This is a rare picture of my grandfather, Walter Gibbs, taken in his youth. He is the person who best inspired the love of gardening in me. This pic is probably from the early 1920s

Here is a short little article I contributed discussing some tomato disappointments. I will comment after the article on whether I feel the same way today!

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A Poor First Impression

by Craig

I have grown many tomatoes in my gardens since 1986. Most of them were open pollinated, and most of those were heirlooms. The grocery store tomatoes of winter catch a lot of criticism (rightfully so, I will add), but does that mean that every tomato that is grown in gardens is a winner? Absolutely not! In fact, if I was to think about all the tomatoes that I have tasted, and tested, over the years, quite a few fit into the middle of the road. There are a couple of dozen or so shining stars, tomatoes that will be in my garden every year, forever. The flipside, of course, are those tomatoes that I would not grow again; well, I cannot say never, because some varieties are finicky about geographic preference and weather. Or, maybe I was unlucky enough to get a plant that came from crossed seed? The problem is, though, that with so many options available (just look at the number of listings in the Seed Saver’s Exchange Winter Annual!), there are not a lot of opportunities for second chances.

Here is a story of unfortunate tomatoes that were not a hit in my garden. These are the losers, the tomatoes that tend to rot on the vine because no one wants to put the effort into picking them! If any of the readers has had a very different, very positive experience with any of these, please write to us and tell us about it. Who knows, maybe I will be persuaded to give them another try!

Starting with red, or scarlet colored, tomatoes, two varieties come to mind as being particularly horrendous! I was sent seeds for Muchamiel by J. D. Green (of Cherokee Purple fame) a few years ago, and had a devil of a time getting any of the seeds to germinate. Finally, after doing the microwave/nitrate soak routine, I was rewarded with a healthy seedling. In retrospect, it would have been better if the seed was dead. The tomatoes that grew on the plant were cracked, hollow, and had a very tough skin, as well as a poor flavor. Last year I grew Heterosis, which I obtained from the USDA collection. Halitosis would have been more appropriate, since the tomatoes really stunk! They actually looked like a smaller version of the dreaded Muchamiel. My experience with Jung’s Wayahead was actually way behind my expectations. Bellstar, touted as a Roma type of larger size, would make a good substitute for a baseball, being hard and flavorless, and perhaps, dangerous! One year Burpee sent me a free sample of a new cherry tomato called Baxter. If Bellstar were a baseball substitute, Baxter would be the golf ball substitute, being hard and without any noticeable flavor. Other reds that were not memorable in any way were Sasha’s Altai, Perestroika, Oregon Spring, Wayahead, and the old commercial varieties Essex Wonder, Excelsior, Early Ruby, and Beauty of Lorraine. Finally, I found Cuostralee to be very disappointing with yield or flavor. Many seem to like it, so perhaps it was a bad year for it.

Moving on to the pink tomatoes, I find that some of the heart shaped varieties are just not juicy or sweet enough to make them worth growing. In this category are Wolford Wonder and Dinner Plate. Beefsteak types that suffer from the same texture and flavor problem are Sabre, Una Hartsock’s, Magellan Burgess Purple, and Frank Williams. They look great, but do not deliver on the palate. The old favorite Ponderosa really struggled in my garden, with very low yield, weird shapes, and an off flavor. Another well-liked tomato, Grushovka, did nothing for me as well, being dry and hard in my garden.

As for the rest, I cannot decide why Banana Legs is so popular. I found it to be very tough skinned and bland. Verna Orange, a large gold heart shaped tomato, was very successful in Pennsylvania, but has been terrible in North Carolina. It has a lot of hollow spaces, and is very dry here. Elberta Girl wins my award for the prettiest awful tomato. The foliage is a beautiful silvery, fuzzy green and the fruits are red with gold stripes. This is, however, the hardest tomato I have ever grown, and actually would hurt someone if it were thrown at them. Oh yes, the flavor is not very good either! It is a good candidate for the flower garden, actually, as it is a better ornamental than edible.

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This really just scratches the surface, but at least gives you a good idea on what I do not like in a tomato! But, your favorite may be somewhere in this list. And my favorite may be on your list of never-again-in-my -garden! Isn’t gardening fun! After reading the varieties I didn’t speak kindly about, I was likely too tough on Cuostralee (it just may not have liked my garden conditions - a friend, Lee, calls it his favorite) and Verna Orange (if not the greatest for fresh eating, it would make a great sauce tomato).