I've been suffering tomato withdrawal symptoms for sometime now.
Not much on our favorite subject has been posted here, so I have had to make do with regular reading of the 'Up Over' tommie forum, which has helped.
Finally I couldn't take it anymore....sowed my first lot of seeds 16 July, second lot 31 July and final lot 22 August.
My 2005 growout list:
Amana Orange
Anna Russian
Aunt Ruby’s German Green
Australian Pink (my contribution to Ray's Aussie tom growout)
Black From Tula
Black Krim
Box Car Willie
Brandywine Sudduth’s Strain
Burracker’s Favorite
Cherokee Chocolate
Cherokee Green
Ckerokee Purple
Earl’s Faux
Eckert Polish
Fritsche
Hawaiian Pineapple
Hillbilly
Jaunne Negib
Little Lucky
Lime Green Salad
Livingstone’s Stone
Lucky Cross
Marianna’s Peace
Paragon
Regina’s Yellow
Santorini
Turkey Chomp
White Beauty

My sincere thanks to Patrina and Ray for many of the above varieties. Hopefully next year I’ll have saved seed to share/trade.
So what varieties are you all planning/growing this season?

Mark

I've started some seeds a bit more than a week ago, so most of them have germinated and are planted into their little pots. They barely peep out from the soil, though.

Nice list, Mark. Will post mine soon, too :)

Mark

I planted seeds of Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and Tom Thumb and while we were down in Melb, my dear neighbour did not look after them as well as I do, and I lost the lot. So Hubby went and bought a punnet of Grosse Lisse thats all that was available here, and I didn't have the heart to start on seeds again or much time, sadly there is no taste in them , they are either flowery or watery. I then bought a punnet of First Prize last month and I think they have gone to sleep as they are hardly growing. I have had enough for this year. This Autumn we bought a few trailer loads of sandy soil and mixed it with the huge pile of other soil which has a fair bit of clay in it and compost we had down the chook yard for four years, so cant blame the soil for the diseases.

This Winter I have had two separate bumper crops of Snow Peas, Spring Onions, and three lots of radish gee those Yates Gentle Giants are huge crisp and taste yummy also plenty of Silver Beet for the chooks and Bok Choy so at least I am growing something. I have six veggie beds and I rest them over the Summer sometimes I grow a cover crop, but not this year as we are already on water restrictions, and they say it may get down to bucketing and I am too old for that, so till next February I will leave seeds growing alone. Cheers...MM

Grub's Tomatoes 2005/2006
(*Denotes grew last year)

Slicers
Akers West Virginia
Arkansas Traveller
Brandywine OTV
*Brandywine Sudduth
Brazilian Beauty
Box Car Willie (two new sources)
*Box Car Willie (not, but nice, from last year)
*Cherokee Purple (new source)
Crnkovis Yugoslavian
*Dr Neal
Earl’s Faux 2003
*Faux Cuostralee
*Fluted Marianna’s Peace
Kellogg’s Breakfast x Akers West Virginia
Kornesevvsije
Lithuanian
Lucky Cross Pink F4
Mortage Lifter Ester’s Strain
Mule Team
Picardy
Red Brandywine
Russian 117
Russian Red
*Soldacki
Stick

Earlies & Determinates
Jaune Negib
*Jaune Flammee
Homestead 24F (pots)
Kimberly
New Big Dwarf
Mountain Princess
Sophie’s Choice
Totem

Hearts
Ernesto
Rinaldo
German Red Strawberry
Prue
Wes

Bicolours
Burrackers Favorite

Other Colours
Golden Monarch
Golden Queen
*Grub’s Green
Hughs

Cherries/Currants
Broad Ripple Yellow Currant
*Dr Carolyn
Matts Wild
Quartz Multiflora
Sara’s Galapagos

Pots
X 10 from above tba

Ends.

Hi Gang,

MM: Sorry to hear about the problems you had. I grew my toms in two different locations last season and had blight problems at one location and fruit fly at the other, so I sympathize fully!

Lomatia: Care to share the varieties?

Grub: An awesome list!!! You have some varieties I am considering for next season. I’ll be interested in your end of season report and maybe swap, trade, buy, beg, borrow or steal some seeds?
I should have clarified on my list that the following are regrows from last season:
Anna Russian (equal second best tasting tom from 2004)
Black Krim (equal second best tasting tom from 2004)
Cherokee Purple (Best tom from 2004 for taste and production)
Hawaiian Pineapple (First one was awesome, but fruit fly got the rest…give another go)
Hillbilly: (Didn’t look like the descriptions and photos I have seen. Will grow again and show everyone for their opinions….I think it may be Marvel Stripe)
Livingstone’s Stone (Great taste but fruit fly problems)
White Beauty (Two plants, only one fruit set and then Blight killed the plants quick. Will try in a different location)

Adamus: Also a great list and I’m sure it will grow! So sorry to hear about your sister. If you can’t find a variety called Libby or Elisabeth, how about commissioning someone or having a go at hybridizing a new variety yourself?

Mark

Mark,
I was plagued by the dreaded Fruit Fly mid-to-late season and everyone here seemed to have the same problem. This year, I'm going to hang those pots and take precautionary action. I don't think any one variety is more or less susceptible to them. The reds, the hard hybrids, the oranges all got whacked.

Grub, try FF exclusion bags, though bagging all the fruit though wouldn't be much fun. The traps are of two kinds - one lures the males only, and while it reduces the numbers a little, one male can have it off with a number of females! The other is a general trap I think. Again useful but not a cure. An old bloke Len knows hangs an open container of diesel fuel around and claims the fumes keep them away.

As to lists, I'll leave that in Adam's hands, apart from a couple I want to grow for the Great Aussie Tomato Growout, plus Tenessee Britches which I promised I'd grow out and distribute.

Hopefully I'll have some black russians, green zebras, yellow pear, ox hearts and some (methinks) tom thumbs. There's quite a lot of tomatoes coming up all over the place, so it's a case of if they want to grow there - that's where the stakes go.

Anyone grown Italian Giant Pear strains, German Giant or Giant Belgium?
I'll make a list of the onions another time!!

Is the Heirloom MIx from Diggers and labelled Russian Mix? If so, I've grown the mix and, in hindsight, twas fun. Includes Black Krim, supposed Azoychka, an Orange SIberian, an early red one, and some others. Seven types all up.

When you post your onion list I will be very jealous. I'm no good at all at onions.

My list for this year is:

Jaune Negib
Earl's Faux Brandywine
Pale Perfect Purple
Jaune Flammee
Rose Quartz Multiflora
Black Early
Cherokee Chocolate
Purple Cherokee
Brandywine
Palmwoods
Husky Gold
Rouge De Marmande
Polish Giant
Schimmeig Crag
Principe Borghese

Hopefully I'll have more luch with my seedlings this year than last casue I'm looking forward to trying out all these varieties.

On top of these seeds I still have a yellow tommy toe (pretty ordinary) and a sweetbite red cherry that I mamaged to get through winter down here, so hoping for some early cherries :-)

Sarah,
Maybe I will try some cages, too.

John,
Maybe the one with finely dissected leaves in Silvery Fir Tree?

And this is the patch from a different angle

Call in Amanda to weld some cages and lay some tiles :)

No sign of my green watering can, but I notice a pelagorium or geranium in the front left. I have a rose-scented one which I love scrunching and sniffing. When wlaking to work I know of two mint-scented ones and there's a lemon one you can get too. But I think yours are flowering types?

Seems to be some other nicely established trees here and there. Top plot. Have a cuppa and some cake.

The geranium you can see is a red-flowering one, there is a lime pelargonium close-by. The latter only has small blue flowers.

Oh, and your green watering can is at its usual spot. Outside the garden shed. You might see it in the picture below.

I know they say two transplants to maximise root shock but I was thinking of sowing three seeds straight into containers of about that size and then thinning to the strongest one and then transplanting straight out.

You haven't done this, have you? The other way with raising them in cells, transplanting into cups, and then back into the patch is fiddly. Then again I might just have to fiddle.

Grub, yes, these tubes contain babies. The white labels are a bit overpowering at the moment, but not for long, as the babies are growing nicely. I start the seeds in seed punnets, and as soon as they emerge and are starting to grow a bit I put them in those tubes. Don't want them too leggy. I don't know yet whether I'll repot them again or just put them in the ground. It depends on how well they are doing and when I will be able to plant them out.

Some of the babies transplanted already (now the gales have finished)

The list so far. All are up apart from the last two that just arrived in the post yesterday. I will post pics of greenhouse soon.

Cherokee Green
Brandywine Red and Suddeths
Momotaro
Gregoris Altai
College Challenger
Box Car Willie
Cherokee Purple
Delicious
Soldaki
Zogola
Big Beef
Arkansas Travellor
Druzba
Dr Lyle
Anna Russian
Aunt Rubys German Green
Kellogs Breakfast
Sioux
Carbon
Prudens Purple
Polish Dwarf.
Mortgage lifter - eslters
Father Tom
Fritsch
Cherokee Choclate
Marianas Peace
Wes
Eckerts Polish
Russian Red
Paul Robeson
Striped Turkish Monestry
Marammeno
Gioia della Mensa

From left to right accross the back are Gregoris Altai, Box Car Willie and Brandywine suddeths. GA has flower buds starting.

In the forground are from left Cherokee Green, Momotoro, BCW, Delicious and Kellogs Breakfast. In the background are 11 others in the old part of the greenhouse.

And heres a Polish Dwarf that Micheal in the US warns me not to over fertilise or it wont be a dwarf for long :-)

Cheers
Mantis

Aunt Ginny's Purple
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Black Cherry
Black Early
Black Krim
Black Plum
Black Prince
Broad Ripple Yellow Currant
Burpee's Globe
Cherokee Chocolate
Cherokee Purple
Cuostralee
Elfie
Druzba
Earl's Faux (Brandywine)
Earl of Edgecombe
Early Pixie
German Gold
Golden Delight
Grub's Green
Herman's Yellow
Ida Gold
Jaune Flamme
Jaune Negib
Kellog's Breakfast
Kotlas
Lemon Boy
Little Lucky
Marianna's Peace
Moldovan Green
Nebrasca Wedding
Nepal
Neve's Azorean Red
New Big Dwarf
Oregon Spring
Pale Perfect Purple
Pink Gaetano
Purple Calabash
Regina's Yellow
Rouge de Marmande
Santorini
Silvery Fir Tree
Soldacki
Striped Cavern
Striped Turkish Monastery
Syrian Giant
Tasmanian Blushing Yellow
Teardrop
Wild
Wuhib
Yellow Brandywine

Quite a lot of them are new to me this year. So this will be interesting. I'll save as many seeds as possible and will be happy to share them with you all come next autumn. :)

German Johnson
Livingston's Giant oxheart.
Great White beefsteak.
Orlov's Yellow.
Juane Negib.
Moldovan Green.
Concrete red.
Marriana's Peace.
Sophie's Choice.
Paragon.
Tennessee Breeches.
Joe Thienmen's Australian Rad.
Earl's Faux.
Black Cherry.
San Marzano
Sioux.
Silvery Fir Tree.
Orange Heirloom.
Burracker's Favourite.
Aunt Gerty's Gold.
Azoychka.
Ballandean Roma.
Jaune Flamee.
Kimberly.
Clear Pink Early.
Verna Orange.
Heatherington Pink.
Oleyar's German.

Spatz, I thought you were cutting back. Lol.

I can't wait for the insalata caprese.

Grub and Adamus, I AM cutting back. Really. I'm just numerically challenged.

What I figured out was that if I only grow 1 (ONE) plant per variety I am definitely cutting back. Cause it won't be as many as last year. Plant wise. Right? Right?!

Mantis

Santorini sounds actually really nice. Even though I don't really need another cherry.

Flat leaf parsley is the way to go! Definitely. I have it self-seeding in my garden. It's a must. So are the chives.

I've got a small plastic greenhouse that I put mine outside in during the day, but so far I've been bring the flats back inside overnight. Well, actually, now that a few have started emerging, I left the flats in there last night for the first time. It's probably about 8 degrees C overnight at the moment.

PP

And great to see you got one of Tom's Prue's to germinate. Was this from this 1997 stock? And what gives with Isis Candy variations?

Anyway, it looks great and nice and simple. Still can'tget over the extent of Lomatia's spring sowings and cuttings.

PP,
I look forward to hearing Craig answer your questions. Last year, my bubs were set back from 8C nights. IMHO, that's too cold. But what wold I know.
Thanks for the stuff. Best to you and your bubs, :)grub.

My dad has germinated tomatoes recently in a tyre with a glass cover (outside). They seem to do ok. And on the weekend I noticed volunteers coming up in my garden, so perhaps it isn't too cold for them.

The middle pot above has a Sioux in it that was under so much stress it has opened flowers. I hope it recovers.

PP

And I finally finished the garden bed edging in the tomato patch.

PP

Actually I'm just trying to get you to do more work

BTW, I keep thinking you could submit one of your pics from last season for a new pic for the US Tomato Forum!

PP