I sent in the "Santorini of Greece" tomato to the swap. After flooding, extremely high humidity, heat, etc. last summer, the Santorini was one of a handful of plants (out of 40+ varieties) that never showed a hint of disease and when everything else stopped producing during the worst of the heat, it continued to pump out tons of fruit. It definitely was the workhorse in my garden and will certainly be considered for another spot in the garden this season. The fruit is ribbed, probably around 4-6 oz. and was meaty like a paste but much more flavorful than most paste tomatoes I've tasted.

I've grown only a few of these, all from seedlings (since the selection is great around here) Aunt Ruby's German Green -- wonderful flavor, they get huge, the squirrels don't bother them, and it's fun to watch the expression on someone else's face when they bite into a green tomato! Caspian Pink -- the squirrels got most of the tomatoes the year I grew it, but I loved the ones I got to taste Cherokee Purple -- squirrels got most of these, too; but it didn't produce many and the taste was not outstanding enough to try again Stupice -- grew it one year, wasn't impressed by the flavor; tomatoes were only a little bigger than Tommy Toe and produced a lot, but still half or a third as much as TT Black Krim -- first year; I planted it in mid-Feb. and I've been picking some every day, probably 6-7 big ones and 18-20 smaller ones per week; incredibly rich and luscious when cooked; a little too much on the acid side uncooked (but then I've been eating too many tomatoes for the past month and a half) Green Grape -- first year, planted them late; have only had 3 so far, but they're sweet-spicy and I'll grow them again Sungold of course -- me too; for a change, grew Sun Sugar and Galinas last year, both of which were sweet and tasted very similar to me, but didn't have the fruitiness of a bright-orange Sungold, and didn't produce as much as Sungold Black Cherry of course -- me too Tommy Toe -- my favorite red cherry (and it looks like I'm the only person who thinks so) and one of my top-5 favorite tomatoes, great flavor at every stage of ripeness, keeps well, produces huge numbers of large cherries; haven't found any other red cherries that come close in flavor (have tried Riesentraube [so-so], Chadwick Cherry [good, but not as good as TT, and low-medium production], Sweet Chelsea [bland]) Opalka -- a couple years ago the plant was sparse and production not great, but the tomatoes were creamy and rich; this year the plant is much denser and I'm looking forward to them Black Plum -- I liked the flavor better last year, but it was a consistent producer and the flavor improved later in the season, so I'm hoping it will get better; hadn't planned to grow it again -- the label said Black Cherry, alas Other tomatoes I've especially liked: Aunt Ginny's Purple -- rich flavor, big tomatoes, but production was low Momotaro -- if you like sweet tomatoes; but production seems medium to low; still, I'm growing 2 plants this year Early Girl -- nice tart-sweet flavor, and a reliable producer; last year it was not early but was a good producer late in the season; was worth growing once but, with so many varieties to choose from, I'm not sure I'd grow it again.

I ended up with a cherry fort - not a maze. The signif other decided to downsize the whole deal... so I ended up with a 10 X 10 area. We were starting with lawn... So I planted a tomato every 6-8 inches. I know inches... I put in: Gajo De Melon Suncherry red star sungold green doctors zebra cherry black cherry snow white Riesentraube OSU Blue Oh heavens, I'll have to go home and check again... there were others... I got a lot of people who wanted to donate seed, so I took them up on them and added them to the 'fort'. I have to take recent pictures, but this is what it looked like early on. I haven't been gung-ho on documenting this because I didn't want to document a complete failure if it happened... :) Then I went back to the original farm (without my camera) this weekend and they have extended their tomato maze - lots more varieties and much bigger this year... I will bring the camera next time I go. Again they told the kids "come back with your basket and belly full." SO cute and SO gets them excited about gardening. I want that!!! I'll take pictures tonight and post them tonight or tomorrow.

Still picking Quick Pick, La Casa di Apulio, Black Russian and Arcadia. Have jettisoned the Stupice which are still producing lousy tasting tomatoes and the Tigerella turnes out not to be what is claims - some unknown orange beefsteak type so its been outed. I'd appreciate a favour from you guys. On Saturday there is a particular cosmic pattern that I suspect will affect tomatoes, anything else growing on vines like pumpkins and vines in general. It's to do with the calcium and silica rerlationship in stem strength. The pattern last until Tuesday and if you could find a few minutes to let me know if there are any observable changes in your plants over the coming week I'd really appreciate it. Have fun in Vic - we get the final go ahead on Monday for the Child care centre so it will be all systems go if the builders, plumbers, carpark makers butchers, bakers and candlestick makers all copoerate. Short of a miracle it looks like its going to be impossible to make it. So have fun - the birght shiny star rising just after dusk is Mercury.....