Marglobe Baker Family Heirloom Arkansas Market Purple Calabash Kelloggs Breakfast Beefmaster (hybrid) Black Krim Striped German Chico III Costoluto Genovese Brown Berry Cherry Actually this year I cleaned out my seed stash. Some of these plants are the result of using up little sample packets sent to me by the Wintersowing folks last year when I first tried that. Arkansas Market is my own made-up name. It was seed I saved from some beautiful big round Arkansas-grown grocery-store tomatoes that my son brought over shortly after the e.Coli scare last summer. I have no idea what they really were. Any ideas, anyone? Kellogg's Breakfast, Black Krim and Striped German are three that I grew last year and loved. Baker Family Heirloom from George, my first year to try. Thanks George! Brown Berry from a trade this year. Supposed to be a good candidate for a container plant as the vines are determinate. Beefmaster was seed I had from several years ago. I wasn't really crazy about it as the core was pretty large. I know a lot of people really like this kind, so I may just put the plants in my garage sale this spring. Last year I sold tomato plants for $2.50 each. They sold quickly and I even had calls later asking if I had any more. I didn't have a whole lot to sell as I had only sown extra in case the seed didn't all come up, and practically all of it did. This year I planted a little extra to share with my exterminator (we are his benchmark house for ants, he says). Anyway, he's become our friend and has helped us in lots of ways so I try to do little things for him when I can. He has never experienced heirloom tomatoes. He usually buys hybrid plants for his garden. I have been hardening my plants a little differently this year. All that carrying out and carrying in is a pain. Fortunately we've had several days and nights of warm weather. I put them out on my covered back porch where the sun reaches them for about an hour. I have them in foam coffee cups and fitted the cups into plastic storage boxes. The boxes are a little taller than any of the plants. After their hour of sun, I just covered the whole community with a sheer curtain panel, to protect them from the wind, etc. Left them out all day and all night that way. Next day, uncovered them for half the day, then covered again as it was terribly windy that day and I didn't want them to dehydrate. Next day uncovered for all day, covered during the night. They've been out now for four days and nights and look really good. Last night turned out a little on the cool side, 40 degrees. But I think they'll be ok. I already have Brown Berry transplanted into the tubs they will grow in. Looks like we have another spell of cold weather coming up, so I'll have to carry them all back in then.

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

Scott, I still have tomatoes producing heavily, and a few slow-pokes (planted late because of weather) that haven't produced a ripe one yet. And, there's no way I am going to list every single variety because I plant too many, but I'll give a brief synopsis of the ones that have produced well. Better Bush--earliest tomatoes...picked ripe ones in late April from plants set out in containers in mid-February. The flavor was very good considering these ripened in cool weather. The one in the ground in the garden produced one of the earliest ripe fruit in the garden too. Early Girl--early, lots of fruit, average flavor Jet Star--earlier than Early Girl, heavy bearers, better than average flavor Supersonic--very heavy yields of very large tomatoes, great flavor Prime Time--very heavy yields of large tomatoes, great flavor Ramapo--heavy yields of medium to large tomatoes, great flavor Moreton--heavy yields of medium to large tomatoes, very good flavor Momotaro--heavy yields of large pink tomatoes, excellent flavor Livingston Gold Ball--Heavy yields of golf-ball sized golden-yellow fruit with great taste. I like these so much they seldom make it indoors because I eat them while working in the garden. Indian Stripe--moderate yields (not as good this year as last year) of tomatoes similar to Cherokee Purple in flavor (excellent flavor) and appearance Chocolate Stripes--moderately heavy yield of red and green stiped tomatoes with average flavor Brandywine--low yields--so far 2 tomatoes from one plant and 5 from the other, but the flavor is great, and they are blooming now so hoping for more fruit set during the cool spell (which hasn't arrive here yet--it was 84 degrees here at 7:30 a.m. and felt like 89) Nebraska Wedding--Moderate yields of orange beefsteaks with outstanding texture and flavor Royal Hillbilly-moderate yield of fruit with amazing flavor--did not produce huge numbers like last year Tess' Land Race Currant--One of these is all you need. The plant currently is 8' tall and about 4' wide and I've had trouble keeping it upright. It currently is staked with 3 8' tall metal fence posts and 3 shorter wooden stakes. This produces tiny, red, round, tasty 1/2" wide tomatoes in great profusion....I'd say I've easily picked a thousand of these so far and it will produce until frost is heavy. A lot of flavor in a tiny tomato. We use these in salads and also I dehydrate tons of them. Sweet Million--heavy producer of red cherries with very good flavor Rose Quart--heavy producer of pink oval cherry types (not really as oval as most grape tomatoes) with very good flavor SunGold--as always, a heavy producer of golden-orange cherries with great flavor. Less cracking than most years. Black Cherry--superb as always and ties with SunGold in terms of great flavor and great productivity Ildi--a very prolific yellow grape tomato with amazing flavor. I've tried other yellow grapes and none of them can touch it in flavor. Some of the others are late to ripen.... Red Defender and Scarlet Red both have very heavy loads of large tomatoes. I am just about to start picking them. I think I picked a couple of Scarlet Red last week, but sent them to work at the fire station with DS, so can't comment on the flavor yet. These plants (and Moreton) have just about more fruit than foliage, and their foliage is heavy. I've never had plants in 7 to 10 gallon containers produce as many tomatoes per plant as these are producing. I can't wait to see how they do in the ground next year. Arkansas Traveler is producing medium-sized pink tomatoes with great flavor as always. Box Car Willie is just now ripening fruit. San Marzano Redorta is slow to ripen this year. Viva Italia has been a heavier producer and earlier and with fine flavor Black Plum was wonderful but both plants---one in a container and one in the ground--died of bacterial wilt. Mountain Princess produced heavy loads of pink, tasty fruit early on but was the first to die....of bacterial wilt. It was in a container too, and in fresh soil. (sigh) Some plants that won't be back: Dr. Carolyn (ivory cherry), Snow White (ivory to yellow large cherry) and Yellow Pear (kids love them). All three struggled with disease and died about the time they're producing heavily. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I didn't grow a lot of my real favorites this year because I was worried about drought and wanted some heavy-producing hybrids. Next year (Jay, do you think I'll stick to this plan?) I am determined to grow only the best-of-the-best of the plants I've tried, and maybe allow myself to try 5 or 10 new varieties. I think I'll do a 50-50 split between heirlooms (better flavor, but usually lower productivity in our climate) and hybrids (flavor can be iffy, but heavy production). Dawn

wow great pictures everyone! margocostas, i've seen a bit of tomato porn but those are some naughty pics ;) archerb, i can sympathize with you on the bird damage, we netted all our beds. around here the birds here even love the green ones. we put in a beautiful birdbath on a recommendation, and they still managed to get into the beds and peck around some after the wind rearranged our netting once. bird net is cheap compared to organic heirloom homegrown plus labor right? ;) tn veggie gardner, thanks for all the pics, hope your eating maters soon! i wish i had a nice large sunny backyard in tn to share garden space with you and get you off that apartment balcony. feed the wife some good tomatoes and she might let you borrow her camera more, instead of your cellphone pics ;) rob