I start thinking about tomatoes months before I will be able to sink my teeth into their deliciousness. This year my first tomato seeds were sown in the second week of January. This year I planted many, many seeds. Some varieties are brand new to me, others are being given a second chance, while still others are in my “favorite” category. What I hadn’t planned on was the additional tomatoes I would receive from other gardeners – other people’s favorites. But, this is what is so great about tomatoes (and so many other garden veggies) is that there are so many varieties.
This year I have planted:
Amana Orange
Black Krim
Cabin PL- sent to me by JimmyCrackedCorn
Clear Pink Early
German Lunchbox
German Queen
Green Grape*
Green Sausage
Green Zebra*
Indigo Rose*
Mamie Brown’s Pink
San Marzano
Speckled Roman*
TM 165
*Indicates a favorite
In addition I was given these:
Marglobe
Spears
Mini Bell
Black Cherry
One I can’t remember the name of.
Now that I have them all listed out, I think I may have gone a little overboard. Maybe just a little. I am scrounging around looking for places to plant all these, at least one of each variety. I have already started giving some away. These are the left overs.
I could start my very own little backyard nursery. But, I won’t. Now it’s plants, and in a few months I will have an overwhelming amount of tomatoes to part with. And that is one of my very favorite things about gardening and gardening culture: sharing.
Growing Up in the Garden 
Wow! Those look delicious! Can you send some over to Illinois? I wish our growing season was a tad longer 🙂 I can’t wait to see what you do with all of them. Canning?
Yeah, don’t think they would make the trip. I did get the seeds for the Cabin tomatoes from another blogger. I don’t do any canning of tomatoes because I just haven’t made the jump to getting a pressure canner. I do make sauce and freeze it. I also roast and dry for freezing. I may just have to give heaps of them away. We will see how well they produce.
Oh, pressure canning is so much easier (and quicker) than water bath canning. Jump right in! I didn’t get enough ripe tomatoes to can too much, we ate them too quickly. Do you freeze your sauce? That’s another really good way to preserve tomato sauce.
Yes. I do freeze my sauce. I also freeze roasted and dried tomatoes, as well has skinned fresh ones. I have a friend with a pressure canner. We are already making plans to have a tomato bonanza. Maybe after doing it with her I will take the plunge.
Lovely tomatoes! They are so satisfying to start from seed
They are. I would not have it any other way now. There are just so many varieties to try and so many are so tasty and pretty.
Hooray Cabin! Thank you for growing it again! The people who control such things are calling that variety Cabin PL, for potato-leaf. I’m going to start using that nomenclature this year.
Thanks for the info. I meant to tag you in the post. I tried last year, and the plant didn’t do very well. I am growing them in a different location this year, so fingers crossed.
I hope they end up with an asterisk after the name next year! Your plants look great!
I noticed you have seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. I get my starts from them. Have you ever tried the cherry tomato Mexico Midget? It is the absolute sweetest cherry tomato I’ve ever tasted and so wonderfully small. I’ve only seen this tomato available at SSE and I buy one plant every year. My little guy love to go out and pick them right off the plant. He won’t even wait until their ripe, so I have to keep him away!
I haven’t tried that variety. Maybe next year. No more room now. I wish my kids liked tomatoes. I planted more cherry varieties this year in hopes that they would change their minds. My son also likes to help harvest tomatoes, and even though he doesn’t eat them – he still can’t help but pick the green ones….I hope he has changed his ways this time around.
Hello! I’m a new member of RIPE and I followed a link to your blog. I will enjoy exploring it! We have a new home this year, and I’m trying to turn the whole yard into an edible garden. But I’ve gotten a late start (we are just now moving), and I wonder if you have any extra transplants? No worries of course if not!
My kids just devour tomatoes! Thanks!
– Kari
Hi Kari. Welcome to RIPE. I don’t have any more tomato seedlings. They have all been planted and given away. I will have peppers and eggplant to part with in the coming week or so. Keep you eye out on the RIPE email list. It is not too late to plant some things by seed: green beans, cucumbers, winter squash, zucchini…We have such a long growing season you can plant now, but plant soon – especially hard squashes and melons.