I am picking tomatoes

12 years ago

For years I have not grown tomatoes because the spots I use for a garden have become too shaded by mature trees and houses. This year I took a stab at planting next to the adobe fence hoping there might be enough sun, and I have been surprised to discover that it gets sun the better part of the day. The spot used to be a compost heap for grass trimmings and leaves, and was quite dry. I put in 4 Better Boy starts that were slow to grow from the nursery, and when they were a good foot or more tall, I watered them with a blender whirled mixture of water and the crushed shells of 1 or 2 dozen eggs. This is the first time that my first crop did not have Blossom End Rot. Some critters in the yard are taking bites out of my tomatoes, so I have wrapped some bird netting around the plants. This is a first time planting Better Boys, and my first few have been disappointing in flavor and texture. Hope they improve as the season peaks.

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Comments (18)

pam_25f
12 years ago
I am quite irritated with myself that I didn't plant tomatoes. I hope yours will improve in flavor and texture.
socks
12 years ago
How much fun and tasty too. Congratulations on your crop. I did not plant any this year, have had marginal crops previous years for the same reason you stated, just not quite enough sun. Oh I did have one this year that gave me some tiny, delicious tomatoes (orange!), but the bush was taking over nearby shrubs and I had to remove it before it got to be too much for me to do.

Freeze as many as you can, and you will enjoy them for months to come. I've even frozen them whole.
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How very spoiled we are by comparison! My dad was one of 11 children. His family was, by his own description, 'poor, white sharecroppers' in the Spanish Fort (Montague County, Texas) area in the 1920s/30s. He said they pretty much lived on whatever crops survived. They usually had a good crop of pinto beans and corn, which they dried and stored for winter. He said they often ate corn meal mush for breakfast, cornbread and whatever else was available for lunch, and cornbread and pinto beans for dinner, day after day after day. How many of us would do that and be glad to have even that food? He did say that they often had good veggies from their own gardens all summer and fall, plus whatever they could put up for winter, and meat was more of a 'treat' or a 'condiment' with veggies and bread being the main portion of the meal, and only small portions of meat available. During the good years that they made a good crop, they would have enough cash to buy salt, flour, baking powder, etc. During bad times they had beans and corn. They usually had their own milk and butter from their own cow, but usually the babies and youngest children got all the milk. Once a year they each got one orange to eat--at Christmas--and that plus a couple of nuts and one or two pieces of Christmas candy was their Christmas gift. Local folks here who are slightly younger than my dad remember a similar lifestyle up to World War II, which gave many young men a chance to get off the farm and earn some badly needed money to send home to 'the folks'. They say that growing a big garden that produced a lot of food for the family was considered a HUGE mark of achievement, and that the local families were quite competitive with one another to see who could feed their family best with what they raised. Frankly, I don't know how they did it. 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oldfixer
12 years ago
Anybody should be irritated for not planting at least ONE!
Lots of blooms this year, just now forming fruit. Drooling already for a BLT. Hate rodents & critters that take one bite out of each one. Will be watching if its a squirrel, and eagerly assist him to its funeral,
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years ago
Sheila, I sure hope that you end up liking the BBs better than I ever did. Maybe yours will pick up some flavors soon.

If you want to try a different "bullet proof" variety next year, go for Celebrity.

A very tasty tomato, quite prolific, large fruit, a good slicer. It's also readily available in the garden centers, if you don't mess with starting your own from seed.

Though I mostly grow heirlooms varieties, Celebrity always has a place in my garden.
jim_1 (Zone 5B)
12 years ago
I planted San Marzano paste tomatoes (about 10 plants) for making sauce to put up. And only only cherry tomato. About 12 basil plants nearby so I can pick all at the same time. I saw a couple of tomatoes that were getting red, but the 13 inches of rain in the past six weeks created some blossom end rot. We'll see!

Lots of cucumbers coming along. I have already put up some bread and butter and next I'll do some dill spears.
sheilajoyce_gw
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the suggestion, Rhizo. I see Celebrity starts in lots of our garden centers and will try them next year. This was just a whim, and I am not so sure it was a good choice.
linda_in_iowa
12 years ago
I planted one heirloom and one basil plant. I fence the area with chicken wire to keep my dog away from it. The heirloom has grown to be about 3' by 3'. It has lots of bloom and green tomatoes.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years ago
I have my basil plants pretty close to the tomatoes, too! Love it!
glenda_al
12 years ago
Favorite tomatoes in my area are called Chandlar Mt tomatoes. Best in the area.
wanda_va
12 years ago
I am a real pro at growing weeds, but have never been able to grow tomatoes...until last year. Our local junk shop had itty bitty tomato plants for $1.19 in the 3-section containers. I bought one, with no idea that they would grow--much less produce tomatoes. I did no ground prep (because I knew they would die). They were a brand I had never heard of, and I stupidly threw away the little tag. Those 3 plants grew so big that the stakes couldn't hold them! We had tons of tomatoes, and they were the biggest and most tasty tomatoes I've ever had. I saved seeds from them, and this year I am again hoping for some great tomatoes (if the darned critters will stay away from them). So far, I have lots of tomatoes, but they are still green.

With my newfound "luck", I planted 4 cucumber seeds, and I think they want to take over the world. We've been eating cucumbers for weeks...and I may break down and make some pickles.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years ago
Chandler Mt. is a location, not a variety. It is a big truck farming area and the tomatoes by the millions are picked by seasonal workers. Your local market probably gets the ripe tomatoes because they won't ship well. Truck farm tomatoes are picked green, packed in refrigerator trucks (where they are also gassed with ethylene for ripening) for shipping around the country.

I don't know what varieties the commercial growers are using these days but it does seem like grocery tomatoes taste a lot better than they used to. They even smell like a tomato! For many years, that was not the case. I'd love to know which varieties they grow on Chandler...I may try to find out.

Using the name Chandler Mt. Tomatoes is just like 'Vidalia Onions'. Any sweet onion variety can be called vidalias as long as they were grown in
a certain area in Georgia.
Kathsgrdn
12 years ago
I hope the flavor improves. I planted some plants at the last minute (July), bought from Wal-Mart. Two yellow pear and one Beefsteak. There were baby tomatoes the other day on one of the yellow pear plants. Only blooms so far on the other two. Next year I plan to start my own plants indoors.
glenda_al
12 years ago
We have always called them Chandlar Mt tomatoes,all our lives, Rhizo, you might not. I do know exactly where they come from, etc.

Even when they come into season local store has a sign out front WE HAVE CHANDLAR MT TOMATOES!
Marilyn Sue
12 years ago
We have had tomatoes for some weeks. The ones that are ripe and we really like this variety are called, Sun Sugar. They are a yellow cherry tomato.

Sue in Central Indiana
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years ago
Glenda...I'm not saying that they aren't called CM tomatoes! Or that that's not correct. I'm just saying that there isn't a particular variety of tomato that is named CM. Market growers from Chandler Mountain probably grow several flavorful varieties. You are getting the freshest, locally grown crop, and that's a great thing.

Location can make a big difference in flavor and quality....that's an absolute fact.

And you're right! The exact same tomatoes could be trucked up here to Huntsville on the same day as yours were dropped off and there would be no signage about where they were grown.

Speaking of Chandler Mountain.....we've toured all around that area more than once. it's gorgeous.
glenda_al
12 years ago
.

I grew up around the area. Know it quite well.

Whatever variety we ate from the area, growing up we called them same.. They were always delicious. .Chandlar Mt Tomatoes is the name family knew them as. and always will..

My dad would go in the fall to get his Sand Mtn sorghum. Might have another name, but that's what we called it,.

Local family run store advertises in the front Chandlar Mt Tomatoes are here, cause that's what people here look for when they want those particular tomatoes.

This post was edited by glenda_al on Sun, Jul 27, 14 at 18:58
Elmer J Fudd
12 years ago
Two different articles, one of which is an interview with a local farmer, suggest that a large number of tomato varieties are grown in the Chandler Mountain area.

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20101107/NEWS/101109866?

http://discoverstclair.com/features/st-clairs-savory-summer-produce/
glenda_al
12 years ago
I grew up in Gadsden. 75 years old

Tomatoes are good especially ripe and juicy!

Love a great BLT!

I am picking tomatoes

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socks

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I am picking tomatoes

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