Remy glad to hear the tomato fest was a great success again this year. I only got a couple of tomatoes this year as the tomato honworms got to mine....even the ones in containers so I didn't have a chance to attend. I have gotten a total of 3 cherry tomatoes but lots of green ones which I am sure will never ripen will be pulling the plants up in the next few days.

Hi All, The annual party will be held Sat. Sept. 5, 2009 on Grand Island, NY. This is a harvest party for all growers of tomatoes. If your harvest is less than spectacular this year, don't worry, as always, it is the gathering of gardeners that is more important! We have fun contests and great prizes, yummy food too. If you need to bring the kiddies along, that is fine. It is a family friendly party. Please send me a message if you would like more info. Thank you, Remy PS I tried to send an invite to everyone who has attended or expressed interest in the past. If you didn't get an invite, it was totally inadvertent on my part. This list is getting longer and my brain cells are getting weaker, lol.

Yes, some have reported so called black tomatoes that are smokey or salty and I've grown a lot of different blacks and have never tasted anything salty or smokey so I wouldn't use those tastes as criteria for good taste and I'm not the only one who has never tasted smokey or salty. There are darn few blacks that I like but as with all other varieties as many have said here, some are great in one year, perhaps not so great the next year, and usually weather related. Some humans, and I'm a human, wink, thrive in hot humid weather but I'm a human who hates hot humid weather and prefers more moderate temps and lower humidity. So too do different tomato varieties prefer certain weather conditions. And of course taste is personal and perceptual and also has a human genetic component. The few blacks that I like are Indian Stripe, Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry, Brad's Black Heart, Black from Tula and now Kazachka. There have been folks who have grown out huge numbers of blacks in one season and find that many of them taste and perform the same. That doesn't surprise me one bit b'c when I first started growing OP's in large numbers in the mid-80's there were only about FIVE (5) known black varieties. The fad for blacks started in the early 90's, has not yet abated, and now there are close to maybe 200 varieties. Where there is demand the varieties will appear, if you get my drift. ( wink) My personal faves are the hearts and the green when ripes, but of course with others sprinkled in for diversity reasons and I'm always looking for the next new variety I try to be a big winner. And I usually find a couple of winners each year. One actually was Indian Stripe seeds for that sent to me in 2002 which I then listed in the SSE YEarbook and sent it for trial at those seed sites where I know the owners and trust them, and now Indian Stripe can be found all over the place and seeds very available. it's good to know that some of my tomato kids have done well, and those would include Neves Azorean Red, Opalka, Indian Stripe, OTV Brandywine,Crnkovic Yugoslavian,Heidi,Large Pink Bulgarian, Omar's Lebanese, Soldacki, Sophie's Choice and many more. Good to know some of my tomato kids have done well since all I have are two cat kids. LOL Carolyn

Hi Larry, I'm sorry you didn't make again! The winners are as follows: Best tasting tomato: Goose Creek grown by Rob Kavanaugh. Prettiest tomato: Don Juan grown by Julianna Griffin. Ugliest tomato: Orange Minsk grown by Hilde Reineck. Biggest tomato: Arkansas Marvel grown by Marcia Ritchie. Smallest tomato: Gold Rush grown by Richard Price. Tangiest tomato: Yummy Lebanese grown by Elizabeth d'Anjou Sweetest tomato: Sungold grown by Tara Kolinsky The Norm Brown award for the craziest tomato lover (usually the one who has travelled the furthest to be at the party) went to Rosalinda. Here's a few clickable thumbnails of the tomato tables. We had about 80 varieties this year. If you want to see all the pics, click on the link below, Remy Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of he 2011 Party