I accidentally “typo-ed” a wrong key and closed my browser toward the end of composing this long post. . . . so THIS time I'm composing it in my word program, with automatic saving turned on! (I had thought that adding Lazarus Form Retrieval to my browser would help in such “typo” situations, but apparently not: I have yet to find a way to actually USE it to recover info!)
Many positive postings about Sungold/Sunsugar have me interested in possibly growing one next year; Winter is the time I evaluate and choose which varieties to grow NEXT year. And I'm always on the look-out for just the PERFECT variety!
I like to snack on cherry tomatoes and keep a bowl of washed ready-to-eat cherries on my kitchen table, to pop in my mouth on the go!
(I live in an apartment and Property Management allows only flowers to be planted in the ground. Hence, containers! They have no say on what is grown in containers! Hehehe)
Last year, I grew Baxter's Bush Early Cherry Tomato in a 5-gsal shop bucket on my patio. As a determinant, it had a flush (early) so failed to keep my bowl full all summer. In addition, its fruit was “two bites”; its taste/flavor was better than store-bought, but nothing remarkable for a home-grown tomato.
This year, I grew Jasper in an 18-in patio container. Since it was an indeterminate, it kept my bowl full all summer long, plus I had to start giving away some by mid-July (the recipients raved about its flavor and asked for more!) I was worried about height and harvesting but needlessly as it turned out: the weight of all the clusters of fruit kept the upper-most branches within easy reach. The fruit was a smaller “one bite”, so it could easily be popped into one's mouth and enjoyed. The taut, thin skin strained with all the juice and that juice was an intense tomato flavor! It still had scads of fruit in all stages (from flowers up to red and ripe) when I had to dispose of the plant (I had to go have surgery).
Here's the vendor info and my production notes on Jasper:
Jasper
Vendor information:
Hybrid
DTM d60
Indeterminant
fruit: red <1 oz. globe (cherry)
6-8'
Special attributes: late blight resistant
Production notes:
started from seed 3-5-16
transplanted ~8-week-old seedling outside May 1, into an 18" patio container
picked first ripe tomato 57 days later (June 26)
increasing production to peak in mid-July, then decreased to a steady daily 10 or so until peaking again in mid-Aug (twice daily picking necessary)
From June 26 to cut down Sept 1, plant produced 265 tomatoes
(even cut down it ripened fruit. . . no longer counting, I bagged it ALL!)
fruit perfect size for eating whole and closing mouth entirely BEFORE biting was essential
skin was just tight enough to hold the generous juicy burst of intense tomato flavor
taste was excellent
<<when plant was cut down Sept 1, it was almost 7'. . . thankfully, the weight of scads of fruit had the upper-most branches hanging down to tippy-toe reach!>>
Pix:
3 of the few remaining pix of Baxter's Bush
8-23-15, orange 5-gal shop bucket
8-23-15, as seen from my back door (Note the flowers on BB)
7-22&23-15, 2 days yield from Tomato Jungle 2015: Ace 55 (yellow dot & oblong fruit to R: low acid); Big Beef (blue dot & fruits in the middle); Baxter's Bush Cherry (clump of 5 smallest fruit); unknown large pink variety (top center, between dots); Fourth of July (bottom 9 fruit)
Jasper:
top, middle, bottom of plant on 6-29-16
7-19-16, in grey container
7/28&29-16, 2 d of harvest from Tomato Jungle 2016(smallest are Jasper)
) year for their second and last chance (Rutger's and Big Beef). . . and two new varieties (Waratah and Special Turkish).
