KarenO's 2018 Tomato Garden

[efisakov]

Karen, how did I miss this thread? Had to read it all at once. It was fun reading. You are incredibly patient person.

Love your roses. Can't wait to see how they sprouted.

Such an impressive beautiful lush garden. Love your micro and dwarf tomatoes. What a great way to extend the season. You must be having great time with all you projects.

You made me laugh when you admitted that you can not discard seedlings, have to give them home. I am the same way.

btw What is your hardiness zone?

[KarenO]

Here on Vancouver island we are zone 7. A darn sight different than zone 3/4 north of Edmonton where we were before.
PNW Temperate rainforest/ maritime climate.
Mild winters with lots of rain, hot dry summer
KarenO
Sorting tomatoes and saving seeds from my projects. Very Happy with a number of my new ones pictured here. Lots of promise.
The big bi hearts are midnight sun, the rest are various new f3’s.

[peebee]

They look absolutely gorgeous Karen! Great work!

[Old chef]

Very beautiful.
Do you offer seeds at anytime?
Old chef

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by Old chef

Very beautiful.
Do you offer seeds at anytime?
Old chef

Hello, thank you, pleased that you are interested.
I have some F7 and F8 tomatoes that will be ready for trial, the KARMA cherries and also my large PL hearts in the True North thread.
I only will release seed I believe to be stable so these F3 beefsteaks are a work in progress and will require several more seasons work toward stability.
KarenO

[efisakov]

Karen, this tomatoes deserve to be in a picture frame. So beautiful. It looks like you are creating the same scenario as with your cherries. It will be a spectrum of colors. Marsha is right, you are something.

[SpookyShoe]

I love the dusky looking ones in your photo. The blacks and chocolates always seem to be the most flavorful here in my zone 9 garden.

Donna, Texas Gulf Coast

[KarenO]

Thank you Ella and Donna, you are always so kind and encouraging and I appreciate that!
There are so many to choose from but I am finding that I like to select just a few of the best to work with in a concentrated fashion rather than try to do too much at once and not give them the attention they need. Also, the seeds store for a long g time so I can always go back as I am doing now and revisit things I shelved in favour of the PL hearts and the KARMAs . If I never did another cross I could spend my whole life just with the same ones I already have I think
I hopefully will have many years of gardening ahead of me to work many more through to stable. It’s the most creative thing I have ever done and I just love my breeding projects.
Now that I am able to begin releasing the results of my work it is just so amazing to me that people want to grow my tomatoes. Truly gratifying and makes me want to continue on i have done a number of wide crosses with microdwarfs to have some winter fun as well because I miss my garden in winter and I haven’t been very satisfied with the flavour of most small dwarfs I’ve grown so.... going to see what I can do about that for fun.
KarenO

[Gerardo]

I'd love to run some of the Micro crosses through my insect gauntlet.

Multiple plants of a dfollet cross HardinsM x ChocCherry have done great for me the last 2 years, practically going non stop. Real hearty little ones.

Let me know if you feel like pushing one along.

[JosephineRose]

OK, dumb question alert: do you folks draw on the tomato with a permanent marker?

Do you peel off the pen area before you eat?

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by JosephineRose

OK, dumb question alert: do you folks draw on the tomato with a permanent marker?

Do you peel off the pen area before you eat?

Generally I write on the fruits I intend to save seed from. Yes I would cut that off before eating it.
Another thing I do is put a piece of masking tape on the fruit and write in that if I’m organized enough to have tape with me.
KarenO

[JosephineRose]

Originally Posted by KarenO

Generally I write on the fruits I intend to save seed from. Yes I would cut that off before eating it.
Another thing I do is put a piece of masking tape on the fruit and write in that if I’m organized enough to have tape with me.
KarenO

Ooh good idea!

[Nan_PA_6b]

I put clear tape on, add the name or number, and what I want to do with the tomato (taste test, weigh, date first ripe, save seeds). Any just plain eatin' tomatoes remain undocumented.

[KarenO]

The last of the KARMAS hopefully to ripen indoors in this bakery box.
Also have about another 30 pounds of larger greens picked to ripen indoors as well means there might be tomatoes til November for eating.
It was a tough year with heat and drought to contend with during prime bloom time but as always lots learned and overall still too many tomatoes which means there was still some to share.
Here’s to next year, a big year for me with the plans to release all of my potato leaf “ true north” hearts now stable.
All of the KARMA colours will be released as well.
Watch Marsha’s growout threads as her season progresses for more info on both.
Happy Canadian thanksgiving this weekend everybody. I am thankful for all of the blessings in my life including my garden which brings so much satisfaction and peace to me along with the tomatoes.
I have a bit of winter projects planned and some small fall happenings in my little greenhouse. As always anyone is welcome to follow my garden page on Facebook @NorthernGardenerCanada if interested




TTFN
KarenO

[NewWestGardener]

Salivation worthy photos, good job Karen!
Are you able to share some of your "Terrenzo" seeds with the Canadian group? If so, I would love to have a few.