My tomato spring..

[rayinpenn]

My name is Ray and I am tomato challenged.. there I said it. My challenge is twofold:
#1 I am addicted to Sungold, Large Red cherry and Beefsteak tomatoes. Oh and don’t tell me those things in the supermarket are tomatoes..they are in fact body snatcher tomatoes. They are red round and look like tomatoes but they come from a laboratory (or perhaps an alien pod) and they no have soul - I mean taste.
#2 My large garden in the backyard doesn’t get full sun. Tomatoes are a tropical plant and love full sun. I have met the challenge by planting them in containers. A few in the beginning but like everything else I
may have gotten carried away. But I ask you can you really ever have too many tomatoes? I’ve 25 in pots with another 10 to go.
What I’ve learned
1. Go heavy on the twist ties lest a spring storm raise havoc with your plants.
2. Deer are a constant threat
3. Plant a backup set of tomatoes in the less ideal back garden
4. Never let your wife try a sungold - mine eats them like candy.

 

[powerplay]

Those tomato plants are looking good! You need to try drying some of those sungolds in a food dehydrator if you want to know the true meaning of tomato candy addiction.

 

[street]

You are an expert compared to me but I love them also. We have 15 direct buried tomato plants and will see what we get for a harvest this year.

You have a beautiful garden and gardens can be fun if not to large.

 

[ransil]

Working on getting mine in the ground right now, totally agree on store tomatoes.
I always plant too many, bonus for co workers , I just take them to work and they go quick.

I have found 3 I really like:
Federal paste really good flavor on a pasted tomato, DRY LOW acid perfect for salads.

Anna Russian low acid real good flavor about baseball size.

Brandywine low acid, real good flavor pinkish fruit.

Deer are controled by an electric fence, 3 foot high they could easily jump it but they dont.

 

[RAE]

We love tomatoes. My garden does get full sun most of the day, so I am fortunate in that regard. I have 24 plants in my garden this year, and it's not a huge garden. Tomatoes and broccoli probably comprise 2/3 of the total garden space, so you can see how much we love those two things. I think I have 5 different varieties planted this year........one yellow tomato, one cherry, and three larger red varieties. If we get a good tomato harvest, we make a really killer marinara sauce, and can a bunch of it for the winter. Great stuff...........

 

[Red Badger]

To OP.

Fishing line (crisscrossed like a big piece of fishing net) helps keep the deer away from ours. It's hack I picked up from Grit magazine. They can't see it and when they touch it, they freak out (deer style freak out - not 70's disco Freakout!).

And yup, store tomatoes are evil, space alien pods that take your soul while you sleep.

 

[ransil]

To OP.

Fishing line (crisscrossed like a big piece of fishing net) helps keep the deer away from ours. It's hack I picked up from Grit magazine. They can't see it and when they touch it, they freak out (deer style freak out - not 70's disco Freakout!).

And yup, store tomatoes are evil, space alien pods that take your soul while you sleep.

You should see what my fence looks like after they hit it, usually only happens once a year,seems they get the messages. I don't even turn it on mid way thru the season.

Got my cucumber trellis ( fence ) up, peppers planted and 4 tomatoes in, eloped for today ill get it finish tomorrow .

 

[Souschef]

I put mine in last month, and I use 6 foot high triangular wire frames reinforced with steel fence posts.
I put in 4 plants, supposedly 2 Celebrity, a Better Boy and a Beefsteak. Well,
when I finally got some tomatoes, I was shocked to find that two of the plants were Sungold! I went back to the nursery, and asked WTH politely, of course.
I was told that one of the geniuses that waters the plants must have washed the labels out and put them back in the wrong pots!
That being said, we love the Sungolds and they really brighten up our salads So much so that next year I will get 3 regular tomato plants and one Sungold!

 

[Gumby]

I have grown 24 tomato plants from seed in my south facing office window over the past 1.5 months. I brought the first 8 home this weekend to put in the garden. I will get the rest in over the course of the next week. They are evenly split between Sungold, Roma and Ramapo.

 

[KB]

I have 9 different tomato varieties this year. Two cherry tomatoes and the rest are slicers...

I have similar cages to Souschef, which is why I only have 9 plants. I can only fit 4 cages in each of my 4 x 8 foot beds. I freeze lots of tomatoes for winter coking and share with neighbors and friends. If I have enough excess, I take them to the local food bank as a donation. And my zucchini too, they love fresh produce for their clients.

 

[Newventurer]

I have two beefsteak plants in a raised planting bed, I have more tomatoes on this year than ever in the past. Used lava rock on the bottom of the tub and new Miracle Grow garden soil. Hope they all ripen. I use the bird netting over a pvc frame to keep out most pests - birds, deer, squirrels and it seems to work. I can’t wait for that first tomato!

 

[Souschef]

We live in a mobile home park, and the plantable area is very limited. However, besides the 4 tomato plants, I am growing basil, thyme and chives, all f which do not take up a lot oif room.