A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 For all those who fret and frown over tomatoes

I've read many posts and I'm extremely guilty as well, about people worrying about the size, shape and appearance of their tomatoes. Well if there was an award for the saddest looking tomato...bar none...mine would win the blue ribbon!! But the flavor......my god!!!! They are the firmest, juiciest tomatoes I've ever grown. Sweet, sour salty....my mouth waters as I cut into them. My neighbour's plants are the healthiest looking plants with the reddest tomatoes I've seen this year. I picked one of his through the fence...shh.. not to boast but the flavor didn't compare to mine. So another lesson learned. Never judge a book by it's cover. Whether it's a person, place, thing or a tomato!!
Good Luck Everyone!!
Christina

What kind are they?

I grew Romas and Better Boys. Here's an example of my sad tomato. A tomato only a mother could love.
TOP:


BOTTOM:


Did I win the blue ribbon?
Christina

You could draw a face on the bottom and it would be really cute!

That is soooooooooo true Christina....
They can taste sooooo good even if
they look a wee~bit off!!!!

Believe it or not, I just picked
my first red*ish* tomato....
Mine were soooooooo slow coming in...

But tasteeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I have a bigggggggg huge, double one almost..
but it's still green as green!!!

I am with you Weezie, we have only pulled 4 or 5 redish ones but it looks like I should be able to pull a dozen or so RED ones this weekend. That means SALSA!!!!

Don't worry...ALL of mine look like that. hey are either deformed, split skins, or somehow bugs got into them. And yess...I spray for bugs, but they still get in!

Steve

I just went out to the garden and got another basket full of tomatoes. Funny how some are the size of grapefruits and green as a lime but others are the size of grapes and red as the nail polish I have on my toes right now. But I'm not gonna' complain...they're edible......'least I hope cuz I'm eatin' them.

Sounds good Christina. I just harvested today. Here is what I ended up with.

Looks great Triss! My romas look and taste just fine. 'Bin pickin' them for a good month now. I'm a little disappointed with my hot banana peppers. Not enough heat for me. My chilis are just now turning red.....now they're yummy!!!! Green peppers are loooong gone. Early crop with few peppers....bummer!!!

A bit nicer looking than my Better Boys.

Now that looks good!

My first tomato to turn red is turned
and it's picked..
*no picturs yet*

But I will get one of my huge,
looks like, a double tomatoe when I can
get to it...

Christina...
Those tomatoes and peppers look
very gooooooooooooood!!


Try some Jalapenos' or Cayenne's for
just a little bit more heat than your
hot banana peppers.

Weezie!!
I'm still waitin' for that pic of your 'maters....I'm becoming impatient.
Christina

hahaha.
husbands' been home
and he's drivin' me nutz with projects...

Funny you should post this,
I am actually eating my first beefsteak tomato
RIGHT NOWWWWWW!!!
And it's soooooooooooooooooooo
sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

They look like Ugly Tomatoes!! They are an heirloom beefsteak, the best tomato you can grow!! Wonderful Taste!!!

My fruits (Roma, Cherry) look and taste great. Had romas, rosted garlic and pasta for dinner tonight.

Kind of off topic but I was watching a garden show recently and they boiled, pealed and then froze tomatoes. Anyone preserve this way and how do they taste? I mean, heck I did most of that just making dinner.

LMT,
I find that the best way to preserve tomatoes. The flavour keeps very well and like you said....it saves all the steps u did for dinner.
Christina

Christina,

That funny-looking tomato has what's called "catfacing" which happens oftentimes in hot/humid weather when the pollen gets sticky and the blossom doesn't pollinate completely. Some varieties are particularly prone to it. In fact, I'm growing a green-when-ripe variety called Aunt Ruby's German Green, a very large beefsteak, the kind that can provide BLTs for 4 adults from one fruit. Most of these have had catfacing on them, but I'm not entering them into a county fair contest or selling them at a farmer's market so I really don't care what they look like. After all, would you rather eat a gorgeous-looking piece of cardboard or a catfaced piece of heaven? Something to ponder.

Cheers,
Julianna

Julianna,
Do those blossom's look really BIG??
On my Beefsteak, they were a VFN variety.
The flowers' were huge, and did that to
alot of the tomatoes..and the one's I'm talking
about being huge are those very ones??????
Some look like ther'es 2 or 3 tomatoes together almost they are sooooo big...

Yep, Weezie, the monster beefsteaks seem to be more prone to catfacing than other varieties, although I have seen some catfacing on salad-size tomatoes (the size of a small tennis ball). Another observation..I notice more monster-sized blossoms way early in the season, like the first blossoms to open on a large beefsteak variety will oftentimes be HUGE and the resulting fruit will be conjoined twins or just a big catfaced creature. I had a Burracker's Favourite (very large beefsteak bicolour) which started its life as an ENORMOUS blossom and became a conjoined twinset over 3 lbs. It ended its life as Italian tomato sauce, lol. Sometimes it can be a fun learning experience to track the life from blossom to fruit, especially when you see an anomaly like that huge blossom or fused double blossom.

Julianna

Yes, I had never seen such blossom's..
I was going to take pictures' and I
keep gettin side tracked..
*husband's home on vacation*
So, I will try to get a picture,
those flowers are still that big...

They are so weird shaped, they almost
look like mini~sunflowers in the shape
of a butternut squash...

Well Weezie......I must admit...I am getting a little impatient waiting for the pictures....
But I gotta understand......my better half is on vacation this week too...funny how this week has gone by so quickly but to be honest, we've really got nothing done...aw well...cheers!