16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Early, cold (rather cool) tolerance.
Check out these:

Glacier, Siletz, Legend, Stupice, Oregon Spring, Siberia, ...

I am going to grow 3 of those named above this season, as we have very COOL spring and late summer/early fall weather.

Hope it helps.

It's not unheard of to get frosts right into the first week of June here in Saskatchewan. If I've put the tomatoes in the ground in late May and a subsequent frost is in the forecast, we cover them with blankets for the night, exactly like we would in the fall. The plants always reach the same size as they do every year. We don't notice any stunting or drop in production with any of the early determinates. The mid and late indeterminates take lower temperatures much harder.

@ OP: You mentioned that you LOVE strawberries. How do they taste to you ? To me they taste more acid w/very little sweetness. If this is the case with you then you should look for acidic tomatoes with slight sweetness, sometimes called tangy.

Another thing is that we don't eat every vegetable and fruits as it comes from the bush ; we prepare them a certain way. Most people will add SALT, PEPPER, VINEGAR and OIL to raw tomatoes and then eat them: That is also called SALAD !

I recommend a good sweet, small tomato like lldi for someone who doesn't like tomatoes. It even looks more like a fruit than a tomato..

I heard you mention you give most of the fruits of your labor away. I wouldnt be so quick on handing it over, save some of it and try to get accustomed to the taste. Very very healthy stuff your giving away, do yourself a favor, embrace your health. Keep growing, nothing is healthier than your own fresh produce.

If I wanted to plant tomatoes in hanging basket, that had to be some small fruited cherry, with trusses of flowers/fruits, with ability to cascade/hang down. Indeterminants are better for this purpose. I can always trim the tips of new growth if needed. I did that once with a upside down basket. It could have been better with just a hanging basket.
JMO

I am hoping to try growing my red currant tomatoes in a hanging basket this year, just for fun. I found it kind of cumbersome in the garden with my big tomatoes last year but the foliage is so feathery and pretty, and with it hanging right by the door it will be easy to grab a handful and throw it on a salad. First hanging tomato attempt, so we will see how it goes.

It is an interesting question and it is partly the nitrogen balance. Tomatoes don't need much of it. You are right about restricting water which essentially concentrates the flavor. Certain salts also increase the brix level. Test for brix with a refractometer, then cut back on water and test the difference.
Lee

Others have addressed your questions very well, so I'm going tomake just one comment.

In general, the more foliage a plant has leads to increased photosynthesis which results in more production of the energy compounds ATP and GTP.

ATP and GTP are what drives development of everything associated with the plant, from root structure growth, to above ground growth, to blossom formation, fruit growth, and most importantly for some, synthesis of all the compounds that determine taste , of which the primary determinates are the specific genes in the DNA of a specific variety.

Yes, for sure there are lots ofother variables involved in taste, some that can be controlled by the gardener and some that cannot be controlled, such as weather.

Just noting that for many years I grew tomatoes in Denver, not many, and they did just fine in a small strip of just dirt at the side of my home that was shaded a good part of the day.

Carolyn

I'm going out on a limb here, which in my case, is covered in snow! It kills me to read people are experiencing 100 degree weather!
Anyways, I noticed that your plants are close to your wall which is white. I'm wondering if it's due to excessive heat reflected from the house onto the plants. I also have a section of garden that borders my house, also white stucco, and have witness some burning from the heat when the plants are touching the walls.
It's just one variable amongst many possibilities.

Too little too late, folks;
Those tomatoes are history now (June 2013)

But the OP never reported back as what happened finally.

The tomato isn't necessarily named for a place. A lot of varieties are named for saints or for other things. I have one tomato that I bought in France called Reine de Ste. Marthe.

Try the link below for more history, naming places for Saints, etc.

Carolyn, dealing with two feet of new snow, actually just looking at it and it's still snowing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Saint Pierre

I lived in Central Illinois (45 minutes West of Peoria) for years and had good luck then (80's & 90's) finding great tomato plants in the temporary nurseries that often popped up in grocery store lots and the like.

I was willing to give them a try because it was a long trek to Peoria to find a big box store. And, they weren't as pricey as the permanent nurseries.

As it happens they were local and a great source of information and conversation about local conditions. The varietal offerings then weren't nearly as diverse as the market is today, but it was a nice local connection.

And, as Kathy mentioned, the soil there was incredible! It was dark, loamy goodness and never a hint of blight. I've been told it was due to the Illinois River, its tributaries and a millenia of flooding. I really had to do little more than fertilize and water - no ammending necessary.

I now live to the southwest of Chicago and it hasn't been as good. I've been working for 8 years now to improve my garden soil. It's getting better every year but this here swamp clay was a wet mess in the spring and got rock hard in the summer. Compost, compost, compost...

Thanks kathy and tom for your valuable inputs. Really appreciated. Kathy I can totally relate to that, because last year was my first time and I hardly took any notes. Now I am kicking myself.

Tom I agree the soil is really good here. Last year I added some compost and thats it other than regular watering. I was pretty satisfied with the results given it was my first year of gardening.

If I remember correctly I had like 5-6 varieties of tomatoes. Celebrity and big boy did really bad. The others were good. Too bad, I just remember pink girl out of the varieties that did well.

Yes, I've grown Old German and many other red/gold bicolor varieties.

Some that I especially like might include:

Virginia Sweets
Big Rainbow
Marizol Gold
Lucky Cross
Mary Robinson's German Bicolor

..,. to name just a few that I've grown.

BUT, they are very finicky about weather, and one season variety A might be lucious and sweet and the next year mealy and bland,

Also, the flesh of most is soft, so they tend to have poor keeping qualities, but when they are good, they can be very very good. ( smile)

Carolyn

I've grown Moonglow for the past 4 years and not only are they good to eat, but easy to grow. They always out perform all the other heirlooms I grow. FWIW

I agree with seyson that stringing is the best choice. Once the plants start growing and getting bushy, the 6" grids will increasingly become a problem for getting at the branches and arranging them. I have found stringing to be excellent for getting the branches arranged for good production and for maximum flexibility.

Run a cable lengthwise 18 inches in from the side of the greenhouse overhead along the roof. From this cable you can attach nylon cord/s to run to the base of the plants. As the plants grow attach nylon tomato clips to the plant and cord. If you choose to have more than one main stem just run another cord from the overhead cable to the plant. The clips can be reused for 2-3 seasons.

Thank you Carolyn for the link and other vendors. Shipping costs are definitely not the main concern, but a concern nonetheless. Of course I am more interested in healthy plants and a wide variety of them, which Darrel certainly offers.

I order from Laurel's. Very healthy, sturdy plants. I pick up as I am local.

In my opinion, I will tell you based on the words of your post, that your problem is the wacky weather. As Betsy clearly states, there is debate regarding allelopathic theory.

Debate in itself means nobody knows what the truth of the matter is. And that is it. I think the last sentence of your post is the answer.

Just feed the soil a bit more along with water. I have a hard time believing shade is an issue,along with any properties regarding 2 plants grown closely together.

Then again, I have many issues regarding recent studies. We just do not live long enough to know what the truth is.We can try though,and that usually makes us feel better.

Take care,
Travis

For the last 2 years I have grown a mix of sunflowers ( from giants to small varieties)along the highway fence in front of my property. Just on the other side of that fence I grew squash, and melons 2 years ago and last year I grew 35 tomato plants as a crop rotation. Both years, I did not have any adverse reactions from the sunflowers. This year I will be growing my sunflowers again (same spot), but growing only the big giants and the crop rotation this year, on the other side of the fence, will be corn. I use the sunflowers as privacy screen during the summer/fall months and the birds enjoy the seeds all fall/winter until I remove them the next spring. I would think the giant mammoth sunflower would be a very sturdy support for tomatoes by strategically planting the sunflower seeds. Before planting, the entire area was given compost and rotting manure. I had such an abundance of tomatoes last year and the year before squash that kept on growing into November.

Also:

"I understand that determinates are more compact but due to my insane work schedule (usually over 60+hours a week) the whole plant would probably be dead before I had a chance to harvest and eat. "

Keep in mind that the care of the plants themselves, whether determinate or indeterminate, is pretty much the same. They will both need to be watered regularly -- every day or even twice a day when the temperature soars -- which is the most "labor intensive" part of container gardening after the initial planting. So if you don't think you'll be able to keep determinate plants alive, it's not going to be any different for indeterminate ones.

Indeterminate plants do tend to produce fruit over a longer time period, though, so that would be a plus for you if you have a really long growing season and you want to spread out the harvest. But I'm not experienced with that kind of long season nor with the climate in Tokyo, so I don't know how many months of harvest you could expect. But you can always freeze or can the extras - whole, chopped, or made into sauce - to enjoy when your plants aren't growing, either from excessive heat or cold.

Paradoxbox,
be sure to drill holes for drainage in the plastic garbage cans. I personally would try to find containers that are BPA-free (BPA being a endocrine disruptor that can be taken up by plants).

Given your work schedule, I really recommend Earthboxes or CityPickers or similar self-watering containers, if there's anything like that in Japan. I garden on a 10' x 20' deck and two Earthboxes (4 plants) supplied many more tomatoes than I needed (this year I plan to can). The soil used is regular potting mix (I use Promix BX but have used Miracle Grow in the past). After the initial setup, there's no need to fertilize and no guesswork about over watering or under watering. The water stored in the bottom of the self-watering container helps prevent splitting, and may mean you need to water less frequently. Though when it's 90F/32C, I still water daily.

I have grown only indeterminates so far. They get 8ft / 2m tall very quickly and do require a sturdy staking system and pruning every few days though. Otherwise they take off to your neighbors and you have to whack off a big branch full of blossoms to prevent tomatoes from falling on a neighbor's property. On the plus side, pruning is rather therapeutic after a day at the office :-)