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speaking of tomatoes

P

pete black

Well-known Member
how many plants do you plant? what variety? do you stake/cage/mulch? i typically plant 40 plants of various varieties. we do not can or freeze many, just enjoy eating and gifting. as of the last 3 years my favorite is an old heirloom called "cherokee purple". this year i ordered from totallytomatoes.com a new variety call "berkeley tie dye" that is supposed to be better than cherokee purple. i mulch and cage.
 
we have about 10 plants. CP is our favorite also. we mulch,cage. try one or two new varieties each yr.
 
I try to limit her to 10 or 12 plants. We use old 16ft. gates have taken out. The one who knows, tyes them loosely with string, or baler twine to the gates. Works for us.
 
Pete- I usually try to put out two 'flats' of tomatoes (96). I like Rutgers for canning. In 1997, I planted 1700 Rutgers tomato plants (kinda got carried away).

Greg
 
wow !!! you plant 40 plants and manage to eat and gift em ? we put in 8, eat all we want, can 30qts, give some away and always talk about making some fried green tomatoes, but never get around to doing it.
 
8 Celebrity, 8 Betterboy, several Roma,Cherry and then some I've never tried. This year it's an heirloom that produces a purple fruit.

I make 18"x5' tall cages out of concrete wire mesh and use a T post to secure. Lots of used wood shavings from the local stables as mulch. I drip irrigate so moisture is very consistent. Plants will get 7-8' tall and produce way more than we can eat,can, and give away.
 
Those are the best cages you can have. I use black garbage bags on the bottom gives the plant a small green house type protection till till the weather gets warmer later. make a small opening in the bottom for the plant keeps weeds down that makes it air tight from wind. T-post keeps it from blowing around.Then you can reach in and keep plants pruned. Only way to go.
 
I started my Cherokee Purples ]first time for me]from seeds way too early, in December, and set them out to early too. Had them freeze back, but some came out again from the stumps. Heavy mulch, in cages.
 
I plant a variety. Last year: Better Boy, Early Girl,Fantastic, Amish Paste and Romas. I use concrete reinforcing wire. I bought 5 x 10 pieces and cut them in half lengthwise. I put three or four together end to end in two parallel rows. I stake and zip tip the wire. As the tomatoes grow I place notched sticks through the wire openings to support the plants. I usually plant 36-48 plants.

Larry
 
I use 12 inch PHD, 2 ft wide chicken wire 36 in long for cage. It keeps critters out and works well keeping tomatoes up. About 8 inches of cage goes in hole along with lime, fertilizer and home made mulch. I don't fill hole all the way full. It takes a long time for water to soak in my clay, so hole acts like a rain barrel.

I use wood mulch in flower beds. About 5 years I put cherry tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket on deck. Now every year cherry tomatoes grow in flower bed by back door. They start producing about the time garden tomatoes are finished.

So last year I put some old tomatoes in flower bed next to pole barn. Can't wait to see what they will produce.

Couldn't tell you brand. I look for one brand like early girl, 60 day, beef stake, don't plant that many, I'm the only one that likes tomatoes, don't can.
 
I have 12 Big Boys and one Chadwick cherry. Enough for two people. I have them in heavy
reinforcement wire cages I made about 40 years ago. I don't need any metal posts as I cut away the bottom horizontal wire leaving short wire legs. This is last year's picture. My wife has one in an Earth box. Hal
PS: She has rhubarb planted in Earth boxes and we have it planted around the garden. She makes a rhubarb crumb pie for our daughter's birthday every year. She turns 60 this month and was born at Ft Bragg when I was in the Army.
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I try lots of varieties but make sure I put in some Big Boy and Better Boy. I stake and tie. I learned it this way years ago as my first job. $.75 cents an hour in the field for a farmer.
 
Roma, Big boy and Better boy this year. We eat em fresh, make our own spagetti sauce, juice, ketchup, salsa and can some. Got about 40 plants this year also.
 
I went with 5 Better Boy and 2 Goliaths this year. Did not like the production out of the Romas or Early Girl last year, but we did have a late frost. I cage and canned 103 quarts and 43 pints of my tomato, onion and green pepper and custom mix that we use as a base for lasagna, spaghetti, chili, soups and stews. My soil is kinda sandy and I have been trying to improve it for the last 14 years. Last fall I got a pickup load of horse manure and left it on top till this spring than tilled it in. We'll see how that does.
 
Two years ago 105 plants, assorted. Last year about 48 assorted. This year's game plan: 12 San Marzano, 12 Amish Paste, 12 Roma, 12 Lemon Boys,6 Juliet Grapes, 6 Yellow Pear, 6 Brandywine/ Brandyboy. I'm sure a few more may find their way into the patch. We use Florida staking, rebar every 5 feet or so strung with baling twine to form mini trellisis. Good air circulation, quick and neat. Can, freeze, and of course, eat fresh!
Dave
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