Summer Harvest - here they come

[Suze]

MJ,

Tomato Growers Supply has carried Kalman's for a couple of years.

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/late.htm

It is not a big tomato, most of mine were about 7-8 oz or so. Rich flavor. If you like Prue, you would probably like this one.

Grub,

I just noticed something -- it's listed as a late season. You're not into your later varieties ripening yet, are you?

It wasn't that late for me.

[Grub]

Kalman's Hungarian Pink is not late. That's for sure. And I'm guessing you sent me this one Suze.

I would put it at mid-season, maybe even the first half of that harvest period. Been a gap between the first few and the latter ones, which are almost ready.

The first few were 6-8oz, but these next ones are like 10-12oz. That may be due to my peculiar season.

Here we have had early soaking rains, diluting some flavours, making a few floury, but adding to size, plus a cool summer.

Great season and very good taste, but not like the drought vintage crops. I think things will improve later if not soon.

But thus far KHP is a winner.

[Tomstrees]

I love the foliage on KHP ~
Unfortunately, so did the deer where I had it growing up in N. NJ ... I've yet to taste one ~

Tom

[Grub]

Looks like some of Paul Robeson seeds that produced Grub's Mystery Green are doing the Paul Robeson thing. Big dusky-red blacks. Give them a couple of days and we should have lift off.

Also. I got my first Missouri Love Apple here, to taste soon, some relatively big Momotaro, my first Kosovo almost ready, some big Kalman's Hungarian Pinks, some Prue and more Wes, and lots more stars approaching ripeness.

[Grub]

Hey, Earl, thanks for the heads-up on Mexico Midget.

Been picking trusses of the little red candy currants, which as you say last well on the vine or bench, and munching on them straight off the truss.

Nice and sweet. Lots of summer snackin' fun.

Cheers.

[Grub]

Here is what is coming in now... Paul Robesons (right), Missouri Love Apples (front centre), Momotaro (behind), Anna Banana Russian (yellow), my first Kosovo (left) and my first GMG PL for the year. So, sooo very glad to see that GMG. A few days left to fully ripen, but I'm hanging for the greenie.

[Suze]

*sigh* *drool*

Many of my seedlings are just now starting to get their first set of true leaves. Another sowing later this week.

Looking forward to taste reports, especially on the ABR and the Love Apple.

[cottonpicker]

GRUB..... NICE looking fruits there... Interested in YOUR opinion of the flavor / taste of Momotaro?

LD

[Grub]

Will get some tasting notes up soon, but Momotaro is one we've already been tucking into, so I can report on that now, Larry.

Momotaro: Nice uniform pink fruit ranging to 7.38oz thus far. Borne in abundance in clusters of four or so on a 5-6ft RL plant. Taste is very nice and very sweet. Not a lot of complexity, with sweetness the overriding factor. Quite moreish. Tastewise: 7.5/10. Perhaps one could add another 0.5pts for the fact it's a firm fruit that keeps on the bench for a good while. This can be an attribute when all the big heirlooms are coming in. To surmise, probabaly the best hybrid I've grown so far

[feldon30]

Thanks for the confirmation that Momotaro can be a "sweet" (if somewhat one-dimensional) variety. I have a friend in NM who likes sweet tomatoes so will send him some seeds.

[Grub]

Fixed the typo with the spelling in my original post. Ta.

Sweet it is. I can say that with absolute assurance. Very nice, indeed. And interesting Mantis got the same thing after growing saved seeds.

[cottonpicker]

Thanks, Grub...... Momotaro sounds like one I'll try this year.

LarryD

[Grub]

Meanwhile, back at Tomatoville Cellar Door Down Under, what should greet me when I walked inside in the twilight but a bench full of top-shelf heirloom tomatoes.

Some serious zoned-out solo taste testing ensued. Here's the way I see it in a season, with a coolish summer thus far, that isn't showing the fruits in their best light. Probably more a true representation than the last few drought years...

Paul Robeson (as pictured above): Prolific, with big to giant dusky red or mahogany blacks, on a compact indeterminate. Flavour is mild and, if you close your eyes, pretty uneventful. I’m giving it 6.5 for taste plus 0.5pt for productivity and 0.5pt for size = 7.5/10. (If you want to grow a black for taste, Cherokee Purple leaves it for dead.

Kosovo: Big incredibly dense meaty pink (edited) hearts on a compact RL plant. Good production in this first year. Flavour is excellent, a tad tomatoey, and sweet. Really moreish. I’m giving it a 8pts for taste plus 0.5pts for its meatiness and the fact it would be very good for sauce. (Wes is also mild this year but better and Prue and Ernesto are way better. Ditto Kalman’s Hungarian Pink).

Missouri Love Apple: A moderate to consistent producer of very solid, dense pinks fruit that are lovely to behold, about the size of a small apple however more oblate, and which have surprisingly good bench life. Takes a while to reach peak ripeness on a tallish plant. Very good taste indeed, collecting 8pts on the palate plus 0.5pt for consistency for an overall rating of 8.5pts. By no means as dynamic as the title suggests, but very good indeed.

Anna Banana Russian: Very prolific producer of early mid-season large yellow fruits that are dense and range from bombs to hearts and oblates. Ripens to a rich golden yellow colour. Flavour is tomatoey for a yellow, not at all bland, but frankly I think some of the sweet yellow Sneezy F2s I’ve been eating are better. Spoilt perhaps? Taste is 7 plus 0.5 for the fun factor and yield = 7.5pts.

In the fading lights I could see pink and purple things from more Stumps to some seriously big OTV Brandywines and more… further reports to come.

More t/c.

[bcday]

Kosovo: Big incredibly dense meaty red hearts

Kosovo shouldn't be red...

[feldon30]

Where's that topic that Carolyn posted about men being less attuned to variations in color?