Putting 4 bales of straw down really helped keep the weeds down. It had been down one week when we went out to weed on Friday.

they look great Arlene, but how did you get 3 pics in side by side?

That's the new feature Dave gave us. Isn't it wonderful?

You have to make a private forum for downloading the pictures to in the regular way.

Here is the post that discusses how to do it:

http://cubits.org/cubits/threa...

Last year was so cool I had lettuce and other cool-season crops into the middle of August. The tomatoes did not fare so well, so I will have to try again and get back with you on favorites. I got a lot of new seeds as well from various trades and swaps. What grew for me the very best was OSU Blue, a new tomato from Oregon State University. They were producing right up until the hard freeze on Nov 20th. their floavor was not that special, but their vigor made up for it, as the others just seemed to stall out.

I guess I will be looking for cold-tolerant, chortseason as well as heat tolerance. What would you recommend?

Hi Evelyn,
New Year . . . New Start! I am looking forward to 2011 tomatoes. Nothing could have been as horrible as last year.

I'll soon be into my seed box and deciding what to grow this year.

Last year 2010 was not great for tomatoes here either.
Need to sort through the seed box, and lists, to decide on what to try this year in 2011.

Doing the same thing here!

March is here! Time for me to start looking through the seed box.

In Arizona we get a bit of a head start on most other areas when it comes to tomato season. My have been in the ground for about 3 weeks now.

This year I have:
San Marzano (3)
Phoenix hybrid (3)
Soldacki (3)
Bella Rosa hybrid (1)
Red Alert hybrid (1)
Black Cherry (1)
Super Sweet 100's (1)

I started last year with the Phoenix, Bella Rosa and Red Alert but lost them all before they set any fruit. This is my first attempt with the Soldacki. Hopefuuly this will be a more successful year than the last 2 which were total busts. :o)

I've grown Soldacki but couldn't truly decide if I liked it because was a bad tomato year, weather wise.

I loved Orange King a couple of years ago; it was my first tasty colored tomato. But the last two years it hasn't done what it did that year. I'll grow it again until it does what it did the first time.

My hopes are set high for a good year in 2011.

My hopes are set high for a good year in 2011.

Amen to that!

I sure hope this is a better year. I'm only growing 20 different ones this year... well, 22 if you count the black Cherry and the Sungold. Assuming I don't loose any that I've started.

We've been making some major changes at our mfg plant and I have been traveling 40 miles round trip during the week. No time for doing anything fun. Interviewing, hiring, training.

But this week, I'll carve out time to start the tomato seeds. Now that I won't be going to the farm, I'll be able to take better care of the tomatoes that we can grow just around here. I'll be limited to what's in the seed box.
Copia
White Tomesol
Dr Wyches Yellow
Gold Medal
Green Zebra
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Orange Strawberry
Yasha Heart
Australian Heart
Wapsipinicon Peach
Hazzlefield Farms
Tigerella
Snow White Cherry
Sungold Cherry
Sweet Million Cherry
Matt's Wild Cherry (thank you Patti)

That's what I have to pick from; some of the seed is old but I haven't had trouble with germination.
I won't have room to grow them all so I'll have to pick and choose.

It would be nice to actually grow something worth photographing for the database here.

I'm with you Arlene, I decided just to do a few, and hopefully do them well! Pictures would be nice! We haven't had a good tomato season for so long, I think I forget what it's like.

I picked up potting soil yesterday so I hope to start them before the end of the week.

Melissa and Arlene, what did you decide to grow and how are they doing?

Off the top of my head...I'm going to include the few hybrids I'm growing too, because, well, my brain is not working right today.

Black Cherry
Sungold (x)
Kelloggs Breakfast
KBX
Red Penna
Ky Beefsteak
german Pink
Dad's Sunset
Roger's Best Black
Magnum
Top Sirloin (X)
Cherokee Purple
Black Krim
Earl's Faux
Black from tula
Adelia
Wes
Golden Jubilee
Brandywine (sudduth)
Brandy Boy

I will list the rest after I go out again. I can't remember the others.

I try not to plant too many different varieties yearly because it's too hard to evaluate them. But I always plant and can count on BIG BEEF HYB for consistant and high production. Another non-hybrid that is equal in consistancy and production is MULE TEAM. Also this year I planted BELLA ROSA for the first time and am getting softball size fruit, perfectly round and smooth. Almost the same as Big Beef. baLL All three have not shown signs of the blight sisters or any other diseases, fungi or blight even though I had some other tomatoes EARLY WONDER that caught TSWV and decimated all the leaves leaving green fruit hanging in the sun. Incidently EARLY WONDER is a high producing variety with tennis ball and some softball size fruit.

It seems like everytime this questions is asked "What's your favorite tomato or heirloom or whatever" those that reply just list the variety. It would really be helpful to all of us searching for the 'perfect tomato' if you mention why you like it,
such as "stands up to hot weather", "produces until fall", "sweet tangy taste", few diseases affect it. I am one of those wanting to try different varieties but unless I can't get any input other than they are your favorite without why, I would be less likely to try it. And I have just about given up on the seed companies description since almost every variety is great in their opinion. As gardener's we only have ourselves to rely on truth in growing.

Now with that said can you tell me what is your most disliked tomato and why it is?

Hi Ken,

I don't have huge experience with heirlooms, but I see we're in the same zone, so I'll let you know what's worked for me here.

Favorite cherry: Black Cherry. I like the flavor, I think it's a lot more complex than any red or yellow cherry I've had, and it was by far the most vigorous tomato plant in my garden - vines at least 15 feet long and covered with fruit. It was my first and last plant to produce fruit this year.

Least favorite cherry: Yellow Pear. I try these every year because my husband likes the flavor, but the plants just don't fare well. I end up getting only a handful of fruit off of each plant before it dies in mid-summer. I'm not sure if it's the heat, humidity, sandy soil, or what that affects it so badly, but it doesn't seem to be afflicted by a particular disease.

Favorite for processing: Roman Candle. Not a lot of flavor for eating fresh, but make a good sauce or salsa, very little juice or seeds, and a thin skin that I could leave on in sauce. Also, the plants were incredibly prolific for me, and although the fruits weren't as big as I expected, there were enough of them to make up for it.

Least favorite for processing: Pink Oxheart. Maybe I haven't given it enough of a chance to list it as a least favorite, but I was very disappointed in this variety. I started 20 seeds and only had 4 germinate, all of which died before producing any fruit. They just seemed to lack vigor in this climate.

I haven't grown many beefsteak-type heirlooms, so I can't choose a favorite in that category. I did have two standouts this year for fresh eating, though, each with its own strengths. Mountain Gold was great in salads, with a firm texture that stood up to slicing and a rich, savory taste. The plants did not produce a lot of fruit, and the fruit weren't huge, but I'll grow them again because I loved the flavor. Striped Roman was a big surprise - they were meant to be for processing, but they were so tasty and beautiful that I ate a lot of them fresh instead. Ripened very soft and juicy - the kind of tomato you need to eat over a bowl to keep from staining your shirt. The flavor was exactly what I expect a summer tomato to be, with just the right balance of sweet and acidic. They were much bigger (though less prolific) than the Roman Candle.