For fun I grow tomatoes competitively. This year I aspire to win at lest one category of the Tomato competition at the Minnesota State Fair. Here is a description of this year's crop that I have in the ground. Please feel free to contact me for tomato coaching. I love to talk about growing this difficult plant.
Gold
Medal
75 days, Indeterminate
A large sized tomato ripens early. The large yellow fruit have an interior color
of red and weigh over 1 pound and even more. They are round and lobed with big
blossom ends. The flavor is sweet and low acid. Plants grow well with cool night
time temperatures.
Green Zebra
78 days, medium round, indeterminate. These fruits are 3 ounce, green and stippled with darker green stripes and amber to yellow stripes with green meat when mature. They have a full-bodied tomato flavor. Sweet and with a tart undertone. Green Zebra is the favorite of many heirloom growers. To tell when they are ripe watch for the amber and yellow colors to set in.
Unusual, and visually exquisite tomato, beautiful chartreuse, with deep lime green stripes, delicious, tangy, 3-4 oz fruit, perfect for slicing into wedges for salads. Developed by tomato breeder Tom Wagner of Tater Mater Seeds. A favorite of chefs and specialty markets.
Mortgage Lifter, Estler’s
85 days, Indeterminate Variety, Heirloom Tomato
Fruit weigh 1 pound with excellent flavor. The history of this prolific plant
goes back to 1922. Seed was sent to Australia in the 1930's by the Estlers.
Several varieties of Mortgage Lifter are grown but there seems to be little
difference in taste.
A legendary tomato developed by M C Byles (Radiator Charlie), in the early 1930s in Logan WV. It was in such demand that he sold the plants for $1.00 apiece to pay off the $6,000.00 mortgage on his house. The large, slightly flattened, pink-red tomatoes can average 2 ½ lbs. They are meaty and very flavorful. A must grow.
60 days. Medium red fruit from 4-6 ounces, indeterminate. A somewhat flattened shape and no cracking. Moskvich is extra early but you would never know it from the taste! No kidding! You have heard of chocolate recipes like "death by chocolate?" We are dubbing Moskvich "death by tomato!" Yes, it is that delicious. The plants were remarkably healthy, disease free with heavy yields.
Nebraska Wedding
Determinate. 4-5 fruits per cluster. Perfect tomato shape, meaty and great flavor. Sharp sweet taste. Excellent for salad, fresh sauces and salsas. Wonderful with a vinaigrette dressing. Heirloom from Nebraska.
Producing 8 to 10 oz fruits, this orange variety has an excellent flavor. The shoulders are always smooth and never crack. It produces fruit in clusters. The Nebraska Wedding Tomato gets its name because it originated in Nebraska, and because it is an early setter, setting fruit as early as June (which of course is the month of weddings). It tolerates a wide variety of climates. Being a low-acid tomato, it is also sweeter than average.
Nepal
80 days, Indeterminate
Nepal tomato, a beefsteak type, originally came from the Himalayan Mountains. It
produces large, deep red tomatoes that weight 12 oz. It does well in cooler
climates and matures earlier than most of the larger types. Good keepers when
picked green and allowed to ripen.
Originally from the Himalayan Mountains. Large, 10-12 oz. tomatoes, scarlet red, smooth, with an intense tomato flavor. Matures earlier than most large fruited types. Heat and disease resistant, with abundant yields.
Polish Giant
85 days, Indeterminate Variety, Heirloom Tomato
A mild and sweet (low acid) heirloom variety popular for its versatility. The
purple-red fruits weigh up to 2 lbs. Flavor sandwiches and salads. The plants
will set fruit even in cool weather. This is a fine heirloom variety that comes
from Poland.
An heirloom variety from Poland. Vigorous plant produces mild flavored hefty, red, low acid fruits weighing up to 2 lbs. Fruits that are great for slicing and salads.
Prudens
Purple
67 days, Indeterminate Variety, Heirloom Tomato
The fruits are large, dark pink and nearly purple that mature quite early.
Fruits have a delicious flavor and can weigh over one pound.
The leaves on this vine are similar to those of the Pink Brandywine. However the color of the tomato is more of a dark red, almost purple. Very tasty, as well as productive. It matures very early, with nearly 1lb. tomatoes average. Indeterminate. 70 days.
Sausage
75 days,
Indeterminate Variety
Unusual shaped tomato up to 6" long. A great paste tomato for sauces and catsup.
One of our favorites at the Farm.
4-5" pepper-shaped, very meaty paste tomatoes on 5' vines; fruits often dropped before ripe and were ripened indoors; many inflorescences terminated with a small leaf.
SUPER SWEET 100
65 days
An improved Sweet 100 with better sugar/acid balance, increased disease
resistance and less susceptibility to cracking. Long clusters can carry up to
100 fruits each and are very high in Vitamin C. Vigorous, high yielding
indeterminate vines.
YELLOW PEAR
(OP) 70 days
This attractive lemon yellow 1 ounce heirloom has been grown since the 17th
century and is still admired today. Flavor is mild and pleasing and they are
perfect for green and pasta salads. The tall, indeterminate vines produce
hundreds of fruits.
Eye catching heirloom documented pre- 1800's, shaped exactly like little yellow pears. 1-2 oz fruit is sweet and mild, low in acid. Children might think of them as garden candy. Fruit born in heavy clusters on large sprawling plants. (SSE's Beam's)
