taste just okay and are about the size of golf balls but what's really good about them is that they are RIPE, ya know? I love tomatoes and I have been making many tomato and mayonnaise sammiches. I noticed last night that the Ceylon tomatoes are orange now. I am sure ready for them. They are some good tomatoes. I have also picked three of the Black Cherry. These are very delicious but a weird pinkish greenish brownish color that reminds me of the sixties.

I've been eating fried eggplants slices for the past three weeks. I only grew two varieties this year - Apple Green, which sure is prolific and very good tasting, and an Italian long purple variety called Gitano. Nice and tender at baby stage, yum! The Gitano plants are over four feet tall. This is my best eggplant year ever--growing them in containers because last year I got nary an eggplant with them in the ground.

I've also been harvesting Alma paprika peppers, but these are in the cream white stage, not ripe yet. Sweet, though, and nice thick walls. This is a great variety if you like sweet peppers.

No red tomatoes yet. I have mostly late producers, I think.

The four brandywines outgrew their stakes while I was on vacation, and are now monsters growing horizontally and vertically. They have huge green tomatoes. The plants are nearly four feet tall and an inch thick. The italian paste from seed aren't doing much yet, nor are the unknown types from seed that my mom gave me that produce in mid-August. On the other hand, I think I can pick bell peppers by the end of the week, maybe sooner.

I have some red plum tomatoes called Juliet. My other types are loaded, but still green. Good year for tomatoes.

I'm getting red tomatoes now...we started picking cherry tomatoes last week and this past weekend we've picked Big Beef Hybrid and (surprisingly!) Romas.
Tasty!!! Time to get the mason jars ready!

Last week I started picking some huge brandywines. Very yummy and good flavor. I picked green bell peppers two weeks ago.

picking chadwick cherries, brandywine, black brandywine, and green zebra. They are all very pretty together, but so far we are disappointed with the Chadwick cherry flavor, and while our brandywines are large and prolific, the flavor is not the usual intensely sweet and winey,(they are definitely ripe). As far as small early tomatoes, I think we'll go back to growing juliets next year. I'm roasting the chadwicks as I write.

In my Northern Adirondack garden, still only cherry tomatoes and they've been slow to ripen. All the big ones, Celebrity & Better Boy are big and green and showing barely a hint of starting to ripen. Better start soon, with frost possible in less than 4 weeks.

This year was my initiation into short-season gardening. Next year will be better planned. I'll start my own early varieties rather than rely on what's available at the local garden center. And I'll use some cold frames to get an earlier start over a few "sacrificial" plants.

Wayne in the Adks.

My first should be fully ripe this week and it is HUGE. Don't know the variety as I got them from our local Buffalo plant swap. They aren't plums so I know they're not husky's
I think mine were a little late b/c I decided to grow them in containers this year to give it a try and I had a hard time keeping them watered early on.

Penny

This year my favorite Supersonics ripened two weeks early - got the first one on July 31st.
But for early tomatoes you need Stupice (pronounced Stew-PEACH-ka)- they started early and I've picked pails of them and they just keep coming. Excellent flavor, red, sweet and juicy. Big Rainbow is a late variety but very mild and sweet, solid with few seeds. Opalka is a long pointy tomato - good size, excellent flavor, very solid with few seeds and just great for sauce.Have picked over 100 pounds of tomatoes so far and should have another four weeks of them. Even so, it's too short a season!