Assessing the Tomatoes

    It was a very hot, dry summer and there was a hail storm in August that damaged the tomatoes.  Many of the tomatoes were smaller than usual and/or were so cat-faced that they weren’t worth the trouble to process and they couldn’t be used as slicers.  This was the least successful tomato year we've had since I began gardening, but it was nice to discover some new favourites: Azoychka and EM-Champion.

Click on the pictures below to enlarge them.

Azoychka - True to the variety's description, Azoychka was productive and quite early.  Several tomatoes began ripening on the plants.  They have a really nice, sweet flavour.  It’s a shame so many were thin, cat-faced, and hail-damaged.  I would love to try growing these in a normal summer.  

 

EM-Champion - These were the winners of the tomatoes this summer.  They were among the few tomato plants that did well, having been relatively sheltered against the house (so no hail damage).  They were good sized, well-shaped hearts on a determinate plant.  They were also among the earliest to ripen this year - several ripened on the plant.  It took me two years to find someone who had a few of these seeds to share/trade, and it was worth the wait.  I look forward to growing these again.  

   Without thinking, I cut up the best tomatoes of this variety (earliest, largest, best shape) for seed saving before taking pictures!  The tomatoes pictured below are the "second best" examples from the harvest.

 

 

Ropreco Paste  - Though this is supposed to be an early variety, most of the tomatoes were green at the time of harvest.  VERY productive plants.  I'll save seeds from the tomatoes pictured below.

 

 

 

Maglia Rosa - These tomatoes were on the small side (about half the size they are supposed to be) but the plants were productive.  This variety grows well in large pots, which is a bonus.  I think I liked Candy Sweet Icicle (grown last year) better, but would be willing to give Maglia Rosa another try.

 

 

 

Bellestar - Hail-damaged, smaller than usual, and a harder texture than usual, but I managed to harvest some to use for sauce.

Black Sea Man -  Smaller than usual and mostly green when harvested (unlike most years, when they begin ripening on the plant).  Most of these only suffered minor hail damage.

Mrs Schlaubaugh’s Famous Strawberry - The two plants R. had labeled as MSFS produced very small heart-shaped tomatoes that looked nothing like the large, curved/pointy tomatoes in the pictures I’ve seen.  I don’t know if they were mislabeled, or if perhaps I got wrong seeds in a trade.  I might try growing these again next year.

Valencia - These plants were fairly protected against the house, so no hail damage. Some brown mottling on the bottoms of a few of them.  Globe-shaped tomatoes of varying sizes.  This seems like a late-maturing variety; none of them have begun to ripen yet in boxes (as of September 19th).

Neves Azorean Red, Gary O'Sena, and Kosovo - Unfortunately, due to hail damage and severe cat-facing, most of these were a write-off.  

Early Annie - I didn't see any of these in the garden when I got back to BC, so I assume the ones I started in March didn't make it past transplant stage.