Best tomato season ever!

[Robin Garr]

Frost finally bit our tomato plants this morning, after a record run that lasted from late June all the way through Nov. 6. We even got another half-dozen ripe San Marzanos and another dozen green ones off the wizened remains of the plants.

I'm not sure how we did it during a hot and Sahara-dry summer that killed a lot of gardens hereabouts, but Mary gives credit to a deep bed of compost that contains the remains of most of our non-meat kitchen scraps for the last 15 years. The roots went so deep and the soil was so nutritious that the plants apparently fought off all attacks.

I wish now that I had kept count of the totals from our four San Marzano plants, four Italian heirloom oxhearts and two "brandyboy" beefsteak hybrids, but it had to be in the hundreds. We've been eating them on everything, and must have two dozen one-meal containers of fresh tomato sauce taking up a lot of space in our side-by-side freezer. I'll be very glad to have them to thaw and use on pasta in January and February, though.

This was my worst tomato season ever. I put out about 12 plants, only four grew & survived, and I ended up with about 10 tomatoes total this year. I have some of the best soil in Crescent HIll, and watered for quite a while early on when things started to get dry. Not sure what happened. I went with all heirloom varieties this year, and at times you trade yeild for flavor.

Hopefully next year will be better.

[Robin Garr]

This was my worst tomato season ever. I put out about 12 plants, only four grew & survived, and I ended up with about 10 tomatoes total this year. I have some of the best soil in Crescent HIll, and watered for quite a while early on when things started to get dry. Not sure what happened. I went with all heirloom varieties this year, and at times you trade yeild for flavor.

Hopefully next year will be better.

Chris, here's hoping for a better 2011 for your tomato garden! It's odd, too, as our situations sound very similar: Crescent Hill, excellent soil, heirlooms. Maybe it depends on the specific heirloom varieties?

I started plants indoors this past winter, and they became stunted & quit growing, so in late May I had to buy plants. Bought a few varieties at Thinemans, can't remember which ones, and then about half of them did nothing. The year before, I did all heirlooms from seed started indoors & had the best garden ever. I made tomato sauce every Sunday for about 4 months, it was unreal.

Next year will be better!

We had 2 plants both Goliaths, still had tomatoes up until this week. I think we still have about 24 from when I finally pulled the vines. Same deal, Beechmont has great soil, high water table ( hence the name Beechmont).. Maybe its something about Crescent Hill, went to the Mayors Community Conversation and Jerry was complaining about not getting many tomatoes this year, one of the folks in our neighborhood association went home and got him a bag from their yard