Weedwhacker said:

You were the reason that I first tried them last year, Tom -- and I agree, the later ones seemed a LOT better to me than the earlier ones. Which sort of makes me wonder if I was just impatient and picked the first ones too soon? I'm growing them again this year, so we'll see what happens.

I'm starting to pick Viva Italias from my hoophouse now, and they are considerably larger than the ones I've gotten in the past from "outside plants." (this is starting to remind me of having "house cats" and "barn cats" or something... ). Plus, and this is a HUGE plus, the plants in the hoophouse are showing no sign of disease yet, whereas my Viva plants would normally be pretty sad by now, due to the "blight" or "wilt" or whatever it is they get every year. (and, of course, my outside plants DO have disease starting to progress from the bottom up.) Seriously making me want a big HH to grow all my tomatoes in...

I have been a big fan of those Vivia Italias as I felt they were the very best paste/sauce type of tomatoes I had ever grown. Now however, I feel that those SMR are better. Not that I couldn't grow both like you do. But I don't have seed for VI and have lots of seed for SMR. So at least for next season I will be only growing the SMR and wait and see if I bring back those VI or not.

Yup Sandy you need a huge hoophouse!

Three of my Oxhearts have lost almost all their leaves. The tomatoes are getting rot now. I picked all the good tomatoes off them and they will get pulled. These were in full sun and the ones that sunburned. Next year I'm going to try them in a shadier part of the garden.

billyporter said:Three of my Oxhearts have lost almost all their leaves. The tomatoes are getting rot now. I picked all the good tomatoes off them and they will get pulled. These were in full sun and the ones that sunburned. Next year I'm going to try them in a shadier part of the garden.

Too bad that happened. Yes, try again next season.

Just picked my first Gold Medal. It's about a pound, maybe a little less. I'd forgotten I was growing it because I didn't see tomatoes on it. There's only one or two other small ones on it right now. Maybe it's been too hot, reading everyone's comments. There are a couple like that in the garden that I'm looking at and seeing if I see blossoms setting at the top or on suckers in case they're just waiting for it to get cooler.

billyporter said:Three of my Oxhearts have lost almost all their leaves. The tomatoes are getting rot now. I picked all the good tomatoes off them and they will get pulled. These were in full sun and the ones that sunburned. Next year I'm going to try them in a shadier part of the garden.

Sally, I can't imagine that growing them in a shadier spot will be the solution to the problem -- tomatoes really need full sun. What happened to the leaves? Did they turn spotty and brown? That could be from "blight" or one of the "wilts," and regular spraying with Daconil could help, as well as mulching to keep the soil from splashing up onto the plants. I definitely have a problem with my plants dying from the bottom up, but most are able to grow faster than the disease progression and still give me good yields. The worst problems have been with determinate types, which are doing immeasurably better this year inside my "hoophouse," where they never get rained on or watered from the top, just carefully from the bottom of the plants.

However, I realize you could have some entirely different situation going on. I'm really just saying that tomatoes need plenty of sun.

The totally weird thing is that one plant can totally die of blight while the others are just fine. I have (knock on wood) really healthy tomato plants this season. However there are about 4 plants that I have totally pulled and bagged to be thrown away as they got yellow and died.

So who knows why those were affected while others right there are not.

Sandy,
They wilted. Now one in the shade is wilting too but their leaf coverage is much better. Last year I had no wilt. I also have a small garden so rotation each year is tough. I grow potatoes too, lol!

The first picture, the wilted plants were in the back. I have 8 plants in that bed. We always stake them and water using the coffee can they are planted in. This year the rain got to do most of the work., but the blight was high, not low.

Second picture is shady. The tree is an apple.

That's interesting, Sally! I love your screened tunnel -- is that cabbage growing inside it?

Thanks Sandy!
Yes and I have a second taller one for broccoli. We have had an abundance of wqhite cabbage moths this year and I don't know why. They aren't getting to eat my stuff!

I'm going to have to put those screened tunnels on my list of winter projects... I always have a problem with cabbage worms (so much so that I'm not growing any brassicas at all this year, in hopes of kind of breaking their cycle) and like the way they look much better than the floating row cover I've been using (plus, my cat thinks the row cover is a place for him to play and he manages to trample the plants underneath it... )

We always seem to have an abundance of the white cabbage butterflies here also. No broccoli or anything like that growing here this year for them to bother.

I am trying two paste tomatoes this year that I have never tried before, San Marzano Gigante 3 and Jersey Devil. I do not have any ripe yet so I will have to report back later on them.

Hemlady said:I am trying to paste tomatoes this year that I have never tried before, San Marzano Gigante 3 and Jersey Devil. I do not have any ripe yet so I will have to report back later on them.

Well, those both sound very promising so hopefully they turn out to be really good ones.

Yes, please report back once you have sampled them.

Sandy,
Yeah, I went from the floating row cover to the ''cages.'' I just lift it up and DH made a stick the right size with a notch in it to prop it open. Rain AND sun gets in better. My cabbage would stay too wet under the row cover. Too hot too.
Giggling over the cat playing in it. Cute and frustrating at the same time!

Nothing like having kitty "helpers" in the garden...

Those cages seem quite perfect to me, Sally; they look better than the row cover and, as you said, allow the rain, sun and ventilation better.

I love to see the outdoor cats just lay in the garden and watch me work, lol!

My Indigo Rose are finally all ripening at once. The skins are tough and they aren't very sweet or even tart. I'm a bit disappointed. I may only grow one plant next year to see if the weather was a factor.

billyporter said:

My Indigo Rose are finally all ripening at once. The skins are tough and they aren't very sweet or even tart. I'm a bit disappointed. I may only grow one plant next year to see if the weather was a factor.

I doubt it as they probably are just not the best for taste.

Newyorkrita said:

I doubt it as they probably are just not the best for taste.

That was my experience last year, too -- but they were so pretty that I'm giving them another shot this year; still nowhere near ripening, though.

My Martino's Roma tomatoes (new to me this year) are beginning to ripen in the hoophouse

Weedwhacker said:

That was my experience last year, too -- but they were so pretty that I'm giving them another shot this year; still nowhere near ripening, though.

My Martino's Roma tomatoes (new to me this year) are beginning to ripen in the hoophouse

Yup, I like to try the new and unusual myself. Not all work out as far as being the best.

Martino.s Romas are on my must try list.

Can't try them next year as I have to cut my tomato plants back to 100 because I can hardly keep up with the nearly full time job all my plants seem to be this year.

Rita,
I'm finding out NOW they don't taste good!!! LOL! I paid a good amount of money for the seed. I will juice them till the seeds are gone.
My tomatoes just haven't done well this year. Too much rain at the wrong time. The ground never dried out so they are watery instead of flavorful.