16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

njitgrad -- do you realize how "sensual" your description of eating your 1st tomato sounds?? LOL!! Reading all these....only tomato freaks could understand the excitement!!

OK, first beefsteak - usually just sliced thick with salt eaten standing up over the counter/cutting board. But later in the season, BLT without the BL (toast the bread so it doesn't get too soggy from tomato juice, I don't normally eat mayo but 1/2 tsp is good on tomato), or else a slice of white American cheese instead of mayo, but then have to pop the sandwich in the MW for 10 secs to melt the cheese. Roast beef is good too.

We rarely use beefsteaks in salad - I love my Brandywines, CP and Krims too much to ruin them with dressing! But by the time we get ripe tomatoes the lettuce is over with anway (I'll have to try fall crop this year) so just tomato and salt as a side with dinner is fine.

Darn, I'm really craving tomato right now and all I have is store-bought cherries and some BW quarters I froze last year.

Try googling for flea beetle

njitgrad -- I don't have answer to your ? but I am interested in your containers. 1st I'll say how very tidy your boarder and tomatoes are!!
What is your pot? How do you have them staked? Looks like square wire fencing with twine around the stakes as it grows up??
thks

What a great harvest. Luckily, cherry tomatoes are easy to freeze. Rinse them off, throw them in a baggie in the freezer, and use them in soup over the winter. :)

(And I'm looking forward to hearing the reports on the Selbo's Ribbed Red Cherry. I've been following that thread and can't wait until I can get some seeds for myself. :))

some problems are rough to take.....

It's a Green Earth Garden Fungicide with 0.9% sulphur and after reading the instructions say to apply every 7 - 10 days... I guess there is something to instructions after all! ;)

What negative affects have you had with sulphur products Dave? Any recommendations for dealing with and minimizing the blight? If it actually blight...

T....get the appropriate spray.....and spray. Many tomato gardener's preventative spray for EB because it is so common. Hope this helps: Here is a good site for info:http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r783100311.html

For home use and canning, USDA rules is not enforced.
Here is what I am saying: If your jar is disinfected (in boiling water or 300F oven), and you have boiled the sauce; Then you fill the jar, tighten the lid, then place them upside down, ...how the heck bacteria is going to get into it ?
One more thing: When you want to use the sauce you boil it again !!! If you cannot kill a bacterium by boiling, forget about canning and eating tomato sauce.

For home use and canning, USDA rules is not enforced.

If you mean there are no canning police who will come and arrest you then yes, they are not enforced. However liability, not to mention responsibility, does attach to any home canned foods that are shared with others.

fill the jar, tighten the lid, then place them upside down, ...how the heck bacteria is going to get into it ?

It doesn't have to "get in". It is already in there. So is the air still trapped in the jar that allows the bacteria in the jar to continue to grow, reproduce, and produce toxins.

The only foods where inversion sealing is still commonly practiced anywhere is with highly acidic foods - fruit jams and jellies, canned fruits, and brined pickles. Tomatoes do not quality as highly acidic foods since they are borderline pH at 4.5-4.8.

If you cannot kill a bacterium by boiling, forget about canning and eating tomato sauce.

There are many bacteria, including c.botulinum, that cannot be killed by boiling but that doesn't mean the food cannot be canned. Those bacteria are killed only by irradiation (which isn't possible at home) or by high pressure temps in excess of 240 degrees for a period of time determined by the density of the food in question. Alternatively they are packed in an highly acidic medium which prevents the bacteria from reproducing in the jar. Thus the requirement to add additional acid to tomatoes when canning them.

None of this is new info. It dates from research begun back in the 1950's. And it is all discussed in great detail on the Harvest forum for those interested. But I would suggest some research into all the science behind the canning guidelines before sharing such mis-leading information with others. It does them a dis-service otherwise.

Dave

Wow Ed!

Stupice for the end of June!!! When did you plant them?

I should have grown Stupice again, but was disheartened when they succumbed to some sort of fungal disease last year and decided to give them a miss this year.

I was excited about my new early F1 (Yellow Pear derivative) but the taste just wasn't there. Maybe the next ones will taste better, and they might be improve with some seeds left in! I scraped them all out to ferment and save!

Linda.

Stupice started from seed 3/15, and planted out 5/1 in WOW. Amazing how they are so predictable for me. Can usually predict within a few days when they will ripen.

Looks delish to me. Can't see how something that looks so good could lack any flavor.

Hi Njitgrad,
Slightly gets ever so thinner as the season continues. You are right - just splitting hairs now. The German Giant variety has done well - a very hardy plant (almost 16' tall now) that sets fruit well - some very large.

Below I've linked toTania's superb website where you'll find a list of those varieties that have been released through 2013 for the Dwarf project . That's the clickable link.

If you click on the ones listed seperately you should find comments from others as well as pictures.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Category:Dwarf_Tomatoes

The link above also fromTania's website lists all the Dwarf varieties she knows of if you want to see a more complete list.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn, and note that seed sources are given for the Dwarf project ones as well as many on the larger list.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dwarf Project Varieties

Thanks Jennie for your recommendation.

Carolyn thanks very much for the links which are great! I can see that Red Robin and Yellow Canary are listed. I've grown them as "container plants" for a windowsill as they fit into 10" pots.

Linda

Yes. Spray, spray, spray. Glad to see it's not fatal. This is definitely the time of year to be vigilant. Lost most of my tomatoes in about 3 days time about 5 years ago to the late blight that swept through the NE. I don't mess around anymore!

Thx will spray , spray , spray . Thx so much for the info ! Hope it works !!!!

The two plots are about 6'-7' wide each. I dug them last year and plan to move the tomatos to another plot, for rotation.

Actually I did put down a lot of grass clipping and the tall weeds I pulled from the Iris bed in front of the tomatoes. The ground in front of the bed was all grass before.

There are still some small weeds under the plants. I pull some of them, but not all of them since the bird netting blocks the access. It is not a big prob since they are shaded under the big tomato plants.

I plan to dig another vegie plot and fence this vegie section with tall wires. So I can grow other vegies and do not have to worry about deers, rabbits and some birds.

This is a low maintenence garden. This year I hardly water them. No fertilizer of any kind. I just tried to mix some compost to the soil in the spring.

Looking good. Wish I had that much real estate in NJ.

Thanks! I don't have any Epsom salts, and I haven't seen them in any of my markets, but will try feeding it today.

You can buy Epsom Salts in most any pharmacy or store pharmacy section. They are used as a fast fix for Mg depletion in plants. - 1-2T per gallon of water.

Dave