Tomato Growing Project

[cranky]

I think I see the appeal in growing your own tomatoes now.

Tomatoes are the number one most popular garden vegetable.  Now you know why.  The forum has endless threads on dough and crust, which is essential to good pizza, but the reference point most people have when they think of pizza is what their favorite pizza shop makes, whether it is Chicago, NY, Naples.  It is impossible for a pizza shop to use sauce made from garden tomatoes.  The standard is canned and the big debate is which brand is best.  Most pizza fans have never had a pizza with great tomatoes.  It is outside their experience.

[norma427]

Jackie Tran,

These are pictures I posted last week of my tomatoes.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,10535.msg105757.html#msg105757

It is more hot and humid this year than I can remember in a long while.  That is why I commended you for trying to grow your own tomatoes.  Steve (Ev) gave me some plants he started from seed and he is a very good gardener.  Cranky is right, it is hard to grown from seed.  I only had five plants that made it from the one I started from seed.  The one picture where the big tomatoes are on, are the ones that made it.  I don’t have a green house or something similar.  I have been growing things for years and I still have problems.  I did better with the oregano from seed, than the tomatoes.  I did grow some red onions this year and they made it, but I used onion sets for them.

I think this year is the best I have done so far and I have also been growing different things for about over 40 years.  I know many Amish and Mennonite people and they do have some sort of green houses to start from seed. Many years ago, I had big gardens, but they took a lot of work.

I just like to get outside and do work, because I like the outdoors and watching things grow.  In my opinion food just tastes better that you have grown yourself. 

Keep trying and you will be rewarded.

Norma

[mmarston]

Some of this years crop.
Chocolate Stripe, Brandywine and Goldman's Italian American.

[Bill/SFNM]

For those interested in growing tomatoes upside down:

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Grow_Tomatoes_Upside_Down?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))

[mmarston]

For those interested in growing tomatoes upside down:

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Grow_Tomatoes_Upside_Down?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))

As mentioned in the article the big problem with tomatoes in upside down pots is their need for very frequent watering.
You really have to keep an eye on them every day.

[Jackie Tran]

Just wanted to update this thread.  Today was a bit bitter sweet or should I say semi sweet.  I picked the last of this season's tomatoes.   Not fully ripe yet, but i hope that they will ripen up nicely by the time i get back from my trip next week.

I think I did pretty well for my first season of growing tomatoes.  I never did get any of the San marzano plants to take off.   The romas from Lowes had a lot of fruit but they weren't great.  Just okay.
The Amish paste were pretty good but not a lot of fruit.  And the marglobes produced great tomatoes and there was a good crop. 

I did so many things wrong this year including killing off two of my young trees b/c they got too much water from overwatering the tomato plants.   Growing in the wrong medium, not enough trellises for the vine types to grown on, etc.

My tomatoes this year were never that sweet, but with a bit of natural stevia sweetner, they made a fantastic sauce.   I would have to agree with others that (for my taste) fresh tomatoes make a better sauce than any canned product. 

I will be growing again next spring. 

Chau

[norma427]

Chau,

I am glad to hear you did well in the first year of raising your own tomatoes.  I also like fresh tomatoes for sauce. 

Good to hear you will be growing tomatoes next spring. 

Norma

[Jeep Pizza]

Chau,
   Good to see you are enjoying the benefits of fresh tomatoes. We had a Banner year for tomatoes, I planted 6 plants of better boy variety and ended up with 16 gallons of finished sauce. I am going to track down some San Marzano seeds to start next year in an area that I have been prepping for a year as a new section to the garden. This will bring me up to 600 sq ft of growing area, you can't beat home grown.

[PizzaEater101]

Chau, great job on the tomatoes.  I did not read every post because there were so many but I saw the pics.  Those Jiffy little green houses are great for starting plants from seed.  I have used them in the past.  I have not grown tomatoes this year other than one Japanese tomato plant.  I got it at a Japanese market in Japanese town or as they call it now Little Tokyo.   The starter plant was $2 and yielded some nice tomatoes but I did not make any sauce out of them. 

Next year you will have another great crop.

[Jackie Tran]

Chau,
   Good to see you are enjoying the benefits of fresh tomatoes. We had a Banner year for tomatoes, I planted 6 plants of better boy variety and ended up with 16 gallons of finished sauce. I am going to track down some San Marzano seeds to start next year in an area that I have been prepping for a year as a new section to the garden. This will bring me up to 600 sq ft of growing area, you can't beat home grown.

Thanks Jeep and PE101.    Jeep, I have extra SM seeds I can share with you.   Just PM me your address.

[Tscarborough]

I will trade you some chili pequin pepper seeds for a few of those San Marzano seeds.
tscarborough@gmail.com

[c0mpl3x]

i wish my tomatoes looked like that.