St. Pierre

This old French variety is a great slicing and canning tomato; was donated to the USDA in 1963.  St. Pierre is a very popular tomato in the Paris markets dating back to the 1880’s.  The plant is regular leaf and indeterminate, producing red round fruit- 2-6 oz with an outstanding sweet flavor

This will be my first year growing this variety, I have grown Opalka and Amish Paste in previous years, but this year I will also give this variety a try as a canning tomato.  Must be good if its been a popular market tomato since the 1880's!

Galina's Yellow

Galina’s Yellow is a Russian heirloom from Siberia.  The seed was introduced commercially in the early 90’s, and is an excellent cherry tomato.  Very sweet flavor, about 1 inch diameter fruit, and is just a beautiful looking plant.  The plant is an indeterminate potato leaf and performs very well in cool weather, Galina Yellow is an absolute must.

  

Mama Leone

In years past I have grown, Amish Paste, and Opalka for paste tomatoes.  I did not have much success with Amish Paste, but did find Opalka to be good.  This year I am trying one called Mama Leone.

Mama Leone is a paste tomato that was offered to Seed Savers Exchange by Nacy Kirch from NY in 2005.  She had obtained it from a local nursery that obtained the seed from a customer who immigrated from Italy with the seeds.

Mama Leone is a great tomato for making sauce with excellent flavor.  Regular leaf, high yields of 3-6oz red fruit.

Caterpillar Tunnels

Over the years of growing tomatoes, here in Upstate NY; I noticed that the ones I grew under plastic vs. out in the field- did considerably better.  I remain blight free- very healthy looking plants and fruit with high yields, but very limited space in my high tunnel for the amount of plants I like to grow.

Friends of mine from Wind Flower Farm in Easton NY had suggested I try constructing what they call Cat Tunnels/ short for Caterpillar tunnels.  I guess they are called this because they kind of resemble a caterpillar once the plastic and rope is on?

So this year I am going to give them a try.  They are very easy to construct and much more cost effective than buying large greenhouse and high tunnel structures.  These Cat tunnels are temporary, and the plastic is taken off before winter sets in and the bents can be take down or left up.

Tomato plants do best with lots of sun, preferably the early morning sun to burn off the morning dew.  Which brings me to my next point; tomatoes should not be watered from the top.  Wet leaves and fruit following hot dry sun can lead to all sorts of disease and sun scalding.  Having the tomatoes grown under structures such as Cat tunnels protects them from rain and wind.  The best form of watering your tomato plants would be a drip irrigation system/ or manually water each plant down by the roots, not from up top.

Building material for the Cat tunnels include 20 ft lengths of schedule 40 pvc pipe, ¼ inch nylon rope, ground stakes, and a greenhouse rated plastic.  I am using a 4 mil 24X100 ft roll, but you can get 6mil and longer rolls if you need to.  I spaced each bent out at 5 ft but will most likely space out my next to tunnels at 6 ft.  The rope holds the plastic down and is staked into the ground.  You have to manually pull up and down the sides to vent the tunnels.  If a storm is coming with high wind- obviously pull down your sides, so that the wind does not catch underneath the plastic.  If it’s sunny and hot out, pull those sides up so that you do not cook those plants.

Here are some pictures of my first tunnel going up.

This one is actually being set up for cucumbers and peppers, if you where wondering about the trellising.

Black Cherry

Black Cherry!  This tomato is a winner.  It always seems that I cannot keep enough fruit on the vine to harvest for market, without the family helping themselves to this delicious treat.  Black Cherry is probably one of my most popular tomatoes at market.  I also noticed that I sell a lot of plants as well.  So I am convinced that Black Cherry grows well in our climate here in NY.

 It is to my understanding that Black Cherry was developed by Vince Sapp, owner of Tomato Growers Supply, from a natural cross released in 2003.

Black Cherry is an early variety that is indeterminate, regular leaf.  The fruit is about one inch in diameter with a dark dusky purplish/black color to them.  Excellent flavor, great for snacking and in salads; we call them “Garden Candy”, here.  

You can visit this site http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Black_Cherry  for more information and photos of Black Cherry.

Pink Honey

Pink Honey is a large 6-10 oz heart shaped indeterminate, reg. leaf variety from Russia.  Pink Honey is the translated name from Russia and was introduced to America by Andrey Baranovski of Minsk, Belarus.

Neil Lockhart of Oblong Illinois had received Pink Honey seeds from Andrey and offered some to the Seed Savers yearbook in 2007.

This will be a new variety for me this year that I cannot wait to try.  For anyone who has grown Pink Honey before, I would be curious to hear your feedback on this variety.  

Kimberley

This year I am going to try growing an early variety called Kimberley.  As I have mentioned in previous post that I typically grow Stupice as my early variety- this year I will switch it up.  I like the fact that it is a variety that is hardy in Canada, which comforts me knowing that it should do just fine in my garden here in NY.

Kimberley is an indeterminate potato leaf that produce small 1-2 oz red rounded fruit.  The flavor has been described to me as a very strong flavor- sweet and juicy.  Days to maturity are between 50-55 days.

Kimberly was developed by John de Rocque of Kimberley, BC, Canada.  The correct spelling should be Kimberley and not Kimberly.  As Tatiana notes on her website, that too many seed sources have adopted the name Kimberly. http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Kimberley

There has been talk that Kimberley is a cross between Siberia and Tiny Tim; however this has left doubt with many growers due to the unlikeness that 2 reg. leaf and dwarf varieties will produce an indeterminate potato leaf. 

2013 Grow List

Here is my updated version of 2013's grow list.  I just finished sowing seeds yesterday- what a relief!
I listed them in alphabetically order, and will hyperlink each variety as I write up descriptions for each one.

1. Amish Paste
2. Aunt Gertie's Gold
3. Black Cherry
4. Black From Tula
5. Blush
6. Brandywine Pink
7. Cartago Pear
8. Casino Chips
9. Cherokee Purple
10. Dester
11. Dr. Carolyn
12. Dragoevo
13. Durmitor
14. Fish Lake Oxheart
15. Galina's Yellow
16. Giannini
17. Granny's Heart
18. Green Giant
19. Green Zebra Cherry
20. Hoy
21. Indian Stripe
22. Joe's Pink Oxheart
23. KBX
24. Kellogg's Breakfast
25. Kimberley
26. Kosovo
27. Kukla's Portuguese Beef
28. Lvinoe Serdtse ( Lions Heart)
29. Mama Leone
30. Medovaya Kaplya
31. Mortgage Lifter
32. Opalka
33. Orange Minsk
34. Padarok Fei ( Gift of the Fairy)
35. Pervaya Lyubuv (First Love)
36. Pink Honey
37. Reisentomate
38. St. Pierre
39. Stupice
40. Ted's Pink Current
41. Tomatito De Jalapa
42. Terhune
43. Wild Sweetie

Giannini

This variety is also known as “Eleanor’s Tomatoes”, and or “Frank’s Tomatoes”, in parts of Maine.  From what I have read, the story goes something like this.  

Back in the 1970’s, Eleanor Gray of Bristol Maine had given some seed to a book store manager named Frank.  Eleanor had told Frank that she was told that the seeds originated from Italy. 

Later on Shelley Sparrow of Minnesota had got the seeds from Frank the book store manager and had given some to Carolyn Male in 2008.  Carolyn listed them in the SSE listing in 2009 and also offered them in her seed offer that year at Tomatoville.

What we still do not know about this wonderful variety is who named it?  We just know that Shelley mentioned that Eleanor's stepson had got the plants from an elderly man in Shresbury Ma in about 1969, and was told that the seeds came from Italy.

Giannini is a great slicing tomato that is very juicy- too juicy to be a paste; Indeterminate, regular wispy leaf type.  This plum tomato is elongated- 3-5 inches long, weighing between 5-6 oz.  

Dester

Dester is a family heirloom from Germany that has gained much popularity among many tomato growers for its outstanding flavor.   This is a regular leaf, indeterminate plant that produces large pink beefsteak shaped fruit, weighing in at about a pound. 

I have not grown this variety yet, but was told that Dester is a great slicing tomato that is very meaty and juicy- an absolutely mouth watering tomato that deserves to be grown in everyone’s garden.   Well I certainly cannot wait to sink my teeth into this one.  TO BE CONTINUED...

The history behind this heirloom is that a family from Indiana by the name Dester, had acquired the seed from Germany and shared it with there housekeeper, Anna during the 1970’s.  Anna later on had shared this variety with a man named Larry D. Pierce, who is a grower for Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

Since I have not grown this variety yet, unfortunately have no photos of my own; which is why I would like to thank Kath from Tomatoville for letting me use her beautiful photos.  Thanks Kath!

Aunt Gertie's Gold

If you have not tried growing an orange tomato yet- you must try growing Aunt Gertie’s Gold.  Aunt Gertie’s Gold is full of flavor- sweet and juicy, carrying a hint of melon, producing large 1 to 2 pound fruits, that are not only a spectacular sight in the garden- but on the table as well.

Aunt Gertie’s Gold is a Virginia heirloom that was commercially introduced by Heirloom Tomatoes of Rosedale, Maryland in 2004.  The original seed was given to Chuck Wyatt of Maryland who had received it from a friend.  Aunt Gertie’s Gold became available to Seed Savers Exchange by Carolyn Male of Salem NY, Robbins Hail of Missouri, and Barbara Anderson of California, whom all three members had originally obtained the seed from Chuck Wyatt before he passed away in 2002.

This magnificent tomato is considered to be an orange beefsteak- great for slicing.  Aunt Gertie’s Gold is an indeterminate, Potato leaf that matures between 85 to 95 days.

 Thanks Alfredo for the picture!

http://www.alfredogomezjr.com/

KBX

The potato leaf version of Kellogg’s Breakfast; KBX was discovered by Martha Huffard.  Martha describes the tomato as a deep apricot orange beefsteak- medium sized ranging between 12-18 ounces, having nice balance of both acid and sweet taste.

The story behind KBX is that Mary had purchased Kellogg’s Breakfast seed from a supplier in California back in 2002.  When she grew the seeds out she noticed half where potato leaf and half regular leaf.  So she decided to grow out six of the potato leaf plants along with the regular leaf plants. 

To her surprise the potato leaf plants grew noticeably healthier with a heavier fruit set.  Now prior to this there was no known orange potato leaf, so there was speculation that the fruit would be pink, but on the contrary a beautiful deep orange tomato was formed.

Now KBX has successfully been grown out and distributed to several growers across the country and Germany.

Terhune

Terhune is suggested by many to actually be a Pink Brandywine.  It is a great slicing tomato that produces 8-16 oz pink beefsteak shaped fruit.  The plant is potato leaf and is indeterminate.  I grew some last year and had great success.  I can never complain about having too many potato leaf varieties.  The fruit I got from my plants were big, and I thought they were a good tasting meaty beefsteak.

The history behind this one is that a man by the name Tom K.  who had posted on a Seed Savers Forum under the username (darwinslair) that he acquired the seed from a clients new home that he was inspecting. The previous owner was an elderly woman who had an amazing container garden.  What was left behind was frosted out tomato plants.  

Tom had asked what the story was about the abandoned garden and was told that the woman had grown her own tomatoes for years, and would share them with her neighbors.  Tom had asked if he could take some of the frozen fruits home to grow out, and would share them if they took.  Well they took; he shared, and named the tomato after the new homeowner’s last name, Terhune.  Here is the link to that thread on the forum where this was all posted.  http://forums.seedsavers.org/showthread.php?t=657

Tomato Horn Worm

This little guy is not the only one who is enjoying my amazingly awesome tomato's this summer.  I'd much rather have this guy and his two adorable sisters helping themselves to a nice healthy garden snack than other uninvited garden intruders.  

Check out these photo's below of the tomato horn worm.  I have pulled at least 30+ of these little buggers, and let me tell you they can do some eating. The tomato horn worm is so incredibly camouflaged, but I have learned a few tricks for easier detection of these pest.  

I have also learned that if you pay your little nieces and nephews a quarter for every worm they find, can also be a productive way to eliminate these pest. 

The Tomato Horn Worm

Once you do find one of these guys take a minute and listen closely- you cant hear them munching away!

Usually I will find their droppings and half eating tomato's before I actually find the worm.  Pay close attention when watering, pruning and harvesting your tomato's 

Half Eaten Tomato

Dropping From The Tomato Horn Worm

If you find these little black dropping and half eaten tomato's you will not need to look much further to find the Tomato horn worm, and when you do- you will want to remove them immediately.  

For the longest time I wondered where these guys came from, and finally looked it up and learned that they come from the five-spotted hawk moth.  The hawk moth is about the size of a humming bird with a grayish brown color and yellow spots along side it's body.  After the hawk moth's mating season it will go and lay its eggs on these plants which is where the tomato horn worm comes from.

How to Get Rid of Them!

1. Hand picking them off is my personal preference.  Once you have trained your eye and know what to look for, they are pretty easy to detect.  Make sure to destroy them or dispose of them far, far away from your tomato plants.  

2. BT spray, (Bacillus thuringiensis) This spray is said not to be harmful to animals, people or the environment, and is safe to spray right up to the day of harvesting tomato's.  The spray paralyzes the worm causing them to die of starvation.  You will need to spray both the top and bottom of the tomato plant leaves and repeat application every 5 to 7 days until the worms are gone.

3.  The Parasitic Wasps-  Introducing these bugs will help eliminate the worms as well.  The (Braconid and Trichogramma) both will lay their eggs on the larva.  If you see a tomato horn worm with lots of little white things on it don't kill it, that is just signs that the wasp is doing its job- their on your side!

I do hope that you all are having a blight free tomato growing season with healthy high producing tomato plants free from tomato horn worms.  keep your eyes open for these guys, they blend in so well!

Happy Harvesting!

Maiden's Gold

This precious heirloom was almost lost, but found and revived by Ted Maiden of Tennessee.  Maiden’s Gold is an old Southwestern Virginia family heirloom dating back to the 1950’s.  Ted had revived this plant from 22 year old seed in 2009.  In 2010 he grew the plant out with awesome results.

Maiden’s Gold is a great slicing tomato that holds that old fashioned taste, very mild, producing medium sized beefsteak fruit.  The fruit will ripen from green to yellow then gold.  It is an indeterminate, regular leaf tomato plant.

I am so glad this tomato was not lost for good.  Maiden's Gold really is a perfect looking orange tomato- indeed!  I am a huge fan and will grow this one again.

Tomato Staking

I am often asked what method I use for staking my tomato plants.  Well, over the years I have used cages, wooden post, and all the fancy tomato stake’s sold at  garden centers.  What I have found to be the best method is actually using ½ inch rebar.  This may not seem like the cheapest method at first, but in the long run it really is, because they last forever.

What I like about the ½ inch rebar is that it will last a life time.  The rebar is very durable, and easy to clean/ disinfect if needed.  Wooden stakes eventually rot and require more maintenance.

Another great thing about the rebar is, that they pound into the ground much easier.  This is much appreciated particularly if you have a ton of stakes to pound.

I bought some ½ inch rebar at Home Depot in 10 foot lengths for about $5.00 a piece.  If you are requiring a lot of stakes, I recommend calling around to some steel companies. Also try contacting some local contractors, maybe a stone mason to find out where you can purchase a large amount, and have delivered to your place.  Typically they come in 20 foot long sections and most companies will cut them to your desired length.  The cost will be significantly less buying them this way, and usually the more you buy the lower the cost.  It would be worth getting others involved as a group order to lower the cost even more.

The 10 foot length I found is a good size for my indeterminate plants, but for the determinate ones shorter stakes would be more efficient.  I space out my rebar maybe every 5 ft or so the entire length of a row.  At both ends of the row- which would be the very first and very last piece of rebar- I make sure are anchored securely so that they do not sag in toward the middle of the row.  Each rebar stake is connected to the next with string, rope or wire.  As the plants grow I clip them to the line with tomato trellis clips.  I repeat this process until I get to my desired height I want to keep my plants pruned at.

I highly recommend these tomato clips.  They are very easy to use and reuse every season.  I would make sure to disinfect them each year to be safe, by soaking the clips in some hot water and bleach.

I bought these handy tomato trellis clips at Johnny's Select Seed

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/search.aspx?SearchTerm=tomato+clips

Yes there are several other tomato staking methods, some which may even actually work better for you; I just found that this method works great for me.  I have seen more efficient ways of staking- particularly in High Tunnel production where String is suspend from above and anchored to the ground, but I wouldn't think that this would work great for field production.

So if you are considering different ways to stake your tomato plants this year, perhaps you will consider using 1/2 rebar.  You may have to eventually buy more rebar as you decide to grow more, but should never have to replace the rebar.

Stupice

For as long as I have been growing tomatoes, Stupice has been my go to plant for early producing fruit.  I have no complaints with this variety.  It has a sweet and tangy taste that I enjoy.  Stupice is an indeterminate, potato leaf that will mature within 50- 60 days of transplant.

 It is from Czechoslovakia and is pronounced (stoo-peech-ka).  It is questionable to whom the original hybridizer is.  I have read that M. Sodomka had given Forest Shomer, founder of Abundant Life Seed Foundation some seed in the 1970’s

Stupice is a great variety to choose for an early producer.  It not only produces early, but long into the season as well.  The fruits vary between 2 to 4 oz.  in clusters of three to five.  This year I am actually going to give another early variety to try called Kimberly.  I can’t wait to compare the two.

Indian Stripe

For years I was stuck on Cherokee Purple- don’t get me wrong, it’s a great tomato, but Indian Stripe- FORGET ABOUT IT!  Meaning I almost forgot about Cherokee Purple, that’s how awesome Indian Stripe is.

Indian Stripe is considered to be a strain of Cherokee Purple, they are very similar.  The Indian Stripe produces smaller fruit, and they have an oblate beefsteak shape to them.  The smaller fruits can have almost a heart shape to them.  Indian Stripe tomatoes are soooo delicious- a great slicing tomato!

They are heavy producers, mature in about 80 day.  The Indian Stripe that I grew last year was the potato leaf version, and I had a great turn out.  Other than a few of my cherry tomatoes the Indian Stripe was my first producing tomato of the season, and what a treat it was.  I highly recommend growing Indian Stripe.  

Blush

This tomato was another one recommended to me by Carolyn Male. I believe Carolyn got the seed from Fred Hempel in California to trial and then had offered it to tomatoville members in 2011.

I would have to say that this one of my new favorites.  Blush was a very popular tomato at the farmers markets last year. It  not only added spectacular flavor, but that extra appeal to my basket full of small cherry tomatoes as well.  A hint to all market growers- GROW THIS ONE IF YOU CAN.

The Blush tomato is a small yellow pointed striped- plum.  Be sure to really let them ripen up before eating.  They should be soft and have almost an orangey color to them.

I find the taste to be sweet and juicy with a little crunch.  They are not too meaty at all.  I feel as if I am snacking on candy when indulging in these magnificent pieces of fruit.

Kellogg's Breakfast

Kellogg’s Breakfast is a wonderful tasting orange tomato and a favorite amongst many tomato lovers.  I was first drawn by the name, and then when I saw a picture of the fruit in a seed catalogue I was drawn by its vibrant orange color.  It just looked like a really delicious tasting tomato with an interesting name.  I figured this would be a great tomato to grow and sell at market.

I was right!  Kellogg’s breakfast did turn out to be a big hit, and had many coming back for more.  Our immediate reaction was that we couldn't believe it was a tomato; it almost had more of a melon taste. 

Kellogg’s Breakfast is a large beefsteak that matures between 85-90 days, producing delicious, beautiful orange fruit- weighing in at a pound or better.  The fruit typically forms in clusters of 2 or 3.  Kellogg’s Breakfast originated from Darrell Kellogg of Redford Michigan.  The plant’s leaf type is regular, however there is a potato leaf version called KBX.

What A Beauty!

Very Happy With The Production Of This Plant.

Looks Like I Will Be Growing This One Again!

Welcome to Route 22 Tomatoes

Just fooling around with template settings and so forth I guess we can say this is a test post.

WELCOME to Route 22 Tomatoes!


Here is the list of all the different tomato plants I will be growing for the 2013 season.

1. Aunt Gertie's Gold
2. Blush 
3. Casino Chip
4. Dr. Carolyn
5. Giannini
6. Green Zibra Cherry
7. Hoy
8. Indian Stripe
9. Kukla's
10. Ludmilla's Red Plum
11. Medovaya Kaplya
12. Orange Misk
13. Terhune
14. Joe's Pink Oxheart
15. Durmito
16. Dester
17. Loin Heart
18. Pink Honey
19. Dragoevo
20. Green Giant
21. Aunt Sophie
22. Ted's Pink Current
23. Cartego Pear
24. Black Cherry
25. Cherokee Purple
26. Brandywine
27. St. Pierre
28. Reisentomte
29. Galina Yellow
30. Kosovo
31. Kimberly
32. KBX
33. Fish Lake Oxheart
34. Moma Leone