Final Report on Heirloom Tomatoes

I would never have planted Heirloom Tomatoes had I not won 8 packets of seed from TomatoFest. It was April when I planted the seeds. First ripe tomato picked mid July, pulled plants August 10.

The reason I would not have planted these otherwise is that our soil and climate are not kind to late-planted tomatoes. Root knot nematodes stunted every plant and eventually they declined and started dying.

The most resistant to nematodes was Dagma's Perfection. The roots were huge but had the tell-tale knots nevertheless.  The fruits were superb, pale yellow with red striping. The trouble with people accustomed to red tomatoes, we sometimes let them rot before we realized they were ripe.

Green Zebra has produced some fruits, also a lime green that we didn't watch closely enough and let some rot. There are 3 more Green Zebra in a front flower bed. One has fruits. I am going to pull the other two.

Kellogg's Breakfast Tomato was a bust. The plants declined; the only one left is in a front flower bed. It has been shy to put on a bloom. I am going to pull that last plant.

 

Black Krim I suspect was not happy to be planted in hot, humid and this year wet, South Georgia. The one in a flower bed gets some shade and has produced some nice fruit. It never gets to a shade I would call mahogany; have to watch these for ripeness.

 

Black Cherry was a happy plant despite the nematodes but finally succumbed. I put one in a two gallon flower container and it still has nice 1" fruit forming and ripening, good for salads and snacks.

Flamme is an orange fruited plum type tomato that is just delicious and produced nice salad tomatoes. This one in a flower bed is still producing.

Aussie produced a very few big tomatoes before giving up.

 

Brandywine started out well but gave up just as the others did after producing some nice fruit.

When I pulled the plants in the patch, only Dagma's perfection had roots of great size, yet knotted from rootknot nematodes.

My plan for next year is to make a new patch somewhere less likely to harbor nematodes, probably plowing up a patch of Bahia Grass. Dagma's Perfection, Black Cherry, Black Krim and maybe Brandywine are those I'll plant. Too many plants and I had trouble keeping up with who was whom.

I'll also plant some VFN resistant seeds to compare how they fare. This year's patch will grow cole crops for a couple of years before tomatoes go there again.

From Seed to Fruit in a Season

 

The season isn't over and fruit is not ripe but we are seeing progress.

Seed planted late April now producitng tomatoes.

 

Cassia alata Candlesticks from seed. Bloom expected late summer.

Fruit from Candlesticks are seeds for subsequent years.

 

 

From bottom: Cassia alata, Silene from scattered seed, reseeded

petunia and second year Pride of Barbados plant from seed.

 

Pride of Barbados and Cassia were started in greenhouse.

 

Flamme tomato plant started in greenhouse in April, now in Front

Garden bed and starting to bloom.

 

All tomatoes fertilized yesterday and today and given a small spoonful of Epsom Salts.

Black Cherry Tomatoes in Ruins Bed were staked and grass and weeds pulled.

 

Dark buds of Purple Datura and black stems, plants from seed this Spring.

 

 Not many seedlings are left in the greenhouse except for a couple of Gerbera Daisies. Something has sprouted where I thought cuttings were earlier that I have to wait to identify until it has true leaves.

 

Only a month until time to plant perennial and biennial seeds. Some of my Sweet William plants have root rot. Dianthus has a hard time in hot humid weather. Bath's Pinks cuttings are struggling too.

 

 

Tomato Patch Map

This is an information post so I can keep up with which tomato is where.  There was a written record. I lost it. I pulled up two plants that looked as if they were either diseased or burned by fertilizer which is my worst fear. He-who-mows keeps insisting that they need fertilizer and I keep having flashbacks to 1969 when his Mama told of her pretty tomato plants, "... and I looked out there and Idus and Frank were just stirring fertilizer into my tomato bed...." Burned them to a crisp, that fertilizer.

 North

Brandywine, Stafford's Str.(3)     Kellogg's Breakfast  Aussie  Green Zebra  Assie(2)  Dogma's(2)
#1 does not look like Brandywine

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Flamme (3)    Black Krim (3)   Green Zebra(2)   Black Cherry (2)

South

I finally added more fertilizer just to get him to hush. Two Kellogg's looked burned and I pulled them up. They were replaced with a Green Zebra and an Aussie because those were the best looking seedlings I have. I shaded them with wire trash baskets. They look fine. I did not use the same holes where the others were but moved to the other side of the stakes. Now my spacing is off.

In the front Garden, there is Black Krim and Flamme nearest the road, their not-red fruits for display; maybe they'll taste good, too.

Flamme to the South

The little heart is a dried Redbud leaf hanging

off one of the supports.

 

 

Black Krim

 

Black Krim has blooms

Kellogg's Breakfast is at the end of the rock wall bed near a Kniphofia.
Three Green Zebra march across the rear of that same bed.

I gave them all little labels but the labels tend to get covered by mulch or soil or compost or rooted out by critters or somebody trying to sneak in more fertilizer.

Begonias and Tomatoes, Summer Staples

Begonias are much easier than the now-maligned-because-they-get-a-virus and die Impatiens. Wax-leaf Begonias can go without water without fainting and falling over. They let you know they've been mistreated by going all pale in the foliage.

White begonias tried out last evening for a role in pots where

Violas spent the winter beside the circle bench.

Later today I'll go back with fresh potting soil and pot them there.

They are in mostly shade except in late afternoon as the sun goes down. They joined an urn of striped Spider Plants.  One project done calls for another. Now wisteria must be pruned so I can see past and through it.

I made a tuteur style support for Kellogg's Breakfast Tomato that's being adored by a Kniphofia. I drove a rebar piece into the ground and one long stake of the tuteur went into the ground about a foot.

Rebar is the main support -- the wood pieces are mostly decoration, lashed with twine.

Flamme and Black Krim tomatoes and their supports: rebar and decor. I drove wood stakes in the ground beside the plants to discourage armadillo digging here.

Hot, hot today. Forty per cent chance of showers, would be much appreciated.

When I went out to the greenhouse for a moment, a big Zebra Swallowtail flitted past the doors as I came out. I was beginning to despair about butterflies -- they seem scarce for this time of year.