Friday, April 20, 2007

Let the tomato season begin



headed to their new home


I am excited about the varieties of tomatoes I found on my annual greenhouse tour in southwest Virginia this week. Longdale Greenhouse always carries some unusual varieties. And my friends at Walatoola have been nursing along some very interesting varieties in their upstairs nursery. They have names I’ve never heard before like Sioux and Porterhouse. Here’s a listing of my current tomato seedlings

Better Boy - 8; Early Girl - 4; Italian Sweet -4; Supersteak - 4; Boxcar Willie - 8; Supersweet 100 - 4; Viva Italia - 2; German Johnson - 1; Princepe Borghese - 1; Little Moma - 1; Steak Sandwich - 1.

I sort of vowed at the end of last season that I wasn’t going to give my whole garden over to “fussy” heirlooms this year. That’s why the Better Boys and the Early Girls are there. But boy would I like to taste an Italian Sweet this year … or a Boxcar Willie. Talk about tomato flavor … So the journey of heartbreak known as tomato gardening begins again.

Meanwhile in my own nursery, maybe six of my artichokes are up and would probably benefit from a transplanting. My grow lights are up north, so everyone in the nursery will have to wait a week before they get the steady light they deserve to keep from getting leggy.

My friends at Walatoola had started a set of Early Girls REALLY early this year and are propping them up with pussy willow branches waiting for the threat of the last frost to pass this weekend.


Early Girls with Pussy Willow Stakes

3 comments:

Unknown said...

We had dinner with Gordon Turner this evening and he told me about your blog. Hope to see your garden when we visit him and Chris this August.

Lisa said...

Amen about the fussy heirlooms. This year I decided the same, and am going to try Brandy Boy, which is a Brandywine heirloom available from Burpee. Last year I got 3 tomatoes per plant from my Brandywines, which was the straw that broke the gardener's back! Check out my rant about it if you want:
http://civildiscourse.typepad.com/inthegarden/
I so enjoy your site!

Anthony said...

You're so lucky to have a great place that sells more than the same old plants. I gave up my search and just start my tomatoes from seed every year.

From your list I'm also growing Early Girl, Supersteak, & Little Moma.

I'm also growing Porterhouse (which has poor germination rates), Brandywine, Sun Gold, Black Krim, Tomande, Brandyboy & Big Mama.

Italian Sweet and Boxcar Willie sound interesting. Let us know how they do. I'll have to put them on my wish list for next season.