A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 tomatoes

Dear Tomato gardeners, thanks for the e-mails espcially twezzi. (I hope I have that name right.)
Has anyone experienced softness in tomatoes, even before they are fully ripe?
That you fellow gardeners once again. You have been so nice to me. What a great forum this is
Your sincerely pauline russell

Hi Pauline,
Always very glad to help any fellow gardener out
with their plants.. we love plants so much and really like to see fellow gardener's succeed..
*and we like to have the plants live too *

Also, you wouldn't happen to have a picture
of your tomato would you?
That would be an awesome help....

I'm going to move your post down into the
FRUITS AND VEGETABLE SECTION...
I'm sure you'll get a few more responses
into that section...

What kind of tomatoes are you talking about? That might a difference to know that, are you growing them in the ground or in a container?

Hi, Pauline.

What kind of tomatoes are you growing? I have one Better Boy plant and the fruit on it is getting very soft before it is completely ripe. The tops are still yellowish, but the bottoms are very soft. I'm having to cut about the top 1/3 of the tomato off. I can still eat the rest...but it's mushy. Don't know what the problem is, but I'll probably never grow Better Boys again! I am also growing Celebrities and not experiencing the same problem with them.

Holly

I love Celebrities..
I didn't grow any this year,
couldnt find any local seeds..
I do miss them alot!!!

They are delicious, aren't they??!! Mine were already small plants when I bought them. The only reason I grew a Better Boy is because the place where I buy my plants only had three Celebrity plants left. I'll be sure to get them earlier next spring!!

Holly

I had never had them on my plant
list to grow tomatoes,
I always like Beefsteak and mother
liked Jet Star, Hienz, and a few others.

The neighbor that used to live next door
to me, had bought too many tomatoes
for her little garden, so she gave me a left
over 6 pack of Celebrities... *I thought,
ohhhhhhh, probably a little tomato that tastes
like cardboard, I'll plant them anyways and see.*
Weeeeeeeeellllllllll, I loved them, prefect little tomatoes, just the right size, firm,
juicey, good color, etc... and the plants preformed well......No complaints from me..

Ciao hollers,

You know, I've been thinking about your mushy issue and I can tell you that some varieties have a softer texture than others. I tend to stay away from hybrids like Celebrity and Better Boy so I really have no idea what texture they normally exhibit. I can, however, recommend quite a few heirlooms to you that have a much firmer texture, while retaining juiciness. It would require you to start from seed, though, but if you're willing to do that, let me know.

Weezie, I'll just be quiet on the issue of hybrids tasting like cardboard..*whistles to ceiling*....

Cheers,
Julianna

Julianna,

I think to me, it's an all around thing,
not one or the other, size, color, firmness,
and to me it's got good flavor....
When I get more organized, I will seriously
try a few of your varieties and see...
*the key word was organized..my kids' going to school this Sept, and if I can sneak some more
time without getting a job, that will be the key to getting everything under control here.. :rolleyes: *
But I really would like to try some other varieties sometime, never un~opposed to trying
new tomatoes!!! YUMMY YUMMY!!!

Hi, Weezie!

No complaints from me either! I've got to say that I think the Celebrities taste wonderful. Like you said, they are the perfect size, they turn a beautiful color, they are firm, yet juicy and have a great taste. I ate one today and thought I was in heaven - DELICIOUS!!

Julianna, thanks for the offer...but I have enough trouble growing from small plants. I think it will be a few years before I try starting seeds!!

Thanks!
Holly

Holly,
Don't be afraid of seeds......
Take it from me, I've been having a ball
starting them the last two years...
I'm not sooooooo experienced, but I did a
good job and had a blast...

Not hard to do....

Go to the stores in the spring time and
stand in front of those seed packets and druel..
I got tired of paying $14.00/$18.00 for ONE FLAT
of flowers or vegetable plants!!

I paid .10, .25, .50 cents for packaged seeds,
in the early part of March or April,
and had a ball trying to decide what stuff to get...and really tried somethings I'd never had
access to at my local nurseries for plants.

There's ALOT of people here that start seeds,
and there's hardly a gardener that wouldn't share a tip or two on how to start them for you!!!!!
Give us a holler, we love to help!!!!

Ciao Holly,

Yup, I agree with Weezie. Once upon a time, I was intimidated about starting veggies from seed, especially nightshades like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. They're now my favourite family of veggies and there are so many more varieties to try from seed than having to rely on what your corner garden centre or box store carries. It's much easier than you think. Peat pellets work wonders, they're way convenient and very tidy to start seeds in over a long, frigid winter. You don't have to worry about buying more Pro-mix for several weeks while your seedlings get started and you can cram 72 pellets in one flat. LOL, I could write pages about this and probably will once my season ends and I start dreaming about 2006! Weezie will get you hooked on seed catalogs if you hang out here enough ;o)

Cheers,
Julianna

Starting seeds is easy enough if you have good light. I have a couple of large east facing windows with good light and start all kinds of stuff without a problem. I'm already saving the cardboard egg cartons for gardening season 2006. I've planned where to add window shelves too so that I get maximum use of my window space. Not that I'm addicted to gardening or starting things from seed lol.

Julianna,
You mean my schpeel about how in the winter time
in Jan. and Feb. when the hustle and bustle of fall is waaaaay over and the business of the Holidays are over and done with and you
finally get a chance to sit and relax
*between snow shovelings* to get in your
mailbox a little bit of heaven and bunches
of rainbows when you open it up and you have gotten a bunch of
CATALOGS, CATALOGS AND MORE CATALOGS?????????????????

And you can put on some nice warm sweats or stay in your jammies, and get a nice hot drink of coffee, tea, or hot cocoa and a nice blankie and some warm fuzzy slippers, and sit on the couch with the sun shinin' in, *and right about there I fall asleep from being so warm* hehehehehe
and read and read and read all of your catalogs... and if you read enough of them, you can gather enough "FREE INFO" on those plants, and how they need to grow.
and look at alllllllll those pictures and what flowers look like and ........oh,

but you get the gist of it...

We'll even have Pauline starting seeds pretty soon.!!!

I agree with everyone on starting seeds at home. I have better luck with seeds than trying to buy already started plants. I used to be afraid, but, then like Weezie13, I started looking at seed packets, and saw a whole world of veggies I could grow in my own backyard, and with seeds you can have as many or as little plants you want. I just started seed growing two years ago, and will never go back. This year I started saving my own seeds from our veggies, and will try to use them next year.

Stacy (freestacy)