Posted on 01/02/2021 6:43:19 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
What we discovered last year was that crowding tomatoes is a bad thing. Barb hates to waste seedlings, but spacing them 24” apart dramatically improved yield and allowed her to deal with diseases.
Just what we discovered.
Crack-Resistant Tomato Varieties:
• Arkansas Traveler. 80 days. Pink, slicing.
• Big Beef. 70 days. Indeterminate; globe shaped, hybrid.
• Big Boy. 78 days. Indeterminate; meaty.
• Black Cherry. 65 days. Indeterminate; cherry.
• Blondkopfchen. 75 days. Indeterminate; cherry, heirloom.
• Box Car Willie. 80 days. Indeterminate; large, heirloom.
• Burpee’s Big Girl. 78 days. Indeterminate; large red, hybrid.
• Burgess Crack Proof. 80 days. Indeterminate; large scarlet fruit.
• Celebrity. 72 days. Semi-determinate; medium-large.
• Chianti Rose. Beefsteak, Italian heirloom.
• Colonial. Midseason. Determinate; medium-large.
• Debarao. 72 days. Medium, deep red, paste or salads, open-pollinated.
• Delicious. 77 days. Indeterminate; large globe shape.
• Eva Purple Ball. 78 days. Indeterminate; heirloom.
• First Lady. 66 days. Indeterminate; slicing, hybrid.
• Gardener’s Delight. 70 days. Indeterminate; small, round, red.
• Glamour. 74 days. Indeterminate; medium-size, heavy clusters.
• Gold Nugget. 70 days. Determinate; yellow cherry, open pollinated.
• Golden Sweet. 60 days. Indeterminate; grape.
• Grape Tomato. 60 days. Indeterminate, bright red.
• Jackpot. 70 days. Determinate, meaty.
• Japanese Black Trifele. 80 days. Indeterminate, meaty, dark fruit.
• Jet Star. 70 days. Determinate abundant producer to 8 ounces, hybrid.
• Juliet. 60 days. Indeterminate; red oblong grape, hybrid.
• Market Champion. 80 days. Indeterminate, heirloom.
• Morado. 85 days. Dark purple-pink.
• Monte Verde. Midseason. Determinate; large, hybrid.
• Mountain Fresh. 79 days. Determinate; large fruit.
• Mountain Gold. 80 days. Determinate; yellow heirloom.
• Mountain Pride. 77 days. Determinate, large, hybrid.
• Mountain Spring. 79 days. Determinate; large red.
• Park’s Whopper Improved. 65 days. Indeterminate, big juicy.
• Peron Sprayless. 68 days. Indeterminate; globe shape.
• Piedmont. Mid to late season. Very large.
• Pritchard. 90 days. Indeterminate, heirloom.
• Prize of the Trials. Cherry tomato.
• Pruden’s Purple Tomato. 65 days. Indeterminate; pink-purple heirloom.
• Red Rose. 85 days. Indeterminate.
• Red Sun. Determinate; medium red.
• Rutgers. 75 days. Determinate; bright red globe-shaped.
• Santa. 60 days. Indeterminate; cherry.
• Spitfire. 75 days. Determinate; large, hybrid.
• Summer Sweet. 58 days. Indeterminate; grape, hybrid.
• Sun Gold. 57 days. Indeterminate; orange cherry, hybrid.
• Sun Sugar. 60 days. Indeterminate; yellow cherry.
• Sunpride. Midseason. Determinate; very large, matures green.
• Super Fantastic. 70 days. Indeterminate; canning, hybrid.
• Sweet 100. 65 days. Indeterminate; cherry to 1 inch in diameter.
• Sweet Chelsea. 64 days. Indeterminate; large red.
• Sweet Million. 65 days. Indeterminate; round cherry.
• Sweet Olive. 57 days. Grape, hybrid.
• Thessoaloniki. 77 days. Indeterminate; for slicing.
• Traveler 76. 76 days. Indeterminate; Southern growing, open-pollinated.
• Williamette. 70 days. Determinate; smooth, globe-shaped.
• Yellow Pear. 78 days. Indeterminate. Sweet, continuous harvest.
https://harvesttotable.com/crack-resistant_tomato_varieti/
You can use seeds out of the store-bought ones. If they were hybrids, then the traits will be kind of unpredictable. Some will be better, some will be worse, some will be equal-but-different, and some will be so similar to the original that you’d need a DNA test to tell the difference. Personally I think it’s fun to see what shakes out. That’s why I’m a plant breeder :)
If you decide to go that route, just make sure you choose ripe ones. Green peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, and eggplants, are all picked while immature, so for those you’ll want to buy seeds. Other colors of peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, and winter squash, should all be ripe enough to get viable seeds from.
Kazakhstan Tanks? Whoa, that's some serious gardening.........
Personally, I like heirloom tomatoes for the food-production part of my garden. But, there are big differences between heirloom varieties, so it’s worth taking the time to match the variety to your growing conditions and gardening style.
Can you give us any more details about your garden? What’s the soil like? Is the weather usually damp, usually dry, or something in-between? Roughly what area are you growing in? Your FR profile says Qatar, is that where your garden is?
Do you plan to use cages for your tomatoes, trellis them, or let them ramble unsupported? Do you prefer most of them to ripen at the same time, or would you rather have a steady trickle of ripe fruits? Do you know what kinds of pests and/or diseases they’ll have to deal with?
If the above seems overwhelming, I apologize. The simplest way to approach is to just try some popular varieties and see how they do. “Brandywine” and “Mortgage Lifter” are both popular heirloom varieties that do well in most of the US. But if they don’t, or if you want something a little more tailored to your climate, then I can help, but I would definitely need more information first.
It does......LOL!
I built an above container garden, approx. 4'x 6' and planted tomatoes and cucumbers with a trellis for the cucumbers..........
I used gardening soil and purchased compost for the planting medium...........
Maybe too many tomato plants for the area (9) and likewise for the cucumbers.............It was a first time endeavor for me.........
Yep. Proper air circulation around your tomatoes, and pruning off all the unruly, unproductive ‘stuff’ helps greatly.
I have 4’ x 8’ beds, and I put 4 well-caged/staked plants in each. No disease issues until much later in the season...when I get lazy, LOL!
“It was a first time endeavor for me...”
The pictures you posted were impressive. Very healthy plants!
Just talked with neighbor and she gave me the OK to use the remaining space along the side of her house to expand my garden.....
I use a trellis for my cukes, too. Only plant National or Boston Pickling. Love the no peeling...just slice.
Better?
Yea
Anything 8 inches thick means having to reach 8 inches further, kneeling on the border or making narrower beds, depending on bed width. We did rock borders on our 3 foot wide raised beds once and I ended kneeling on the rocks a few times. I did 28 inch wide beds once using some 2x6 boards, 16 foot long and that worked out pretty well but the boards didn’t last. I spent 25 years leaning over a 4 foot wide work bench and also working on cars and I just can’t do it any more. (Three foot tall raised beds would be nice for some things as we get older)
All depends on your goals. Just having something to eat seasonally; doesn’t take much space and it’s the least amount of effort. Nice neat raised beds are good for a lot of thing in that case. Putting up food for the year; quite a bit of work with a root cellar, canning etc. Making all your own tomato based sauces from paste tomatoes? Lotta work and a lot of canning jars needed. Market gardening; it becomes a job.
No one system will fit all scenarios or crops. We like strawberries but every time I’ve tried, they get overrun with grass/weeds so that definitely warrants raised beds and also netting to keep the critters from getting them first here in the forest. I like lettuce, baby greens/spinach salad mix.
Taters are easy because they come up so fast and shade out the grass/weeds.
I tell myself every year that I’m going to go bigger on gardening but I always end up working on infrastructure and other projects. I do enough to get some things figured out for this location so it’s progress, albeit slow. I’m sure I’ll end up with several systems at some point.
At least you’re trying! If Infrastructure is a priority, so be it!
Strawberries and Asparagus - NOTHING gets weedier faster than a patch of either!
My goals are always enough tomatoes for canned Salsa, V-8 Juice and my Bloody Mary Mix. This year I made Tomato Soup, so that has moved UP the ‘needs’ scale around here. ;)
I am on STRIKE for growing anything beyond canning until Beau gives me the spot in the field stone basement (currently full of Guy Stuff!) that stays 55 degrees all year long and is the PERFECT spot for a Root Cellar. :)
:)
That will teach him!!!
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