Steve, all I ever do anymore is think about growing tomatoes. New and exciting varieties, as well as varieties tried and true. Other things, too, of course, but mostly tomatoes.

Both of the varieties you linked above look fabulous. I know deep down I need to stay away from TATIANA'S, but I can't and I won't. In fact I have a second web tab open to her site right now. This site is TRULY addictive and will quickly pull you in; do not say for one second you haven't been warned. And warned twice! I've never in my life seen so many unique and interesting varieties. I ordered several from her for this season's garden and plans include another 8-10 for 2017. I corresponded a couple times back and forth with her and she is extremely kind. Her passion is inspiring in every way.

With that said, my list of tomatoes for 2017 is as follows, but we all know our lists constantly evolve, so I'm sure I (we) will be posting new and improved lists as we head into 2017. I have space for around 30 plants, so there's lots of time and space for editing..

1884 (REPEAT)

Aker's West Virginia

Aunt Gertie's Gold

Aunt Ruby's German Green

Aussie

Burcham's New Generation

Caspian Pink

Church

Cuostralee

Dester

Dutka's Pink

Earl's Faux

Eckert Polish

Granny Cantrell German Red

Hartsack Yellow

Heatherington Pink

Kosovo

Krasnodar Titans (REPEAT)

Little Willie's Mouthful

Mammoth German Gold

Mr. Underwood's German Giant

Mrs. Bot's Italian Giant

Omar's Lebanese

Pamyati Korneeva

Pantano Romanesco

Paragon

Rose de Berne

Rouge D'Irak

Sandul Moldovan

Santiam

Sojourner South American

Solar Flare

Stump of the World (REPEAT)

Todd County Amish

Urbanite

Vorlon

What is everyone else planning? It's never too early.. :)

- Nick.

My full list of 7 for 2017 as of today

Black Krim

Black from Tula

Cherokee Purple

Thessaloniki x 2 (tastiest red I had this year)

Kellogg's Breakfast (only new one - (replacing Lemon boy)

Sungold

My Black Krim was an absolute monster this year and I bet I end up with over 30 LB from it. I am trying out saving seeds for the first time from it, Tula and Thessaloniki.

Good Heavens, Nick!

I had forgotten that you had said each year's lineup is almost completely new! I hope you keep good notes. You will soon have experience with multitudes of tomatoes at the rate of ... let's see ... one, two, ...oh shoot! I lost count at 26! Can you imagine? Something like 100 different every 3 years! You are gonna be a fine resource, Nick. And yes, Tatiana is where I go often but not quite as often as RMG.

Jerry, I feel blessed with a climate suited to seed growing. Okay, tomato seed isn't wheat. But still ! My seed saving is by the simplest method imaginable ... About 3 weeks on a covered deck with afternoon sun ... and that after cleaning up the cutting board with a paper towel. Not QUITE that simple a process but real close.

Steve

Well, we will be moving into an apartment here later this week, so whether or not I grow any is a question right now.

I think my mother in law will let me use her yard, although I would have to grow in containers I think. I have been pondering if 20 gallon storage bins would be big enough for an indeterminate plant...

As for varieties I have been looking at tomato growers supply... even if I won't be able to grow any "window shopping" helps alleviate the pain of moving into a place with no outdoor space. I want to try some of the brandywine hybrids, like "big brandy." I like the large pink tomatoes but they are all at least 80 DTM. I tried Prudens Purple this year, almost everywhere that sells it claims it to be a solid midseason variety but here we are the end of August with Jack Frost knocking at the door and NOW it decides to start setting fruit.

Same with German Green (btw Nick I have some seeds left over of that one I can give you a few if you want to try it.) The plant is huge, easily the largest tomato plant I have ever had and it only has a handful of tomatoes on it. Once again it has decided to start setting fruit just a couple weeks away from the end of the season. This one I kind of expected it is a late season one, glad I only grew a single plant.

Anyway, this is about tomatoes for next year. One of my coworkers brought in a "mushroom basket" from his yard today. A large pink determinate apparently so maybe if I'm growing in containers next year I should go with that one. We will see what the future holds I guess.

Nick, what do you do with all those tomatoes? If you have any to sell, let me know. I can't seem to get a decent tomato right now. Even my usual "friend in the tomato business" doesn't have any for me yet.

Zach, remember, you can GOOP (Garden On Other People's Property)! And, I don't just mean your mother in law's.

I once just decided that I would mention it to everyone I talked to over about 2 weeks. Then, a neighbor to one garden had some ground and I asked.

Ya know, out in the exurbs, there are all these homes on an acre, or 3, or more. The homeowner has no real idea what to do with it other than spend every summer Saturday mowing. Or, they had kids, the kids are gone, they got rid of the horse, maybe they will move to a smaller place, someday ten years from now. If you go for something like this, promise them nothing other than a well-tended garden for your family's use. You are not there to do their yard work or grow food for them. Give references. Asked for a designated parking space ...

Prudens is supposed to be an early Brandywine type ... growing it just added to my conviction that I'd never be committed to real Brandywines. David53 did send me seed to Brandywine OTV and I'm growing that again and remembering him this year. Nothing ripe from it yet.

I picked a ton of tomatoes, today. Most of the beefsteaks are either Big Beefs or Goliaths. The Lemon Boy is sure kicking out lots, too!

Steve

GOOPing sounds great Steve, but I don't know how lucky I'd be finding someone willing to give me access to their property. When I was younger I tried knocking on doors for hunting access, always with a pretty solid no. It might be good to tone down my garden anyways. Trying to do too much may have had some effect on my rather measly results this year.

So I checked and on one plant I have about a dozen Prudens Purple that look like they may be far enough along to ripen for me before all is said and done, but they are still not even close to thinking about being ready. It has been over 90 days since I transplanted them back at the end of May. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Johnny's assertion of a 67 DTM is not at all accurate here at my place anyways and I want to know how they get theirs so early!

Now don't go thinking that carrying a loaded firearm onto people's property will be viewed as the same as the peaceful act of trending radishes.

It's frustrating to many people to have a resource that they would like to make use of but fail on that. One owner told me that he doesn't explain to visitors that it isn't his garden ...

Not gardening, I see as a prime reason for not participating on the forums. Don't want you drifting off and into trouble, Zach.

Steve

popmama - CANNING, CANNING AND MORE CANNING. Hehe. My goal this season was to grow enough tomatoes to put up enough canned stuff for two years so my partner and I could travel more next summer. Unfortunately, even with this year's amazing tomatoes, I don't think I'll meet my goal. Fortunately, that just means another garden packed with tomatoes again next season (like that wouldn't have been the case anyway).. I mean really.. I have canned more than 40 pints of crushed tomatoes and will be canning them in quarts over the upcoming Labor Day weekend. Most of them will be reopened in November for a stormy weekend of sauce-making with my cousin. Those are always the best weekends for it. Lots of wine, custom aprons, tomatoes and hilarity. I used frozen tomatoes last season, around 50 1-gallon freezer bags full, but this season the freezers are full of meat, so I have no choice but to can 'em up. I do think I have 6 bags in there right now, but they're lost in the melee.

Tomato Seed: I think of TomatoFest as being right at the top of the list.

Sample Seeds has a real nice lady running it and she puts her emphasis on tomatoes and I enjoy the Tomato Growers paper catalog but take your time in looking through that one. Not every variety warrants a lovely picture. Check the Tomato Growers online catalog for everything they have to offer, complete with a description and photo.

TomatoFest has their annual sale right now with about half of their selection at very good prices (LINK). It's fun to look at their pictures and descriptions!

Steve

Saturday, the Totally Tomatoes and Vermont Bean Seed catalogs showed up in the mailbox. I've been trying to uncover the new stuff while remembering why I passed up some things last year.

Sunrise Sauce, a new orange paste tomato maturing in 55-60 days. Whoa!! You know how unusual a paste is that matures that quickly? Roma is 75 days, San Marzano is 80. Stokes Seed doesn't have any that quick. Neither does Tomato Growers Supply.

I grew Heinz 2653 in 2015 - Fedco's earliest and listed as 68 days. If we would have had frost as usual in fall of '15 instead of record fall warm weather, it would never have had time to ripen.

Sunrise Sauce: "Flavor is best when tomatoes are cooked but they are also excellent enjoyed fresh."

Oh boy, an early-maturing paste that is good fresh!

Steve