Well, I have to finally admit it, the garden’s been a bit of a bust this year.

Mostly due to the fact that in just under two weeks I’ll be gone, and have barely harvested a thing from it (besides the beans and greens – lots of those). It was so warm early in spring, but then it turned rainy and cold up until mid-June. The plants (especially the tomatoes) were stunted, delaying everything. I’m just now getting the first ‘Stupice’ off the vine, and the ‘Chocolate Stripes’ and ‘Silvery Fir Tree’ are just starting to show the earliest signs of blushing.

Sigh.

Oh well. Upwards and onwards so they say. I’m so excited about moving back to Victoria that it only breaks my heart a little bit to be leaving before I get the large portion of my garden bounty this year. There’s next year to set my sights on, which will come all the more earlier than my gardening season here in the Kootenays has been. That’s something to look forward to. I still have about a month and a half after I move before it gets too miserable in Victoria to do any gardening either, so that will take up a good portion of my time and ease my regret of not getting to see my garden through for this year. It’ll still be chugging along, and someone will be caring for it, and sending me my seeds. All is not lost. It’s rather bittersweet; I’m excited to get the hell out of dodge, but I’ll miss the garden at the same time.

The good news is I will get to do some of my own seed saving this year. My ‘Stupice’ will be harvested for seeds imminently, and my Slocan Snow Peas and ‘Sparkler’ radish are already being processed. I might even get to harvest a few of the ‘Irish Conners’ beans I’ve been shepherding this year.

As the house slowly transforms into a stack of boxes before my eyes (I lie, it hasn’t been “before my eyes” at all, in fact it’s been about as much fun as you’d expect packing a house up and moving it 750km can be), I am so ready to be gone. I’m ready to be done with the packing and get this show on the road.

I’m looking forward to new gardening adventures. Hell, we might even end up getting chickens, which are legal to have in your back yard in Victoria. It’s something we wanted to do for a while, but weren’t able to due to the fact it’s illegal here in Nelson. It will be nice to live in a place that puts its money where its mouth is regarding sustainability.

I told myself I wouldn’t start going through the tomatoes on the Weekly Flora until I could see them ripening on the vine.

Then I totally went back on that promise to myself, because it was a silly thing to think I could do in the first place.

But that’s okay I forgive me.

This tomato is the first to form fruit for me this season, and thusly, will be the first eaten when it finished ripening. I am so looking forward to fresh-of-the-vine tomatoes. Soon I’ll be swimming in almost more then I can eat (since I have about 40 different plants currently growing). But for now, I have just this one, little guy, chugging along, ripening at his own rate.

I’ve never grown Tiny Tim before, but it’s always been on my “to-grow” list. I love tomatoes that are, you know, “weird”. Dwarf plants, heavily pleated fruit, bi-coloured (or tri-coloured!), white tomatoes (that one freaks people out). If it’s “weird”, I’ll have a go at it.

While ‘Tiny Tim’ might not be the weirdest one ever, it is an early dwarf variety, and it fits very nicely into a one-gallon container, letting me but my bigger tomatoes into the 5- and 10- gallon containers.

‘Tiny Tim’ is a commercial heirloom variety; it was bred for commercial purposes, but is older then 50 years (it was actually bred in 1945 by the University of New Hampshire). This year I plan to try growing it under lights during the winter. I go through serious fresh tomato withdrawal for months at a time, but I’m positive there is a tomato out there that will grow well under my fluorescent lights. I mean, it just has to work, right? RIGHT?

Lord help me I can’t eat those cardboard-tasting things the grocery store calls tomatoes that they trucked in from California.

That’s the problem with gardening – it totally makes you into a tomato snob.

“It’ may not look like much…” seems to be the mantra of the garden lately.

But “it may not look like much” always transforms into a harvest bounty. It might take a little time, but it does. Mark my words.

My tomatoes are having a tough go so far; it’s been cold and rainy despite the fact it’s June, and despite the fact that by now we’ve usually hit at least 30C once. We’ve been lucky to hit 20C here the past few weeks, so the tomatoes are small and somewhat purplish due to the temperatures.

But, even still, my Stupice tomato, one of my superstars, one of the handful of tomatoes I grow every year, is starting to form tiny little buds.

This isn’t my only tomato to be forming flower buds, my ‘Taxi’ and ‘Cherokee Purple’ are doing likewise, and my ‘Tiny Tim’ is even starting to form fruit.

The difference between my ‘Stupice’ and the other three is the fact that out of the four my ‘Stupice’ is the only one that I’ve started from seed. I start most of my plants from seeds, but I always save room for a few starts if I come across something that’s interesting.

So there’s always an extra sense of pride when something I started from seed starts to flower, even after years doing it. You put so much time and effort into something, even the tiniest inkling that it’s all going to pay off is a triumph, especially with a hobby that’s left much up to the fate of nature. Despite how much we might try to control it.

Last year I posted my tomato grow out list at the beginning of the year. I ended up having 33 varieties at the beginning of that year (I think I had lost a few starts and ended up with 30 or 31). This year it just turned out that I have 33 varieties again (although I may start one or two more, just for shits and giggles), a few are re-grows that didn’t do well for me last year with the brutal season we had, but a fair number of them are new.

One of the things that gets me most excited for the garden every year are what new tomato varieties I’ll have to sample. Sometimes it’s a let down (last year they were ‘Reisetomate’, ‘Oxheart’, and ‘Purple Prince’), sometimes they’re a huge pleasant surprise (‘Orange Strawberry’ and ‘German Cascade’ were the biggest). Of course I appreciate the pleasant surprises more then the let-downs, but either way it’s a lesson learnt and something new tried.

Armenian – I wanted to try this big 1lb marbled (orange/red) bicolour last year, but ended up not having the space, so when it came time to draw up this list for this year, this was the first I chose. I also like that the name of this variety says exactly where it’s from. Makes things simple, no?

Black Krim – I did grow this one last year but got nothing from it. It got burnt pretty badly and then just as it was setting fruit, frost killed it. So, Black Krim, take 2.

Black Pear – I’m interested to see how similar this one is to ‘Japanese Black Trifele’ which I grew last year (it was alright, not totally in love with it).

Black Plum – I have great designs to make some all-black tomato sauce, this will be the tomato I do it with! From Russia (as all the best tomatoes seem to be), and apparently similar to De Barao Black.

Black Sea Man – Black Sea Man is a staple in my garden, I love the flavour, love how it grows, and it does really well when it gets hot here in the summer. Not to mention the earliest black tomato there seems to be!

Bramki – Another one I tried to grow last year, but it got completely burnt back to nothing but a dead looking stick. More out of laziness then hope, I just left it in the ground and much to my shock it actually started to regrow. Granted there was no way in hell it was going to produce anything for me after that, but being that it grew with so much gusto, I figured I’d give it another try this year.

Calabacito Rojo – I actually bought these seeds at Seedy Saturday ’09, but didn’t have room for them. The lady I got them from said they grew really well in our area (always a good way to get me to try a new tomato), so I grabbed them. Apparently these have been documented as being grown in Philadelphia as early as 1795, but seeds were also sourced in Chiapas, Mexico. And I’m a sucker for a tomato that was born and bred in Mexico.

Chocolate Stripes – Another one that didn’t do too well for me last year. I’m not sure how well they’ll do in my area, but they’re so funky looking I can’t resist.

Coracao Di Boi – Much like I’m a sucker for pleated or Mexican tomatoes, I’m a huge sucker for a tomato that is extremely rare. From what I can tell these are large oxheart fruit originally from Portugal. Almost impossible to find, took me a good year of searching. Let’s hope they measure up to all the trouble of sourcing them.

Dubrava – Oh, those Russian tomatoes, always coming through! This one I had the pleasure of tasting at a friend’s garden last year and fell in love. They taste like you’ve just picked the tomato and salted them. Seriously, they taste pre-salted! So delicious. So of course I had to get some seeds and grow them out this year for myself.

Ferris Wheel – Another I’m re-trying this year, hopefully it won’t get scorched like it did last year (it completely kicked the bucket). This tomato turns 112 this year.

German Cascade – I was so blown away by the uniqueness of this tomato’s flavour last year that I knew I had to grow them again this year. I wanted to give it a chance in a season that wasn’t so hot, hopefully to get a better basis for what kind of yield it has.

Giant Tree – How cool would it be to have a huge 18ft tomato tree bearing loads of fruit? Of course my season isn’t anywhere near long enough for this variety to grow that big for me, but a girl can dream, can’t she?

Green Grape – My main motivation for growing these was that I needed to replenish the supply in the seed bank. I’m not a huge cherry tomato person, but who knows? I have been known to enjoy a cherry tomato in the past (okay, one, ‘Yellow Pear’).

Green Zebra – Green Zebra is another staple. It seems to grow well everywhere and in almost all conditions. I love its tart flavour and ridiculous abundance of fruit. My favourite is to cut them up and put them in a salad or just eat like an apple.

Kootenai – A compact determinate, this one is going in a container this year. Considering it’s an heirloom from my area (brought over from Russia by the Doukhobors, who from a sizable population in my area), it only feels right to grow it.

Lattanzio Pendulous – Another one I’m growing because I’m a sucker for a rare tomato. I love the surprise that comes from growing an heirloom you know almost nothing about. I’ll be adding more info about this (and all the rare varieties) on the blog as the season progresses.

Moskvich – I found this start at a store last year and decided on a whim to grow it (there’s my rigorous screening process at work again). Ended up really loving it, great taste and just a really good hearty all-purpose tomato. It’s the kind of tomato that everybody needs in their garden.

Orange Strawberry – Ah, the all star of the garden last year. Huge plant, it would have grown well over 7ft if the sheer weight of the fruit hadn’t toppled my 2×4 when a stiff went blew up. So of course I knew I was going to grow it again this year. Also, love the flavour! Finding a good yellow is never easy.

Plum Tigris – I’m endeavouring to do more canning this year, so I’m growing more pastes then I normally do. Plum Tigris just happened to be on hand, so voila, I decided to grow it!

Poma Amoris Minora Lutea – How can you not love the name of this variety? It just kind of rolls off the tongue. This tomato is dated back to 1553. 1553. How awesome is that? This tomato is almost 500 years old, there aren’t many varieties that can actually be documented back that far. Other then the age, I don’t know much about it, so this will be another surprise.

Purple Calabash – These tomatoes were doing so well for me last year until they got burnt back. They took so long to recover that by the time they were starting to fruit, of course the frost came and killed them. I’m determined to be able to tell people that I’m growing the world’s “ugliest tomato” in my garden.

San Marzano – Ah, the San Marzano! I’ve never grown it before, and once again knowing I want to do more canning this year, it seemed like a given that this one would be on the docket to be in my garden this year.

Silvery Fir Tree – Love this one, it’s early nature always makes it the first to produce in my garden, and how can you not love the foliage?

Stupice – And this is the second one to come into my garden every year, usually right after the ‘Silvery Fir Tree’ best part about this one is the crazy yields (although it suffered last year from the heat). Love, love, love ‘Stupice’ and if I only had one spot in my garden for a tomato, this is the one I’d pick because it’s so damned dependable.

Sylvan Gaume – Another re-grow this year since mine only started to fruit once it frosted last year (goddamned early frost, I will continue to curse last year’s season until this one proves to be much better). It’s been grown in Canada for many years, reportedly originally it came from Russia but the original name has been lost. I see pictures of these tomatoes and my mouth just waters instantly. As I type this, my seedlings for ‘Sylvan Guame’ grow so fast I’m raising my lights every day just to accommodate its growth.

Teton De Venus – Possibly French in origin, possibly Italian in origin. All I know is that the blossom end has a large “nipple” on it that makes me giggle. Because I’m really immature when it comes to stuff like that.

Tsygan – I was so enamoured with this one last year when it did so well in the extreme heat and lack of water I knew this was a new staple in the garden. Really delicious, maybe not as flavourful as other blacks, but definitely does extremely well in high heat.

Uncle Charlie’s Giant Italian Pear – This is a friend’s family heirloom the she graciously gifted me. It’s named after for her Uncle Charlie, and I can’t wait to get my hands on these fruit this year.

Vorlon – I saw these fruit at a friend’s garden last year (same one where I tried the ‘Dubrava’) and loved the look of them. So I picked a fruit and kept the seeds. It’s a stablized accidental cross from Pruden’s Purple x Cherokee Purple, with parentage like that, how can you go wrong?

Yellow Pear – The only cherry I absolutely swear by. Grows fantastic, tastes fantastic (not like a regular cherry, definitely much more tart which is why I like it).

Zapotec Pink Pleated – Last year I diverted from my beloved ‘Zapotec Pink Pleated’ to try ‘Tlacolula Ribbed’. I ended up regretting that choice, ‘Zapotec Pink Pleated’ is by far the superior tomato, in taste and in growth. The only good thing about ‘Tlacolula Ribbed’ is that it does better in shadier conditions then ‘Zapotec Pink Pleated’ does. Considering I put in the full-sun bed just for the tomatoes, there’s no reason to compromise.

Zomu – Loved this little plant last year, it gave me really good yields despite everything that mounted against it. I wanted to give it another try this year in a better location to get a better idea of its yields. Seemed more susceptible to slight temperatures dips then any other tomato I had, but that might have been some kind of fluke.

I’m thinking about starting up some ‘Guido’ and ‘Pink Zebra’ as well. ‘Pink Zebra’ I have no idea what to expect (in my mind I’m picturing bright neon pink fruit striped with white), which is why I’m antsy not to wait until next year to try this one. I’m sure it’s much less spectacular in real life then in my imagination.

Ah, ‘Black Sea Man’. Be still my beating heart. I don’t quite remember where my original seed was sourced from a few years ago and how I first came upon this tomato. If I had to guess, I’d probably say Gayla originally sent me some seeds, but I can’t be positive. However, ever since I received these seeds, this tomato has been one of the standards in my garden.

The stories behind this tomato are varied. It’s possibly the same as ‘Chernomor’ which literally translates “Black Sea Man” from Russian. This tomato may or may not be an heirloom, but it most decidedly is Russian, and it is delicious. See? I tell you, those Russians know about tomatoes. I don’t know what they do over there to them, but it’s magic. I’ve never met a Russian tomato I didn’t like.

Growth Notes

I’ve grown this tomato faithfully in two different climates – the easy going temperate climate on the coast, and the markedly harsher, hotter, more volatile climate in the Kootenays. In both locations, it’s always done extremely well, this is a very adaptable tomato. Coupled with the fact it’s an early variety in my mind says it’d probably do well anywhere. I’ve heard of it grown everywhere from cool short climates to extremely hot balconies. In the ground or in pots, it will thrive (and that’s speaking from experience). For a determinate, it gives a lot, but asks very little. I must admit, 2009 was the best year I’ve ever had with my determinates, which sounds strange because a good portion of my indeterminates didn’t do well. Not sure what that was about. Either way, since 2006, this has been a faithful and giving tomato in my garden. In 2009 I got 5.5lbs/plant. Considering what a hard year that is, that ain’t not bad. This is not one of the tomatoes that absolutely will not crack, but if it does it’s usually only under the most extreme circumstances – like after a torrential downpour after a period of water rationing. Even then, you only get the smallest of cracks near the top of the fruit (as pictured in the first photo). The first two or three fruit of the plant are usually about 340g to 450g (12-16oz), but then the subsequent fruit is more in the 250g range (about 10oz). ‘Black Sea Man’ requires heavy staking as the fruit produce, otherwise the whole plant will flop right over and break under the fruit’s weight. This tomato usually takes about 65 days to reach maturity.

The Look

I love this tomato for all its green shoulder, misshapenness. The first few fruit are usually a pretty uniform beefsteak shape, but then whatever reason, the remaining fruit are usually a bit more misshapened – most likely due to the fact that they’re all just growing up against one another. A black tomato, the fruit will get darker the more sunlight it has. If you don’t like green shoulders, steer clear of this one, as the fruit will always have green shoulders. I personally am a fan of the green shoulders, so there you have it. Inside it’s your typical beefsteak, medium sized cavities, average amount of juiciness. Nice meat, and not the juiciest tomato ever, but still with a good amount of it.

The Taste

There’s a reason why I grow this tomato every single year, and not only because of the ease with which it grows in different situations. I have noticed however that with more sun, and deeper colour, the flavour is definitely more rich. I like to use this one as a slicer for sandwiches, or cutting it into chunks and throwing it into a salad. Eating fresh off the vine with just a little salt is always delicious as well. Since it’s a nice meaty tomato, I’ve successfully used it in sauces as well to add a lovely rich taste. It’s a great all purpose tomato, I haven’t found a use that it isn’t good for (yes, I’ve even canned them with success!).

The Verdict

Well, the verdict was obviously made back at the end of 2006 after I grew this tomato for the first time – it’s been a staple in my garden ever since. I love the varieties that I know will do well in pots with a bit of mistreatment (I’m definitely not as consistent with container watering as I am with the plants in the ground), and this one can tolerate just about everything. The great thing with it being a determinate, you can let it grow for the rest of the season as an ornamental (I love the look of tomato plants), or you can rip it out and plant some leafy greens in its place when the plant is finished fruiting. Will I grow again? Most definitely, and I recommend this black tomato for anybody who’s growing in containers, cool climates, or rough hot climates. It’s adaptability is amazing.

This tomato was the absolute super star of the garden this year. Big, showy, screaming “look at me!” with ever fibre of its being all summer. The seeds were sent to me by fellow tomato nut-job and enthusiast Sheena, from Ontario. This ended up being one of those “on a whim” tomatoes I started and eventually planted. Most of the yellows I grow, with the exception of ‘Yellow Pear’ and ‘Dr. Wyche’s Yellow’ are usually whim tomatoes. See, yellow tomatoes are really hit and miss. A lot more misses I find. They’re usually really bland and overly sweet, and for a girl that likes an earthy acidic tomato, they usually end up falling into the “waste of space” category for me. But, the sheer size and good things I had read about this tomato convinced me to give it a go.

I’ve previously written about this one in the blog, but here I’m going to distill and summarize everything I saw and learnt about this plant over this season.

Growth Notes

Excuse my french, but holy shit! Okay, so I had read “needs heavy staking”. Ya, I’m a pretty good staker, I stake all my tomatoes, so I pulled out a 2×4 to stake this one. The 2×4 ended up breaking under the immense weight of this tomato over the season. No, I’m not kidding. The weight of this plant, actually broke a damned 2×4″! So first thing’s first, and I’ve discussed this at length already about our hot, dry summer that went from 10C to 30C literally over night, causing most of my plants to burn to crisps. This tomato? It didn’t burn. At all. Maybe one or two lower leaves got a little crispy, maybe. Over the course of the summer, this plant routinely grew 8-18″ per week, but on average it was about 10″ per week. The second it got REALLY hot, the thing shot up like a weed. I couldn’t believe it. Torrential downpoars, crazy wind, really hot dry weather, then really hot humid weather. Whatever nature threw at this plant, ‘Orange Strawberry’ took with grace and dignity. Nothing could phase it. It eventually got to about 7ft before the 2×4 broke, caused the plant to topple over, and snap off its top. I have no doubt it could have gotten up to 9ft if it hadn’t broken the 2×4. The strange thing is, I’ve talked to other people who have grown this tomato, ranging in area from Toronto, to Vancouver and all across the country. Nobody else has said theirs ever got over 6ft. So I don’t know what it is about my particular area (which is a really strange and specific microclimate), but this tomato loves it. And no, I didn’t use some crazy voodoo or fertilizer. It got the same treatment the rest of my tomatoes get – mushroom manure, and fishbone meal. That’s it. There was no cracking, no catfacing, no weird growth of any kind, just huge production (especially for the fruits’ size) of perfectly formed oxheart tomatoes. This is a later maturing variety, it took about 85 days to get to my first harvest.

The Look

This tomato is true to it’s name. It’s orange, and it’s strawberry (or oxheart if you prefer) shaped. The fruit are huge, the smallest one I had I believe was 8oz, the biggest was 20oz, and on average, they were about 16oz. Beautiful fruit, perfect grower, by about midseason I knew this one was a winner and I said to myself “if this one tastes as good as it grows, it’s going to be a regular for me”. The inside is absolutely solid, very few seeds or juice.

The Taste

I first tasted this tomato with trepidation. Knowing how the majority of orange/yellows tasted, I didn’t want my love of this tomato to be shattered by crappy taste. So gingerly I cut it up, and took my first bite. Oh, I was so relieved! I’m generally not a huge lover of yellows because they’re so sweet. I like a tomato with good acidity to it. While ‘Orange Strawberry’ is sweet, it has a lovely complex flavour with a fruity undertone. It wasn’t bland, it wasn’t boring, it was delicious. I wolfed down the rest of the 1lb fruit immediately.

Because it’s so solid its great for making a sauce, but it definitely can’t be spiced like a normal tomato sauce because of its low acidity. Me? I just ate them as they came, I had a ton of other tomatoes for making sauce, this one I reserved just for fresh eating. Don’t even bother with the salt. Pick, eat like an apple, enjoy.

The Verdit

It’s really, really hard to find a tomato that will go gangbusters on me in this climate. There’s a handful that do really well, but ‘Orange Strawberry’ outpaces them all in sheer size and force of will. Definitely this is a regrower for me. Next year I know to use at least three stakes (I might do a florida weave on just this one, but I haven’t quite figured out that one yet), and give it a lot more room because I didn’t know how crazy it grew so it was a little crammed up against the corn and other tomatoes. Delicious, good grower, big showy plant. Love it, it’s my new super star.

Ah, ‘Fantome Du Laos’, how quickly you captured my heart when I first discovered you on teh interwebs!

Joking aside, I really did fall head over heals for this tomato when I first read about it. What got me to try to seek out a seed source for this variety (which wasn’t easy by the way – the only two sources I found commercially were American and wouldn’t ship to Canada) was actually the story that was associated with it, I hadn’t even seen a picture of it until after I had finally got my source (the wonderful Dan & Val). This once again illustrates that when it comes to history and story of a tomato, quite often that will be the deciding factor for me.

You see, I like ghosts (hold on, this is leading to something…). I don’t actually believe in ghosts, but I love ghost stories, ghost movies, and even those really crappy ghost hunter type shows (mostly because I love to see panicky people wandering around in the dark screaming at nothing, I know, I’m kind of a sadist).

What does this have to do with this tomato? Well this tomato got the name ‘Fantome Du Laos’ for a reason. The story is, this old Laotian heirloom will glow in the dark when ghosts are near. Seriously, that’s the story! So I had to get it. Come on, a ghost sensing tomato? Tell me that’s not hilarious. So the name literally means ‘Ghost of Laos’. See, all those French classes went to some good use.

Growth Notes

I’m starting to feel like a broken record here, but with the hard season we had, this plant was pretty diminutive this year. Now that’s not to say production was small (the plant was actually loaded with fruit), but the actual plant only got to 4ft. Maybe it’s only supposed to get to 4ft? I don’t know, there’s not much growth info available on the net, so I’m just going to assume that it didn’t grow large because of the weather. This is a regular leaf, indeterminate plant, and kept going right up until frost. Production was still really good for me, and the plant when put outside actually didn’t burn too badly, and bounced back very quickly, all within the span of about 1.5 weeks. Production was also good, getting about 4-4.5lbs on my one plant. The first three fruit of the season were big, about 4″ in diameter and weighing in at about 1lb each. Subsequent fruit was smaller, about 2-3″ in diameter, and about 170g (6 oz) to 283g (10oz) each. This tomato seemed quite resistant to heat, and water rationing. None of these fruit cracked, split, or had any sort of growth issues on the fruit at all. I had a whole batch of perfectly formed white fruit. It took about 85 days from transplant to harvest.

The Look

There’s no doubt about it, this is a beautiful tomato, and because of its colouring, quite unusual as well. Fruit is creamy white/very pale yellow, with white flesh, and darkens to slightly more off-white/pale yellow as it ripens. It definitely stands out in the tomato patch. Fruit ranges in shape from the more uniform oblate beefsteak tomato shape, to an irregular curved shape (like the photo illustrates at the top). There was absolutely no green shouldering, and colouring was quite uniform over the whole fruit.

The Taste

Alright, so we’ve had great growth, and a great look. So how did it taste? Well, it’s a white tomato. Are you familiar with other white tomatoes? Ya, that’s pretty much how it tasted. There’s not a lot of flavour in this one. Add some salt and you get a bit more bang, and it does enhance the flavour a bit. The downfall of those beautiful white tomatoes is that they’re actually quite bland. If I ever find a white tomato that isn’t bland, I might just die of shock. Damn you ‘Fantome Du Laos’, I wanted you to taste as good as you looked! Why do you taunt me so?

Because of its lack of flavour, but its juicy content, this is really a fresh eating tomato. Don’t bother preserving it (or at least I didn’t). The great thing about these tomatoes is that they’re long keepers, which is really their main selling point. I had another grower tell me they successfully kept theirs in a cold area of the house until February! Mine didn’t quite make it that long, we ate the last one a month after it was picked, but it was still nice and fresh tasting. Now, no matter how bland a garden tomato is, it’s still better then those pieces-of-crap “tomatoes” you buy at the grocery store that actually taste like cardboard. So, even though it’s not full of flavour, it’s better then the alternative during those winter months when you can’t just run outside and pick fresh tomatoes.

The Verdict

The fact that this tomato grows so well, is quite hardy in my area, and is such a long keeper, makes this one worth growing again for me. I know, it doesn’t taste super awesome, but you know what? That’s okay. There are other benefits to this tomato. If it wasn’t a long keeper, I probably wouldn’t grow it again, but the fact that it does keep clinched it for me. I might try actually growing this one in a pot next year, I don’t know if I want to devote in-ground garden space to it, but we’ll see come next season.

Also, to tell you a truth, I’m still a sucker for the tomato that can detect ghosts. Move over EMF detectors, this tomato is the new wave in ghost hunting!

This is one of the rare occasions when I didn’t start my plant from seed. I actually saw this for sale at a local store, but had never heard of it before. It was sitting in a rack with a bunch of plants I knew to be OP or heritage varieties so I inferred from that that ‘Moskvich’ must fit into either or both of those categories too.

Fortunately I was right this time (I have been bitten in the ass by that assumption before). ‘Moskvich’ is a variety from Russia (the Russian translation is actually “one who lives in Moscow”), bred in the 1970′s by the Vavilov Institute located in Moscow, Russia. Those Russians sure know how to breed tomatoes.

On the tag when I bought it, the maximum height described was 4ft and determinte. Neither of these were the case. I compared how mine was growing to growth notes and pictures with others who had grown Moskvich and realized that this variety was indeed labelled correctly, but the growth notes were all wrong. More on that below.

Growth Notes

This tomato did amazingly for me. From the second I planted it it took off, and quickly overshot that “4ft” label it came with. With the harsh season, it grew to about 5ft and was definitely a sprawler (many large branches that come off the main stem close to the ground). I have a feeling with a less harsh summer it would definitely grow higher then six feet. I waited all summer for this one to stop producing (not that I wanted it to mind you) based on the fact that it was labelled a determinate. It did no such thing, it produced right up until the frost finally killed it off. This is a very hardy plant, massive production, I got about 6lbs from one plant. It didn’t seem to mind the heat or water restrictions too much. This variety was ready to harvest in about 70-75 days. Despite irregular watering (from me and in the form of flash storms all summer) there was absolutely no cracking or splitting. I got no catfacing or other growth distortions. This tomato just kept chugging along forming perfect fruit no matter what came its way.

The Look

This is your classic looking red beefsteak tomato. Brilliant red, no green shouldering at all, round, and very uniform in shape. These fruit were BIG. Much bigger then most early tomatoes are, about 3-4″ in diameter, meaty, and they weighed in at about 280g (10 oz) – 510g (18 oz). While this may not be the wackiest looking tomato I grew all season, it certainly held its own in growth and flavour.

The Taste

This was your classic home-grown-just-picked-from-grandma’s-garden kind of tomato flavour. Acidic, a little sweet, meaty, and all around a great tomato. Sure, it might not win the best or most unusual flavour prize, but it’s nothing to sneeze at either.

What is great about this tomato is that it’s good for pretty much anything you want to use it for. One slice covers a piece of bread, making it great for sandwiches. Its meat makes it good for canning and preservation, as well as sauces. What this tomato doesn’t have in wild and wacky flavour, it has in good all purpose workhorse value. A little bit of salt, and its flavour really comes alive. So if you’re a fan of eating a tomato fresh off the vine just as is, this is a good one to grow.

The Verdict

The sheer production, resistance to really wicked weather changes, resistance to heat, and workhorse-esque uses of this tomato makes it a must grow for me from now on. This is a really diverse tomato, and for somebody who’s as indecisive as me when it comes to what to use all my tomatoes for, that’s a big bonus. There are lots of really delicious tomatoes, but they’re either too juicy for a sauce, or maybe they’re too dry to eat fresh and have to be processed. This tomato will do it all, and produce wicked amounts of blemish free tomatoes for you. And in an area like mine that’s really hot, plagued with water restrictions, and shorter season, that’s a big bonus for me.

When I went to school I studied archaeology, specifically of the Pre-Classic and Classic Maya, and even more specifically, the trade routes and agriculture of those areas. So what does this have to do with my tomatoes you ask? A lot actually. Every season I grow quite a few different heirloom plants that hail from parts of Mexico and Central America because of my interest in the agricultural plant life of the region. ‘Tlacolula Ribbed’ was my latest tomato addition.

Tlacolula de Matamoros is likely where the name of this tomato came from, and is a city situated in the state of Oaxaca. Tlacolula, as one might expect, is a Nauhatl word. The exact translation doesn’t seem to be too clear, but it is usually attributed to meaning “place of many sticks” or “twisted thing”. The latter could very well apply to this tomato.

While this tomato isn’t literally twisted, it is of a characteristic heavily ribbed/pleated shape that quite a few tomatoes possess that come from in and around this region of Mexico. When I see a heavily pleated tomato, I must have it. I’m a sucker for the pleats. And when I learn a tomato is traced back to these areas of Central America? That’s the clincher.

Growth Notes

I actually planted two of these this year. Unfortunately, neither of them produced like gang busters for me, but I think I know the cause of this. The first plant was placed in the second back yard garden. This spot at the very peak of summer only receives 6 hours of sun a day, and more commonly, 4-5 hours. I planted this here more as an experiment then anything. Why would I place a tomato that hails from a hot and sunny location in a garden spot that only gets a few hours of sun a day? No idea, I thought it’d be an interesting experiement.

The second plant I put out much later, in June, but in the brightest and hottest of the three veggie beds I have. So, I planted it late, but gave it ideal conditions (I suspected, based on where its from).

The plant in the back, as you might expect, didn’t suffer any burning because of its sheltered location. So that was a bonus. The second one I planted had been outside hardening off for the past month, so when it finally got planted in June, it didn’t get burnt either. The tomato in the back grew slowly, but it grew. This variety seems to be at least somewhat tolerant of shade, although I didn’t get many fruit from it. The one in the front, because I planted it out later, of course matured much later, and I also didn’t get many fruit from that one. However, when most plants were suffering at the height of water rationing and hot summer heat, this one was thriving. The plant in the front took off under these conditions, growing about 12-18″ in one week. Seriously. I actually measured.

Of course, one would expect that a tomato like this would grow well under these conditions. However, the fact that the one in the back yard produced leads me to believe that if you had an extended growing season (I’m thinking in the realm of 120-130 days), but no sunny spots, you could plant this tomato in a shadier location and still get a good harvest from it.

The Look

As previously mentioned, this is one of those lovely awe-inspiring heavily pleated/ruffled tomatoes. My mom characterizes these as “looking like peppers”. This one reminded me quite a bit of ‘Zapotec Pink Pleated’, except it was more red then pink. Fruit was smaller then the Zapotec tomato as well, getting about 3-4″ in diameter and weighing in at about 8-10oz each (as opposed to Zapotec’s 4-6″ in diameter and 1-1.5lb weights). They are another hollow tomato, but once again, not quite as hollow I found as Zapotec Pink Pleated.

The Taste

So how did it taste? You know, I wasn’t too impressed much to my dismay. It was alright. Mild would be the term that I use. There was a little bit of your good old regular tomatoey flavour, but it was mild. Nothing really stood out at me too much. One can’t help but compare this one to ‘Zapotec Pink Pleated’ and when it comes to flavour, Zapotec definitely wins out over this one.

This is a good fresh eating tomato. Despite its red flavour, it’s low in acidity, so it’s good for people with stomach problems who don’t want to limit themselves to whites, yellows, and orange tomatoes. It’s great for stuffing and then baking, although because of it’s mild flavour after it’s baked you don’t get a ton of tomatoeyness to go with whatever you’re cooking.

The Verdict

Unfortunately, depsite how lovely this tomato looks, I probably won’t grow it again. I was a little let down with the lack of flavour, and in terms of the ‘Tlacolula Ribbed’ vs ‘Zapotec Pink Pleated’, I’ll have to go with the Zapotec. Tlacolula’s mild flavour just wasn’t enough bang for my buck. Zapotec grows better in my region, has more flavour, and is bigger. Tlacolula was an interesting grow for me, but unfortunately, it looks like it’ll be the last year for it in my garden.

Tomato ‘Dr. Wyche’s Yellow’

Earlier in the year, when I was first doing my grand list of tomatoes to grow (which eventually grew to some 33 different varieties with varying success over the course of the summer), this one popped out at me. Generally, I stay away from the yellow/orange tomatoes. Let’s face it, sometimes they can be really hit or miss. More often they’re miss. I have had one yellow that’s been a mainstay in my garden over the past few years, and that would be ‘Yellow Pear’ (which is the only cherry as well by the way). But the flavour and the story of ‘Dr. Wyche’s Yellow’ really suckered me in. It varies a bit depending on where you’re reading the information from, but here’s what it said on my seed packet, and seems to be the most common story told (bought from the wonderful Cottage Gardener website):

There was an actual Dr. Wyche, who owned Cole Brothers’ Circus and fertilized his gardens with elephant manure. He apparently had the most luscious gardens anyone had ever seen. He developed this particular cultivar & donated the seeds to the Seed Saver’s Exchange.

Dr. Wyche was apparently one of the earliest members of the SSE, and when is carnival overwintered that’s when he gardened. How could I say no to a tomato that sprang out of the carnival?

Growth Notes

This is one of the tomatoes that got burnt back a moderate amount, took a few weeks to recover, but near the end of the season it was really going strong. Unfortunately with the burning back and the weeks added onto its growth, there were a LOT of green tomatoes that didn’t get harvested. This summer it took about 90 days to mature, rather then the 80 it’s supposed to take. But even with all that, I got a great harvest. The plant produced about 3.5-4lbs for me. And that’s not including all the green ones that ended up in the compost.

The plant topped out at about 4.5-5ft, although I’ve heard they can get much taller (in the 6ft range) so I know the burning did stunt this ones growth a bit. It’s a sprawler, branches were everywhere, this one likes a lot of room to grow.

The Look

The fruit ranged in size from about 225 gr (8oz) to 450 gr (1lb). They’re flattish and extremely non uniform in shape, which always endears a tomato to me. With a few exceptions, what’s the point of growing something that looks like you can pick it up at a grocery store?

Although it’s called a “yellow” tomato it’s really much more of an orange in colour. The inside is beautiful, much different then the standard cavities you see in tomatoes. This one looks almost more like a pomegranate inside, with random holes scattered all about the place.

The Taste

Now, I’m an acidic tomato person. I love the way an acidic tomato bites into your tongue. This, is not one of those. They have very little acidity, and usually that would turn me off a tomato, but I absolutely adored this tomato. When I took my first bite, my eyes lit up in shock. This is a sweet tomato, but it is not mild by any sense of the word. This tomato has a really complex, fruity like flavour, but still with a good amount of that tomatoeyness that we all love. All the hype about the taste of this tomato totally lived up to its flavour in reality. Sweet, tomatoey, rich, and complex. Absolutely delicious.

I can’t think of a better use for this tomato then eating it fresh. One slice and you can cover a whole piece of bread. We just chopped them up as they were ripening and ate them just like that. No salt, no nothing. When you taste a tomato like this, all you can do is think back on George Costanza’s pontificating as to why the tomato never made it as a hand fruit.

The Verdict

This is one of the surprises of the season for me. I would have liked a little better growth – a taller plant, fruit ripening a little earlier in the season. However, I know this season was hard and I’m willing to bet the shortness of this plant, coupled with the need for a long(er) growing season was due to the initially burning. The taste is what really floored me, and it was good enough to me to keep me coming back. Just writing about it now, after all of my Dr. Wyche’s have gone, my mouth is starting to water thinking of that flavour. Only about 10 more months to go until I can eat them again…