I wanted to experiment with tomato cultivars this year. Usually I’m not willing to free up much garden space for vegetables, and up until about 3 years ago I wouldn’t even eat tomatoes unless they were on a pizza, but 100 inches of snow in a winter can make a person a little loopy.
I planned with some failures in mind. Unfortunately (fortunately?), there were no failures. I planted 2 to 4 seeds of each cultivar thinking there was no way I would get 100% germination. Well, guess what!? Then I had to figure out what to do with 36 robust tomato plants. Thankfully, friends and family were willing to adopt many of them.
I kept 12 plants which I knew would be too many, but I was expecting diseases or the weather to cripple some of them. Again, guess what!? You’ve never seen a healthier bunch of tomato plants in your life. I’m up to my eyeballs in tomatoes.
I’m growing ‘Stupice’, ‘Siberia’, ‘Health Kick’, ‘Amish Paste’, ‘Fourth of July’, ‘Sungold’, ‘Abe Lincoln’, ‘Fresh Salsa’, ‘Oregon Spring’ and ‘Black Krim’. Of all of them, my hands-down favorite is ‘Black Krim’ (pictured above), an heirloom tomato that originated from the Isle of Krim in the Black Sea. The big blackish-red fruits are meaty and juicy and perfect for burgers or BLTs.
I also really like the cold-hardy heirloom tomato ‘Stupice’ (pronounced stew-PEACH-ka). The fruits (pictured below) are only about 2 inches in diameter, but they start ripening early (mid-July for me). Because of their small size you have to use quite a few slices on a sandwich, but it’s worth the work because ‘Stupice’ is a wonderful tasty tomato.
Two other cultivars I’m growing–‘Oregon Spring’ and ‘Siberian’–are also cold tolerant (‘Siberian’ down to 38 degrees!), so it looks I could be buried in tomatoes for some time to come.
I needn’t worry, however as I have some help eating all of them. Yesterday afternoon I observed a chipmunk climbing up and down several of my tomato plants. His eyes eventually got the best of his stomach, and he plucked and scurried away with a tomato bigger than his head.