Posts Tagged ‘Grow Tomatoes Review’
Grow Tomatoes Review: Packing Tomatoes for a 400 Mile Road Trip
A Large Christmas Gift Box Reused to Send Heirloom Tomato Gifts Packing
DoT’s Thot: Heirloom tomatoes are so wonderful to eat, but can be more delicate than the hybrid tomatoes. I have now sent tomatoes on a 400 mile road trip twice to Berkeley from Orange County, CA. The tomatoes arrived in great shape and I thought you might like to see how an amateur enthusiast shared her heirloom tomato gifts with others.
Save and Reuse Large Flat Christmas (or other) Gift Boxes for Packing Tomatoes
I had saved some Christmas Gift Boxes and took the largest one for packing tomatoes. First, I doubled the box by putting the bottom of the box into the box lid to make it stronger. Next, I put in some crumpled up newspaper pages to give some cushioning for the precious heirloom tomato gifts.
Write the Name of the Heirloom Tomato Gifts on Paper Towel Quarter-Sheets
Then, I selected pretty specimens of the various tomato types. I cut paper towels into quarters and wrote the tomato’s name on the paper towel piece. Then I gently nestled the tomatoes into the box, rearranging and adding crumpled newspaper as the filler. The effect was quite impressive.
Most times, I would have had a large insulated bag to slide the box into (the bag is one that looks like a large over-the-shoulder-bag). Not having that this time, I then took a kitchen tall plastic bag and slid the box into it and made sure that this sat on the top of the most level and cushioned position in the trunk of the car.
For good measure, I wrapped one of those frozen “blue ice” packs in a towel and nestled that next to the box to keep the ambient temperature cooler around the tomatoes. The tomatoes made the trip quite nicely.
Hope this helps– Aloha, DoT
Related Articles and References
- Heirlooms versus Hyrids: A Common-sense Approach
- Care Package of Tomatoes Packed to Go to Berkeley
- Pruning Tomato Plants and String Trellis Video
Tomato Growers' Store (Even for Growing Tomatoes Upside Down)
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- Grow Tomatoes Review: Knowns and Unknowns About Mamie Eisenhower’s Tomato Pudding
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Follow-Up Photo of Golden Pineapple Beefsteak Tomato
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Vintage Wine and Black Brandywine Heirlooms
- Review Basic Canning Tips for Beginners: An Inexpensive Reference
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- Grow Tomatoes Review: Journal Update on Omar’s Lebanese Heirloom Beefsteak
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Grow Tomatoes Review: Chinese Purple Tomato Is a Beautiful Slicer Tomato
Day's Harvest of Chinese Purple Tomato 9 July 2009
DoT’s Thot: Don’t confuse these beautiful red yummy Chinese Purple tomatoes with the genetically modified purple tomato — I was shocked at the eggplant purple color when I found it in a picture on the site cited below.
I tried to find more intormation about the tomato seedling that I bought this year and found very little on it, so decided to make my own notes and go from there. So here is what I have figured out so far.
Chinese Purple Tomato with Flowers July 9, 2009
Chinese Purple Tomato with Green Tomatoes on the Vine 9 July 2009
Chinese Purple Tomatoes Ripening on the Vine
Chinese Purple Tomato Plant and Tomato Characteristics
The plant is an indeterminate (I) plant and is relatively rare. This is the first time I had seen it for sale anywhere and was intrigued, since “Chinese” was not too common (lots of other countries I see more often) and “purple” is not a color used very often either. The tag related that this tomato would have outstanding and sweet flavor, yield 8 to 16 oz. fruits, and was listed as a slicer tomato.
I found the plant to be reasonably vigorous and reasonably productive. The fruits have a nice shape and develop into a beautiful deep red. I can see why “purple” in the deepening hues, although I keep thinking that it is more accurately a deep red with some blue undertones. I did not get super large fruits, but 8 ounce fruits were forthcoming.
Chinese Purple Tomato Homage to Fried Rice
I had some of these beautiful tomatoes on hand yesterday, when I had the urge to eat fried rice. I selected my largest slicer and decided to enhance my regular fried rice with this special tomato. Read the rest of this entry »
Grow Tomatoes Review: Vintage Wine Beefsteak Heirloom Tomato
Ripe Vintage Wine Beefsteak Heirloom Tomato in DoT's Hand 14 July 2009
DoT’s Thot: What’s in a name? It appears that this tomato was well-named. I bought it because Vintage Wine Beefsteak had a nice ring to it; my friends can remember this tomato by name, and it performed well.
Vintage Wine Beefsteak Heirloom Tomato Has Performed Well in 2009
This tomato has produced many fruits and yields very pretty, truly striped tomatoes. When I gave some tomatoes away, I had very positive feedback.
I did have to net the tomatoes in July, because the birds realized what a great find the tomato rows were. I also had some critter attacks on ripening fruit — we have lots of trees in our city and I have seen an occasional coyote, a raccoon, and several opossums. My neighbor’s dog had a run-in with a skunk, though I never saw it; I did smell it. Of course, we battle gophers and an occasional ground squirrel.
Vintage Wine Beefsteak Heirloom Tomato Plant with Green Tomatoes - 13 June 2009
Vintage Wine Beefsteak Heirloom Tomato Ripening on the Vine 25 June 2009
Description of Vintage Wine Beefsteak Heirloom Tomato Plant
This is a potato leaf indeterminate (I) tomatoplant recently introduced. It is a bicolor tomato which was listed as 85 days to maturity. It is considered somewhat rare, because of the unique striping of the fruit. Bought in early March, the plants (only variety that got duplicated) were in the ground no more than 2 weeks later. By mid-June there were many green tomatoes on the plants. By the end of June we were eating ripe tomatoes.
The plants produced an abundance of succulent tomatoes throughout July. So far, we have harvested at least 25 pounds of Vintage Wine heirloom tomatoes. Read the rest of this entry »
Grow Tomatoes Review: Knowns and Unknowns About Mamie Eisenhower’s Tomato Pudding
Tomato "Huh?"
DoT’s Thot: “As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” – Donald Rumsfeld
I came across this celebrity tomato-related recipe (looked interesting) and felt kind of curious. I have been trying to imagine what this dish should look like and smell like coming out of the oven. If someone has a picture or has made it, I would consider it a kindness to find out vicariously what this tomato recipe yields. I do suspect that it is more than my quota of indulgence for the day. My guess is that it’s a brown, fruity, but not creamy, version of bread pudding. I can’t afford the calories (this is the known known). I don’t know what this looks like nor tastes like (these are known unknowns). I wonder what my unknown unknowns might be.
Mamie Eisenhower’s Tomato Pudding
1 (24 or 29 ounce) can tomato puree
1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup boiling water
8 slices bread
1/2 pound butter
In buttered casserole cube the 8 slices of bread. Slice the butter over the bread. Add the tomato puree, brown sugar, salt and boiling water that have been mixed together. Bake at 350 degrees F, uncovered, for 1 hour.
Nevertheless, thanks to two Washington, D.C., celebrities, this tomato recipe was fun to think about. I put this recipe in the — “maybe I’ll try it some time” pile.
Aloha, DoT
Cultivate and Fertilize the Heirloom Tomatoes
Related Articles or References
Related Posts
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Journal Entry – Early Tomatoes Were Hybrids in Pots
- Tip: Stake Up and Tie Those Stray Tomato Branches with Velcro
- Grow Tomatoes Journal News: 2009 Late Blight hits East Coast
- Grow Tomatoes Journal: Review of Ingredients for 20 Cups of Salsa
- Grow Tomatoes Review: 18 Oz. Omar’s Lebanese Beefsteak Tomato
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Sugar Lump Cherry Heirloom
- Tomato Gardening Journal — Review of May 2009
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Orange Santa Grape
- First Tomato of 2009 — Pink Thai Egg
Grow Tomatoes Review: Vintage Wine and Black Brandywine Heirlooms
“All of life is a dispute over taste and tasting.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (German classical Scholar, Philosopher and Critic of culture, 1844-1900.)
Vintage Wine Heirloom Tomato and Black Brandywine Heirloom Tomato
DoT’s Thot: I have struggled with deciding what should go in the garden each tomato season. I admit to being greedily curious about heirloom tomatoes. While I am all in favor of preserving the diversity of the horticultural gene pool, I also am just plain interested in the colors, shapes, sizes, aroma, and tastes of the varieties of tomatoes as well as the growing habits, different flowers and vining habits of the tomato plants. Vintage Wine attracted me this year, because of its name, description, and pretty picture. Black Brandywine was bought, because I somehow did not find the usual pink nor yellow brandywine in the nurseries.
Select Heirloom Tomatoes Because They Are Interesting and Taste Good
As for selecting tomatoes in general, not being a trained horticulturist, I do some reading, internet surfing, and take my chances every year, trying to find the ones I have liked from years past and trying new ones. Vintage Wine tomato and Black Brandywine tomato are two new heirloom trials for me. Some of the ones I have missed this year that were grand in past years have been New Zealand Pink Paste (grew that for 2 years and then it disappeared on me — nice paste tomato that tastes grand out of hand), Anna Russian (prolific lovely pink oxheart tomatoes that remind me a little of Dinner Plate — planted that last year, found none this year), and Orange Santa Grape tomato (wonderful for growing in super large pot). I did note that there is some dispute about which tomatoes are truly heirloom or heritage, but it does not matter to me. I will take the broader definition to be tomatoes that people like so much that they keep the seeds, wish to see them propagated forward, and pass on from some number of generations to the next.
