The Tribune

A little over a week ago I picked my last two full-size tomatoes from the garden. They were Big Mama tomatoes, a hybrid variety produced by Burpee that look like Romas on steroids with a little protrusion at the flowering end. As I picked them I resolved to do two things.

The qualities of hybrid tomatoes are not known until they are grown in certain conditions that differ from their main market. Fruit in mid-July is much to be desired and so I plan to sow a late crop of Big Mamas next year in May and see what I get. I will also plant Big Mamas in late August this year to see if they can be early producers as well as late.

Perhaps even more remarkable is a hanging basket of Green Sausage tomatoes that has produced its main harvest but has several half- grown fruits that should be ripe in August. I must sow them late next year too.

During the year I changed my mind about the world’s tastiest tomato. I have always championed Pink Brandywine but I had the opportunity to taste test Brandywine alongside German Pink. Both were magnificent but the German Pink just had the edge in intensity of flavour.

I am very fond of large fruited cherry tomatoes, those that get close to golf ball size. Two seasons ago I was growing Tommy Toe, an Australian variety of excellent taste and a heavy bearer, when I noticed one of the plants had a different fruiting pattern. Instead of neat double rows the fruiting spikes pointed in all direction. When the tomatoes grew they were yellow.

Whether a yellow seed had inadvertently entered the packet at the seed house or was a spontaneous sport, I do not know. The tomatoes were the same size as Tommy Toe but the flavour – as is typical of yellow tomatoes – was milder. The next year – last season – I planted both red and yellow Tommy Toe and both did well.

When cherry tomatoes are in full flood I like to fill bowls with a selection and have them on hand for visitors to snack on. One variety I grew was Chocolate Drop, a brown tomato somewhat smaller than Tommy Toe. I found my visitors avoiding the brown cherries, probably because they did not look as appetizing as the reds and yellows. The truth was, the brown tomatoes had wonderful flavour that was reminiscent of black tomatoes from the Ukraine.

An experiment that proved successful last year was to sow seeds of Kumato, a very expensive brown tomato that is grown under a copyright licence. Although only 4 – 6 ozs in weight, Kumatos cost $2 each in the food store. The flavour of the juice was outstanding but the flesh was quite ordinary.

I dried some Kumato seeds and planted them in mid-season. They grew well and produced fruits the same size as the parent tomato and the same distinctive juiciness. I have seeds dried and stored in a refrigerator to sow next year.

I should mention that I keep all my seeds – store bought or from my own heirloom plants – in a refrigerator. I spread the seeds from a parent tomato onto a quarter of a paper towel, fold it into four and label it with the month and year. Once stored in the refrigerator I can forget about the seeds until it is time to sow.

In addition to the tomatoes I have already mentioned I grew Black from Tula (pretty well my base tomato) and Boxcar Willie. The latter went in about Easter time and did not get the care and attention it should have. I was disappointed in the yield and the taste but I will give Boxcar Willie another chance this coming season.

• gardenerjack@coralwave.com