May 8 – Started hardening off
tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
September 7 – First hard frost was
September 3rd. Flurries, freezing rain,
and overnight temps of -4 forecast for the week of the 9th, so I
will have to bring in all the tomatoes this weekend (Sept 8-9th)
Work
Release Paste (pink,
heirloom, heart-shaped, paste, indeterminate, large, origin Italian, mid-season
~80 DTM)
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted:
May 20
Observations:
March 29 –
good germination rate even though these seeds are a few years old.
June 19 –
I read on several forums and in seed reviews that this variety produces
well. I hope so! The plants themselves are droopy and need to
be staked and tied with twine to keep them from flopping outside of the tomato
cages. Not a robust or sturdy
plant.
September
7 – These plants have been productive!
Not early to ripen, but a lot of meaty tomatoes per plant. Nice heart
shape that will be easy to process.
Approximate
date harvested:
Would grow
again? YES
Early Annie
(red, heirloom, 3-inch round, canning/slicing, DETERMINATE.)
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted:
May 20
Observations:
March 29 –
these have been slow to germinate, and only about half planted germinated.
September
7 – Productive and early to mature. Nice
round shape that will be easy to process.
Plants compact and easy to manage.
Would grow
again? YES
Mazarini (pink, heart-shaped, heirloom, few
seeds, meaty flesh, paste, wispy foliage, indeterminate, rare Russian tomato)
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted:
May 20
Observations:
March 29 –
these were quick to germinate and are robust even as seedlings.
June 30 –
The Mazarinis I planted (3) all ended up being snapped in the extremely windy
weather we had earlier in the month. I
had to replace them with other varieties.
Would grow
again? Yes, this variety was a favourite
from the last time I grew it. Similar to
Work Release Paste.
Dwarf
Roza Vetrov (pink, open-pollinated, dwarf/determinate,
small/salad fruit, round pointed fruit, origin Russian “Wind Rose”, early)
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted: May 20
Observations:
September
7 – Very happy I tried growing these!
Productive, sturdy plants. Small,
heart-shaped pink tomatoes that will be easy to process.
Would grow
again? Definitely, yes!
Black Krim (black/purple, beefsteak,
indeterminate, Russian heirloom, juicy, rich flavour)
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted: May 20
Observations:
September
7 – When all was said and done, after the windy weather in June that snapped
tomato and even some cabbage plants, I only had one remaining Black Krim. That plant wasn’t particularly productive,
though typically this variety puts out a decent number of tomatoes.
Would grow
again? One of my favourites, so yes
Russian Rose
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted: May 20
Observations:
March 29 –
these were quick to germinate and the seedlings are robust.
September
7 – Happy with these plants! Productive
and early to ripen. Large and pink. The tops tend to be wavy/scalloped.
Would grow
again? Yes, but I’m not sure if I’d grow
them every year. I like everything about them except a fair number have bottoms
that are wrinkled, which can slow down processing. That is the only (minor) drawback, though.
Bush
Beefsteak (red, open-pollinated, determinate, medium
sized 6-8 oz globed-shaped fruit, early 65 DTM, slicer)
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted: May 20 in large pots
Observations:
March 29 –
average germinate, the seedlings have been weak and many malformed. Not living up to my expectations so far. I received these seeds in a trade; perhaps
they are old or were taken from a hybrid variety.
Would grow
again? Meh. Doubtful.
This is the second time I’ve tried growing them and the production was
underwhelming both times. I didn’t see
anything that resembled a beefsteak, either.
Rutgers
(red, “commercial heirloom”, determinate, heavy yields, medium sized 6-8
oz round fruit, ~75 DTM, canner/slicer/general use)
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted: May 20
Observations:
September
7 – I either got seeds in a trade that were mislabeled Rutgers, or else Rutgers
isn’t really a determinate plant! These
things branched and grew like mad and I had to top and stake them in
August. The tomatoes are nicely uniform
and round. Average production – I wasn’t
blown away, though. Not early to ripen –
in fact, these are among the last of the varieties I grew this year to ripen.
Would grow
again? Yes, I would give these another
try.
Scotia
(red, open-pollinated, determinate, medium
fruit, origin Nova Scotia, early 60-70 DTM, prolific, slicer/canner)
Date sown: March 17
Transplanted: May 20
Observations:
June 19 – first tomatoes of any of the plants!
September
7 – Fairly productive, round tomatoes that will be easy to process.
Would grow
again? Yes
Principe
Borghese (red, heirloom, determinate, small, dry, few
seeds, good for sundried tomatoes,~ 75 DTM)
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted: May 20
Observations:
March 29 –
quick germination.
September
7 – this variety is always crazy-productive and fairly early to begin ripening.
Would grow
again? Yes, one of my favourites. We
slice and dehydrate these.
Malakhitovaya
Shkatulka (green, heirloom, indeterminate, medium sized
fruit, Russian origin “Malachite Box”, early – 70 DTM, slicer)
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted: May 21
Observations:
March 29 –
these were quick to germinate and the seedlings are robust!
September
7 – Very productive! Large, smooth
fruit. None ripened on the plant. Looking forward to tasting these once ripened
indoors.
Would grow
again? Maybe. I find them very mild. I think I might prefer Emerald
Evergreen for flavour.
Golden
Jubilee (orange,
heirloom, indeterminate, round, medium sized fruit, 70-80 DTM, slicer)
Date
sown: March 17
Transplanted: May 21
Observations:
June 19 – These plants have remained
small but are quite sturdy and lush.
September
7 – All foliage and no fruit. Not
productive, late to ripen, and a number suffered from Blossom End Rot. Disappointing, as many of the reviews I read
about it were glowing.
Would grow
again? Doubtful
Amana
Orange (orange, heirloom, indeterminate, large beefsteak,
midseason DTM ~80-85)
Date
sown: March 17 (Only had 2 seeds, trying to grow out)
Transplanted: May 20
Observations:
March 29 –
Only 1 of the 2 seeds planted germinated!
June 19 –
The wind and cool temps of the past few weeks have beat the heck out of this
plant. It’s still standing, but not
looking all that healthy. Fingers
crossed it still produces a few tomatoes.
September
7 – Pleasantly surprised! Large, bright
orange beefsteaks that were early to ripen.
Would grow
again? Yes
Auria
(red, heirloom, paste/canner/cooking,
elongated/banana, “suggestive shape”, sometimes called “Adam” in the Ukraine
(origin), indeterminate, wispy foliage, midseason)
Date sown:
March 29
Transplanted:
May 20
Observations:
September
7 – Of the three seeds I started, only one plant made it through to the
transplant stage. The plant is large and
sprawling, needed a fair bit of twine and staking. Productive, but most of the fruit suffered
from Blossom End Rot. Not early to ripen
(none ripened on the plant) but I have brought some of the larger tomatoes
inside. I’ll try to ripen them and save
seeds.
Would grow
again? I’d like to try this variety
again at least once.
Damascus
Steel
(stripe/bi-colour purple & red, high anthocyanins, bred by Dean Slater,
open-pollinated, 2-3” fruits tapered to round, “sweet with a bit of acidity”, indeterminate,
midseason DTM ~80)
Date
sown: March 29
Transplanted: May 21
Observations:
September
7 - Wow!
An eye-grabbing, deep purple colour.
The bottoms (as of this date) are pale green with small, dark-green
stripes. I won’t know what “ripe” looks like for this variety until after I’d
brought them inside and put them in boxes for a week or two. Much more productive than I expected. As far as I can tell (?) none have ripened on
the plants (the fruit is still hard).
Would grow
again? Yes
I managed to get a start on canning tomato sauce this past week. There are still boxes and boxes of ripening tomatoes stacked in the kitchen, so there is plenty yet to do!
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