Seed shopping. Buahahaha

[Wolf-Kim]

Okay, so I recently asked about heirloom and open pollinated plants and have since then done plenty of research. I have just purchased 5 varieties of tomatoes, some because I wanted to try them and others because I thought they would be cool conversation pieces. LOL

The micro tomatoes, these things are only 6-7" tall and bear fruit, not big fruit, but still thought it would be cool to have around in a container some where to show off to friends.

The Tiny Tim is a cherry tomato that grows in about a square foot and reportedly gives off huge yields. We'll see. A friend of mine is going to try aquaponics, so I thought this would be a great variety to share with him.

The Cherokee purple. Supposedly an all time favorite.

The Brandywine red, another supposedly all time favorite.

And the Mortgage Lifter, a larger beefsteak type tomato, just thought I'd give it a try.

... I was also bad and bought a pack of Bird house gourd seeds and a pack of cucumbers. And that was WITH restraint, I could plant shop anytime. It's a strange weakness I think I inherited from my mother who has always had a garden.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I like the cherokee purple. It is really noce in sauce, it gives the sauce a nice deep red color. Brandywine is one of SO's favorites. He likes big tomatoes. These are great on hamburger or for a tomato sandwich.
We tried the mortgage lifter one year and were disappointed. It did not produce that well. But I have heard a lot of other people's success stories. So maybe it was just not a good fit for us.

 

[freemotion]

Brandywine was my first introduction to a tomato that I could cut up and eat all by itself. Again and again. Yum!

 

[old fashioned]

Brandywine is one of our favorites too. These are what tomatoes are supposed to taste like-sweet and tangy with loads of flavor. Huge fruit (and lots of them per plant)-1 slice will fit most burgers or bread slice-sometimes bigger
This year I'm planting Brandywine (duh ), Marglobe, Amish Paste, San Marzano, and Nineveh. I've not tried these others before, but excited to see what they are like.

FD-last year I had a mortgage lifter and it didn't do that well for me either and I probably won't bother trying again.

Weakness? Yeah, I have that problem too. I have a large popcorn tin and 2 plastic grocery bags filled with seeds of everything we eat and want to try. Everything from Amaranth to Zucchini. Plus herbs and flowers too.
Restraint???? Never heard of it......

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Excellent! So glad to hear that people like the Brandywines and the Cherokee Purples, I was really looking forward to those two since both got great reviews. There were also purple and yellow varieties of Brandywine, but I went with red just because you have to have some red tomatoes.

Yeah, I was pretty iffy on the Mortgage Lifters, but though what the heck and will give them a try. There was a review I read that said to trim some of the fruit to get the bigger tomatoes, kind of like a fruit tree. I figured that most of our harvest would be from the brandywine and cherokees and then the other three varieties more like fun experiments.

Just sooo many varieties and so little garden. But it's okay, there is always next year to try something new.

Adam and I agree to can or pickle this year, just because in years past, we either ate the yields fresh or they went to the animals. Since the garden has easily quadrupled in size this year, we will be playing with ways to savor our harvest all year long.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that even though hubby helped seed shop, he is still determined to pick up a 6 pack of Bonnie Celebraty tomatoes which is what we've always planted in years past. So now we get to try new varieties beside the old and not only will we be growing heirlooms for the first time, but I'll have to learn how to bag them to keep them from cross pollinating. Lots of fun projects for this year.