My Gardening WOES and WOWS

Al · Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Posts: 51 Location: Southern USA

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Tomato Update

This has been my best year dating back many, many years.

Thanks to a most unusual amount of rain spaced out perfectly. Another contributing factor was the suggestion from Cajun in KY to place grass straw under the plants. I am unable to tell which was more critical, but the output of tomatoes was amazing.

I did something else different this year regarding the plants I selected. Usually, I go with Better Boy and Bradley and possibly one or two other plants of a different variety.

This year, I purchased two Original Bonnie plants early and they performed well. Good taste, all the rest.

I ordered seeds from a place in South Carolina .I picked three different seeds that were advertised as blight and wilt resistant. The plants produced extremely well and were fairly disease resistant.

The tomatoes were large, very pretty and are still bearing.

My problem is that the tomatoes do not seem to ripen fully, tend to stay hard and they do not have a very special taste. I suspect the plants are for commercial farmers since the company claims to cater to this market.

I guess I may feel differently next spring when the urge to break out of the winter blues comes around, but I think I will go back to my old favorites.

That is the best part of growing tomatoes, there is always next year. And for now, I am looking forward to next spring.