NCMGV 2019 Plant Sale highlight, Tomatoes!

oin us bright and early (before 8:00 am) on May 18 for our annual fund raising plant sale. Select from a huge variety of tomatoes that will dazzle even the tomato connoisseurs out there! We try to have something for everyone from patio tomatoes to paste tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, heirlooms, the works!

We have tomatoes with a very short "Days to Maturity" rating. Since our plants are well started when you get them you will have about a 15 to 30 day  head start on the how long you will have to wait for your first crop depending on a number of variables including how you harden off the plants before planting, what the soil temp is when planting, how much sun, wind and moisture the plant gets, and what the daily high and low temperatures are. Days to maturity is a rating to help us determine what plants are best suited to our zone (3-4) and the limitations that makes on the plants we raise.

Most of the varieties we offer will continue to set fruit until frost kills the plant. Others which are called "determinate" will set fruit until the plant reaches it mature size. Once these ripen the plant will die back. All determinate varieties that we offer are indicated.

The earliest varieties tend to be the cherry and grape tomatoes. We offer:

• Sungold 55-65 days This is an F-1 hybrid that is exceptionally sweet, an orange cherry tomato that will bear right through the season.
• The Mexico Midget is also a cherry that is 60-70 days to maturity with red fruit
• Midnight snack is a grape tomato that will bring you delicious little red to black fruit in 65-70 days
• Juliet is also a grape tomato, this one red fruiting in about 60 days.
• Patio Choice Yellow will yield grape size fruit in about 45 days and is ideal for container gardening. Determinate.
• Coming in at 75-80 days the Blondkopfchen produces tiny yellow gold intensely sweet fruit.

For mid-sized early tomatoes we have:

• Czeck Stupice which is the earliest we offer, it yields mid-sized red fruit in 55 days with good flavor and is a good producer.  Determinate.
• Early Girl will give you crimson red fruit in about 57 days with a good tangy taste.
• Sweet Valentine, a great container plant, yields mid-sized red fruit in about 60 days. Determinate.

Paste tomatoes:

We offer 4 paste tomatoes, these are the plum shaped dense fruit that will cook down into a good tomato paste. Paste tomatoes tend to produce very abundant fruit.

• Amish Paste produces tasty, red, fairly large, plum to strawberry shaped fruit in about 85 days.
• Martino Roma yields a dark red smaller plum shaped tomato  good in sauce or salsa in about 75 days and is virtually disease free! Determinate.
• Polish Opalka has great tasting red fruit about 4-6" in length in about 85 days.
• San Marzano is bright red thin shaped plum tomato with heavy walls that make a great sauce. Fruit is ready in about 80 days.

Large slicing tomatoes take longer  to maturity. We offer:

• German Johnson pinky-red fruit can reach up to 1.5 pounds and has few seeds in about 76 days. It is  productive with some disease resistance.
• Beefsteak yields bright red ribbed fruit up to 2 lbs in about 80 days. Consistent moisture will help prevent these giants from cracking during ripening.
• Brandywine is an heirloom that produces flavorful pinky-red fruit of about half to three-quarter pounds in about 80 days. Again, consistent moisture will help prevent cracking during ripening.
• Cherokee Purple if a flavorful dark pink to purple tomato with a sweet aftertaste. Fruits up to one pound in about 80 days.
• Yugo Pink produces juicy pink squat-shaped crack resistant  fruit of up to 2 pounds in 80-90 days.

Other:

• Chef's Choice is an orange F1 hybrid heirloom (yes, a hybrid heirloom!) with disease resistance which yield tasty fruit in about 75 days.

If you have experienced "early blight," watch for our article on early blight and how to avoid it in a coming post.

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Article submitted by Pamela Davies MGV