Thursday, October 2, 2014

Tomatoes 2014 -- Thursday, October 2, 2014

It's been a late season - I don't have any protected seed starting location, so my seeds were very slow to germinate (but they DID eventually sprout), and my hospitalization (and then nursing home stay) from June through August really put a cramp in the grow-outs this year. On the few visits home during my nursing home stay, we did up-potting and in-ground planting.  I got three plants at the Master Gardener Sale in April, and those went into the front yard (Carmello F-1, Ananas Noire, and Cherokee Purple).  I got some seeds from Carolyn Male in New York, and some from Marsha in Florida in addition to ones I've grown previously and wanted to get fresh seed for.

No blossom bagging has been done to date this season.  I plan to bag some of the plants that are just beginning to push forth with blossoms now in hopes of getting pure seed.  For the others, I will just note that they weren't bagged, and I'll expect 90+% purity, knowing that I may see some crossing.

Processed 3 Sugar Lump cherry tomatoes (original strain from Debra Krauss) and have set them to ferment.  Finished processing seeds (2 seeds!) from first Sweet Orange II Cherry tomato, and am leaving them to dry on a coffee filter.

Other tomatoes in the back yard are coming along.  I've eaten amethyst cream cherries (anthocyanin producing with purple pigment); if allowed to ripen until soft they get kind of insipid.  Picking them a little earlier has more flavor.  Will save some seeds at next picking.

I picked one Cosmonaut Volkov today - red but more oval/bomb-shaped than the usual round red fruit.  This plant is growing in a too-small pot, but we ran out of the largest pots.  In previous years, Cosmonaut Volkov has been very unassuming in appearance but, at times, a top tasting variety. My seed is getting old on this one, so I am hoping to amass a new supply from this season's fruit.  The fruit is a few days from optimal ripeness, but I didn't want the birds to get to it before I could save seed (assuming the flavor is right - then again, it might make sense to save seeds anyway).

I have a couple of nearly-ripe Polfast (determinate, F-1) fruit.  Even thought they're hybrid, I may still opt to save seed.  May need to get more cups for seed saving.

I have a couple of Delano Green Ripe and Cherokee Lime Stripes that are sizing up.  Hopefully we'll see some of them ripen in the next couple / few weeks. I have small unripe fruit on more than one of the Quedlinburger Frue Liebe plants also. 

I'm disappointed that I didn't get any Japanese Oxheart, Dester, Eastham Pink,Diana's Garnet Gem or Purple Dog Creek to baby tomato stage.  There are blossoms on the Japanese Oxheart, and it looks like I may have a ruffled fruit coming on Purple Dog Creek plant in a big pot on the patio.  Pray for a long season with no killing frost before Thanksgiving, and maybe we'll get something from most of them.

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