Here's my list as it currently stands. The first three rounds are growing. Round 4, which is fall tomatoes, is usually put into the ground in late June or early July from a late May or early June sowing. Because last year's drought continues to plague us, I cut way, way, way back. I was trying to limit Rounds 1 thru 3 to a total of 40 varieties, but I didn't succeed. : ) ROUND 1: These are my "must haves" for this year. They were started in February for planting out the last week of March or the first week of April. Might start putting them in the ground this weekend, depending on the forecast. These 4 are from purchased plants I found at a local store in Feb. and planted in containers. One of them has 3 fruit that should ripen sometime in April, another is in bloom, and the other two are just sitting there. 1. Better Bush 2. Bush Early Girl 3. Bush Goliath 4. Grape These I started from seed: 5. Arkansas Traveler 6. Black Cherry 7. Box Car Willie 8. Brandy Boy 9. Chocolate Stripes 10. Homestead 24 11. Indian Stripe 12. Jet Star 13. Momotaro 14. Mountain Princess 15. Neve's Azorean Red 16. New Big Dwarf 17. Orange-Flesh Purple Smudge 18. Porterhouse 19. Primetime 20. Ramapo 21. Royal Hillbilly 22. San Marzano 23. San Marzano Redorta 24. Sioux 25. Sun Gold 26. Super Sioux 27. Supersonic 28. Tess's Land Race Currant 29. True Black Brandywine ROUND 2 (These were started from seed about a month after Round 1 and they'll be ready to go into the ground about mid-April.) 30. Bloody Butcher 31. Glacier 32. Ildi 33. Livingston's Gold Ball 34. Moreton 35. Mountain Fresh Plus 36. Mountain Glory 37. Orange Pixie 38. Red Defender 39. Red Robin 40. Rose Quartz 41. Scarlet Red 42. Snow White 43. Sophie's Choice 44. Sweet Million 45. Tropic 46. Yellow Canary ROUND THREE: Started mid-March. Will go into ground in early May. 47. Cuban Yellow Grape 48. Dixie Golden Queen 49. Fargo 50. Golden Sweet 51. Opalka 52. Polish Linguisa 53. Porter 54. Sun Cherry ROUND 4: Since I won't be starting seed until May, this list isn't firm yet, and I'll probably add a few others. These, though, are the ones currently scheduled for Round 4. Because the Livingston tomatoes do so well in our hot climate, I like to grow them as fall tomatoes. They are very tough--there is not a wimp in the bunch, although I do grow Honor Bright (Lutescent) as a novelty more than anything (although its tomatoes taste OK when fully ripened). In the case of the Livingstons, I put their date of introduction after the variety, because some of them are so very old, and I find that quite fascinating. 55. Keepsake 56. Long-Season Peach 57. Longkeeper 58. Winterkeeper 59. Solar Set R 60. Solar Fire 61. Sun King 62. Sun Master 63. Sunray 64. Turkey Chomp 65. Mule Team 66. Livingston's Dwarf Stone (1902) 67. Livingston's Favorite (1883) 68. Livingston's Gold Ball (1892) 69. Livingston's Golden Queen (1882) 70. Livingston's Globe (1905) 71. Livingston's Honor Bright (1987) (Lutescent) 72. Livingston's Ideal (1930) 73. Livingston's Magnus (1900) 74. Livingston's Main Crop Pink (1941) 75. Livingston's Perfection (1880) 76. Livingston's Paragon (1870) 77. Livingston's Stone (1889) 78. Rio Grande And, there's some I didn't start from seed but which might prove irresistable if I see them at a store. I'd probably buy one of each of these and bring it home to plant: Black Krim (replaced by True Black Brandywine), Cherokee Purple (replaced by Indian Stripe this year), and Bradley Pink (couldn't find my seed). I am growing tons of cherry, grape and currant types to dehydrate for winter. On any given day during the harvest season, if you walk into my house, you're likely to smell the delicious aroma of dehydrating tomatoes coming from the kitchen. We don't grow any oxhearts here because they produce very, very few fruit per plant in our hot climate. And, in case anyone is wondering, we grow all these tomatoes for us and, no, we don't sell any, although we often give them away to family and friends. I always raise more plants that I have room for, so a lot of the extras go to friends and neighbors, and many will be going to the April plant swap as well. Dawn

Jay, It is a truly amazing list and I hope the weather gives you a break and allows for some good fruit set. All my spring tomatoes have been in the ground for some time---some planted in April and some planted in May, and of course, the few I plant in containers in February for earliest tomatoes. Those extra-earlies were yanked out of the containers in late May and replaced with varieties I like better and needed to plant someplace since the ground was still so wet in the spot where they otherwise could have been planted. The earlies weren't anything special--I think they were Better Bush, Bush Goliath, Early Girl and Grape---and they did their job--giving us ripe tomatoes in April and May while we waited for the in-ground plantings to start producing. These are the spring plants I ended up with. The plants listed survived late freezes, 18" or 19" of rainfall in 5 weeks, high winds in the 30s-40s and gusting into the 50s, etc. After the kind of spring weather we had, I just feel lucky to have tomato plants that did survive. This year, I have cut back drastically on both the number of plants and number of varieties, having struggled with drought so desperately last year. I choose to take 4 rows out of tomato/pepper production and plant them with broccoli and potatoes because I felt like whatever rain might fall would fall during prime time for cool-season veggies. So far, that has seemed like a good decision. Although we'll have a lot fewer tomatoes/peppers overall, we'll have tons of broccoli (in the middle of the harvest right now) and lots of potatoes too. After years of trying dozens of new (to me) heirlooms every year, I've actually reversed and have been trying many more new (to me) hybrids the last 3 years. And I have been trying to "pare down" the heirloom list to only the best performers, planting more of the proven varieties that produce good yields for us and less of the heirlooms that may or may not. I'll never stop trying different heirloom varieties, but I am trying to go more and more with great producers (both heirloom and hybrid) and less with the testing of new varieties. So, here's my pared-back, scaled-down list of tomatoes that have been planted and which have survived so far in 2009: IN CONTAINERS: 1. Red Defender 2. Scarlet Red 3. Scarlet Red 4. Livingston's Gold Ball 5. Mountain Princess 6. Momotaro 7. Chocolate Stripes 8. Indian Stripes 9. Red Defencer 10. Red Defender 11. Tropic 12. Moreton 13. Homestead 24 14. Sophie's Choice 15. Tropic 16. Moreton 17. Viva Italia 18. Sioux 19. New Big Dwarf 20. Box Car Willie 21. Glacier 22. San Marzano Redorta 23. New Big Dwarf 24. Black Plum 25. Viva Italia 26. Black Krim 27. Aunt Ruby's German Green IN THE GARDEN: 28. Tess's Land Race Currant 29. Sweet Million 30. Snow White 31. Grape 32. Gold Ball 33. Black Cherry 34. Dr. Carolyn 35. Rose Quartz 36. Ildi 37. Better Bush 38. Yellow Cherry 39. Yellow Pear 40. Snow White 41. Ildi 42. Snow White 43. Rose Quartz 44. Black Cherry 45. Black Cherry 46. Jet Star 47. Ramapo 48. Indian Stripe 49. Indian Stripe 50. Brandy Boy 51. Brandy Boy 52. Black Cherry 53. Primetime 54. Royal Hillbilly 55. Nebraska Wedding 56. New Big Dwarf 57. Primetime 58. Moreton 59. Moreton 60. Supersonic 61. Supersonic 62. Jet Star 63. Ramapo 64. Arkansas Traveler 65. Arkansas Travelet 66. Box Car Willie 67. Black Cherry 68. Porterhouse 69. Orange Flesh Purple Smudge 70. Sioux 71. Brandywine 72. Brandywine 73. Sophie's Choice 74. Early Girl 75. Early Girl The following Dwarf plants were planted as a "border" down one side of a raised bed that had a double-row of Packman broccoli plants: 76. Red Robin 77. Red Robin 78. Red Robin 79. Orange Pixie 80. Orange Pixie 81. Orange Pixie 82. Yellow Canary 83. Yellow Canary There were about a dozen other varieties that did not survive the late freezes, flooding rains, and high winds that occurred after they were in the ground. Among them was True Black Brandywine, which was one of my healthiest plants and earliest producers last year. Last week I started seeds for the fall tomatoes. Although I don't yet know how many of each variety will end up being planted in the ground or in a container, here's the varieties I started: LIVINGSTON'S TOMATO VARIETIES: 1. Dwarf Stone 2. Favorite 3. Gold Ball 4. Golden Queen 5. Globe 6. Honor Bright (Lutescent) 7. Ideal 8. Magnus 9. Main Crop Pink 10. Paragon 11. Stone LONG-KEEPING TYPES: 12. Long Season Peach 13. Longkeeper 14. Keepsake 15. Sunray (technically not considered a longkeeper, but seems to be one) PASTE TYPES: 16. Rio Grande 17. San Marzano Redorta 18. Opalka HEAT SETTING TYPES: 19. Solar Set R 20. Solar Fire CHERRIES: 21. Cuban Yellow Grape 22. Sun Cherry 23. Sun Gold 24. Golden Sweet 25. Fargo OTHERS: 26. Dixie Golden Giant 27. True Black Brandywine 28. Bloody Butcher 29. Mountain Glory VFFF/TSWV 30. Mountain Fresh Plus For peppers, I'm only growing a few of the varieties that are the heaviest producers for us. I dropped about 20 varieties this year that I usually grow, but here's what we do have: 1. Tepin 2. Tepin 3. Tepin 4. Tepin 5. Jaloro Yellow Jalapeno 6. Mucho Nacho Jalapeno 7. Mucho Nacho Jalapeno 8. Mucho Nacho Jalapeno 9. Grande' Jalapeno 10. Ixtapa Jalapeno 11. Ixtapa Jalapeno 12. Ixtapa Jalapeno 13. Ixtapa Jalapeno 14. Habanero 15. Habanero 16. Habanero 17. Habanero 18. Red Beauty Sweet Bell 19. Red Beauty Sweet Bell 20. Red Beauty Sweet Bell 21. Red Beauty Sweet Bell 22. Purple Beauty Sweet Bell 23. Chocolate Beauty Sweet Bell 24. Chocolate Beauty Sweet Bell 25. Chocolate Beauty Sweet Bell 26. Chocolate Beauty Sweet Bell 27. Chocolate Beauty Sweet Bell 28. Chocolate Beauty Sweet Bell 29. Roumanian Rainbow Sweet Bell 30. Roumanian Rainbow Sweet Bell 31. Roumanian Rainbow Sweet Bell 32. Roumanian Rainbow Sweet Bell 33. Mini Belle Mix 34. Mini Belle Mix 35. Mini Belle Mix 36. Orange Sun Sweet Bell 37. Orange Sun Sweet Bell The only peppers I've planted for fall are ornamental ones, since the spring peppers will produce in the summer and in the fall. The ornamental ones I planted were Purple Flash and Royal Black, I think. All my plants get exactly the same thing at planting time....Espoma Tomato-Tone and a little bone meal. They do get periodic feedings of liquid seaweed or fish emulsion, and the ones in containers get fed a lot more often than the ones in the ground. In this year's garden, the earliest tomatoes to produce ripe fruit (not counting the extra-earlies in containers) have been Jet Star and Better Bush, Yellow Cherry and Black Cherry. The best-looking plants with healthy foliage and lots of blossoms/fruit, though, are the Harris Hybrids---Supersonic, Primetime and Moreton and the Rutgers/NJAES variety Ramapo. Close runners-up for great growth and fruit set include Indian Stripe, Royal Hillbilly, Mountain Princess and Brandy Boy. Although beaten almost to death by the wind as they were hardening off and/or newly planted, Scarlet Red and Red Defender have rebounded and look great. Most of my plants have set fruit now, so it is just the wait for more ripe ones. Everything went in later than usual this year, so the big harvest has not yet begun. Normally by now I am running the dehydrator daily with a few hundred cherry, grape, currant and small pear-shaped types being dried for winter. I was just thinking yesterday how odd it is that I'm not running the dehydrator yet. Still, I planted tons of bite-sized tomato varieties so I'm sure I'll eventually be dehydrating fruit daily. At the present time, none of the cherry tomatoes have made it into the house yet, because I pick them and eat them while working in the garden. Dawn

wow your plants look great! I'm sure your going to get tomatoes soon. Over here in MA its been raining for a good month, our tomato plants are not to happy. We have 17 tomato plants growing this year. Happy Gardening! http://www.flickr.com/photos/kumato/

2009 Tomato Season Report The season started off with late frosts and leafhoppers delaying the tomato plant out. May was rainy and cold and by the time the plants were in the ground it was the second week of June. The Sweet 100 plant is the only exception as it was planted around May 15th. June was very wet with a record 8" of rain and no days above 80*. July was still wet and cool with only a handful of days over 85*. August was a little drier but still fairly cool. September was much drier and warmer which got a lot of the tomatoes to flower but it was to late for fruiting. October started off dry and cool but then turned wetter with temps dipping down to 31*. Most of the tomatoes got hit with disease and frost damage after the cold spell. The last part of the month was warmer with temps in the 50's and 60's but several inches of rain brought a bad tomato season to an end well almost anyway. The sweet 100 plant still has a couple more tomatoes ripening on the vine. I had no late blight in my garden a little bit of early blight and at the end of the season septoria leaf spot started showing up. Brandy boy: - potato leaf, medium about 5-ft, average disease tolerance. No ripe fruit but it did eventually flower and produce a couple of tiny green fruit. They both Had severe cracking issues. Crack size: all the way in to the middle of the tomato. The cracking was partly do to uneven moisture but this variety was still very crack prone. Brandywine Sudduth's strain: - potato leaf, medium/tall 5-6-ft, had a several disease problems especially later in the season. No flowers or fruit. Overall very disappointing. Cuostralee: - Regular leaf medium/tall 5-6-ft, Not great disease tolerance but it was able to grow out of the disease. No ripe fruit but it did flower. Japanese Black Trifele: - potato leaf, short 3-4-ft, top of the plant broke in a windstorm. good disease tolerance but not great. first ripe fruit october 30th after ripening indoors for two weeks, 1 ripe fruit. Taste: Gel is sweet with a slight tang to it. The meat is very mild and a little bit bland but it has a faint smoky flavor to it. No problems with cracking. I saved seeds. Marianna's peace: - Potato leaf medium/tall 5-6-ft, good disease tolerance until the end of the season when both plants yellowed. No ripe fruit. both plants flowered . Neves Azorean Red: - regular leaf, medium height 4-5-ft. It did get shaded by the brandywine plant next to it. Average disease tolerance but it would probably do better with more sun. No ripe fruit. the plant didn't even flower probably partly do to the weather and partly do to the shade. Sweet 100: - regular leaf, tall 7-8-ft , average disease tolerance first ripe fruit mid August, ~ 45 ripe fruit. Taste: Sweet with good "tomato" flavor. size small about an inch in diameter. Looks. perfect round bright red tomatoes in clusters of 5-10. Only cracks when ripe fruit are left on the vine during rain. Crack size : Just the skin cracks open not the whole tomato.