Zone 3/4 Gardeners

[Lilypon]

please tell me your tips and tricks (from starting the seeds onwards) for getting some ripe fruit off late season tomatoes before frost arrives. I'm willing to experiment.

Thank you in advance
Pam

[Lilypon]

p.s. my frost will be crueler than any experiment on them will be.

[akgardengirl]

When is your 1st frost usually? Ours is generally in Sept. It is pretty much over for tomatoes the end of August. Mine are grown outdoors in earthboxes so by the time the August rains start, it is downhill then. The August rains started in June and continued to frost this year so not much in production for me. Do you have a greenhouse? I usually start tomato seeds mid to the end of March and grow them under shop lights until it warms up enough the end of May, first part of June, to harden off outdoors. What varieties are you growing this upcoming season?
Sue B.

[Lilypon]

Hi Akgardengirl

My first frost is usually mid September (but can be at the beginning......however this year it was mid-October).

I don't have a greenhouse but I do have a closed-in porch off my DD's bedroom (after reading your reply I may beg, for a tiny amount of space, at my fav greenhouse now tho . I usually start seeds about 8 weeks prior to planting out (traditionally here last freeze is May 20th). Seeing that you start yours in March I think I'll follow suit (at least with slooooow to mature ones). I have a couple of later ones, Bear Claw and AGG are two that I can think of, and I really would like to get a couple of vine ripened tomatoes off them. Last year I started mid to late Cherokee Purple, Abe Lincoln and Arkansas Traveller, two weeks into April (fell behind due to surgery) and managed to get the first blooms' fruit to ripen (just).

We had an exceptionally hot summer last year (high 80's, 90's 100's).....I think it slowed down a number of varieties. Some like Dr. Carolyn ripened about the same time that Abe Lincoln did. Black Cherry ripened a little earlier which surprised me since it germinated 3 weeks after all my other seed did.

[greggf]

Our first frost is generally mid-Sept., but can come earlier.

I have no special tricks or tips, but . . .

Have any of you folks noticed that tomato flavor goes rapidly downhill after mid- or late-August?

It has led to us really not bothering with a lot of the most heralded varieties discussed hereabouts.

So for us, frost isn't always the limiting factor. The cool temps and the August rains mentioned above (lake effect rain here - from Lake Ontario) are the limiters.

=gregg=

[Lilypon]

Have any of you folks noticed that tomato flavor goes rapidly downhill after mid- or late-August?

It has led to us really not bothering with a lot of the most heralded varieties discussed hereabouts.

Gregg which varieties are your favorites? I do get some summers like you posted above.

[greggf]

Lilypon,

The varieties that we can rely upon are Early Pick from Burpee, UltraSweet from Stokes, and Early Girl, of course. We've also had luck with Bloody Butcher from Burpee, Stupice, New Yorker from TGS, and Fourth of July.

The Early Pick is also sold by TGS. It's early, tastes great, and is utterly reliable. New Yorker is great, too, but we haven't done it recently. UltraSweet is pretty good, too. The others I'm not sure I'd go out of my way for if I didn't have to.

One year out of many years of trying, Reif Red Heart and Brandywine were great. Other years Brandywine ripened but were tasteless. One year Carolyn sent us Red Brandywine and it was super. We usually can only get one to three ripe fruits that taste good off mid-season mainstreamers like Jet Star, Better Boy, Big Beef, Celebrity, SuperTasty, or Big Girl, but they're worth trying.

=gregg=

[Lilypon]

We usually can only get one to three ripe fruits that taste good off mid-season mainstreamers like Jet Star, Better Boy, Big Beef, Celebrity, SuperTasty, or Big Girl, but they're worth trying.

Gregg I never realized how different our summers are (yours sounds like Newfoundland's/Alaska's)..........I've never seen a summer that would make it difficult to grow the good tasting tomatoes that you listed in the quote above. But I'll keep an eye on the Farmer's Almanac and when a rare cooler summer is forcasted for here (there was one a couple of years ago and I didn't grow tomatoes that year) I'll make sure I order the ones you listed that I didn't quote.