Thursday Thirteen #2 - The Garden 13

Thought we would join in the Thursday Thirteen fun this week. Instead of 13 things about Me - I have created The Garden 13 with 13 interesting gardening tips and tricks I’ve come across over the past week.

To start off our second Garden 13 - we’re talkin’ tomatoes! I’m a BIG fan of all types of tomatoes and have planted 6 different varieties in my own garden. I’m listing them here - along with 7 other fabulous varieties that I wish I would have planted, but did not have the room

Here are 13 fabulous tomato varieties (the first 6 are in my garden):

1. Beefsteak Tomatoes - This surprisingly compact plant (20-24″) is just loaded with large flavorful tomatoes. Combines big meaty fruit (8-12 oz.) and early maturity on a dwarf plant, perfect for a small garden and patio containers. Yeilds perfect slices for sandwiches!





2. Roma Tomatoes - Bright red, plum shaped, paste-type fruits with meaty interiors. Determinate plants. Ready to pick about 76 days after plants are set out. GARDEN HINTS: Fertilize when first fruits form to increase yield. Water deeply once a week during very dry weather.





3. Cherry Tomatoes - Scarlet, cherry-sized fruits are produced in long clusters right up to frost. 70 days. Bursting with sugary flavor. Scarlet, cherry-sized fruits are produced in long clusters right up to frost. Grow on stakes or fence.





4. Grape tomatoes - these are my favorite! I can pick these and just eat them right off the vine! nce upon a time, grape tomatoes were considered a specialty item. Now, as the word about grape tomatoes is catching on and are more mainstream.





5. Fourth of July Tomato - The first tomato to ripen by Independence Day! Be the first on your block to have vine ripened red, luscious tomatoes by the Fourth of July. Enjoy the plentiful harvest about 49 days after setting plants in the garden. Indeterminate plants produce fruits that average 4 ounces all season long. YUM!





6. Tomato Viva Italia Hybrid - The best tomato for soups and ketchup. Vigorous plants yield an abundance of 3 oz. fruits. Disease resistant.





7. Tomato Heatwave - Grow great tasting tomatoes in the most intense summer heat even at 100°F. Round, 6-7 oz. fruits on com pact plants are extremely disease resistant.





8. Tomato Sweet Tangerine Hybrid - Gorgeously golden and astonishingly sweet. These delectable tomatoes also ripen early for so large a fruit. The determinate plants set very heavy crops, even in hot weather. Strong disease resistance. Ready to harvest in 68 days.





9. Yellow Pear Tomato - This extremely old variety makes a vigorous plant, which bears enormous numbers of bright yellow, bite-sized fruit. The flavor is deliciously tangy. Perfect for summer party hors d’oeuvres.





10. Pink Belgium Tomato - A succulent and enormous dark 1-1/2 to 2 lb. pink tomato that many gardeners prefer to the more acidic varieties. The flavor is sweet and very mild, and the large fruits are very attractive. Indeterminate. Pink-skinned tomatoes occur as a result of a clear skin over red flesh. (Ordinary red tomatoes have yellow skin over red flesh.) When ripe fruits retain green pigment, tomatoes take on purple and brownish hues.





11. Brandywine Tomato - Exceptionally delicious pink fruits, up to 1 lb. each, grow on indeterminate plants.





12. Brandy Boy Tomato - Many gardeners consider Brandywine heirloom tomato (above) to be the best tasting of all tomatoes. But as all tomato connoisseurs know, Brandywine has its drawbacks. The tomatoes are often misshapen with uneven shoulder ripening. The plants grow wildly, set fruit late in the summer and yield a sparse crop at best. But not Brandy Boy! Our new hybrid Brandywine produces loads of large pink fruits, up to 5½ inches across, that ripen evenly, with soft heirloom texture, thin skin and that same incredible Brandywine flavor. Better yet the plants sport an upright more manageable growth habit. Brandy Boy is an indeterminate variety, ready to pick 75-78 days after setting out plants. If you love tomatoes like we do, and especially the rich, tangy-sweet taste of Brandywine, don’t miss Brandy Boy!





13. Tomato Tomande - Tomato connoisseurs rave about the flavor of these broad-shouldered beauties. Fleshy, juicy and flavorful,’Tomande’ will treat gourmet gardeners with both heirloom taste and abundant hybrid yields.

Happy Gardening!