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| Heirloom Tomatoes......for Angora | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 7 2014, 11:13 AM (253 Views) | |
| FuzzyO | Apr 7 2014, 11:13 AM Post #1 |
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Angora see number 46. http://www.treeandtwig.ca/storage/2014_tomato_preorders.pdf |
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| Trotsky | Apr 8 2014, 12:24 AM Post #2 |
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Big City Boy
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Question, I see that there is OXHEART available. Do you think it is a real, direct descendant of one of the tomatoes I adored and grew every year in the 1950's? Or do you think the line may have been broken somewhere in the last 50 years and a substitute sits with the name? I looked for BEEFSTEAK but could not find it. (Of course, with one taste of either of these sublime tomatoes and I'd know for sure. My taste and smell memories are better than Proust's...good and bad.) Edited by Trotsky, Apr 8 2014, 12:33 AM.
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| FuzzyO | Apr 8 2014, 12:49 AM Post #3 |
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# 48 is Beefsteak. There are others on the list which mention beefsteak which I think refers to size rather than actual variety. "Classic original beefsteak. large sprawling plant, old time classic tomato flavour. 6-12 oz. Indeterminate, reg leaf. 80 days." |
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| angora | Apr 8 2014, 12:55 AM Post #4 |
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WWS Book Club Coordinator
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Seems like it's meant to be, doesn't it.? Thanks, I may try it just for the fun of it. |
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| Trotsky | Apr 8 2014, 01:27 AM Post #5 |
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Big City Boy
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If I had some land that doesn't have to fit in a pot on the windowsill, I'd try my hand at a bunch of these heirlooms. But I am a skeptic and would venture to guess that some or many of these varieties are not what they are cracked up to be...but I would love to be proven wrong. |
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| FuzzyO | Apr 8 2014, 02:20 AM Post #6 |
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I've heard good things about this farm and their plants so I think if I have a chance I will pick up some seedlings. I do like the flavour of some of the small dark ones, would definitely try those. |
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| Trotsky | Apr 8 2014, 04:39 AM Post #7 |
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Big City Boy
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I remember when tomatoes didn't taste like red cotton. |
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| Kahu | Apr 8 2014, 11:59 AM Post #8 |
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Beefsteak is one of my favourites and is a common home gardener variety here. That variety has a long root run Trotsky, and you'd need a large plastic bag Size 24, or 40kg sack of potting mix to grow it in ... on a balcony perhaps? But definitely not inside. |
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| Trotsky | Apr 9 2014, 12:58 AM Post #9 |
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Big City Boy
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I'd never try to grow a tomato plant without some real piece of the Earth. I have to content myself with basil and rosemary in pots. Do you think it has escaped hybridization in our lifetime, Alan? In your opinion is todays Beefsteak the same as the 1955 Beefsteak? Edited by Trotsky, Apr 9 2014, 01:01 AM.
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| Deleted User | Apr 9 2014, 04:02 AM Post #10 |
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Deleted User
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I grow only heirlooms, but have never been satisfied with the flavor since we moved here. They simply do not taste like the tomatoes of the same seed we grew in Pennsylvania a mere 7 years ago. Here the growing season is very short and we seldom have temperatures above 72 during the daytime and at night temps are often in the 50's and low 60's even during the height of summer. I grow most plants in the ground in a plastic greenhouse, and some outside, but the outside plants rarely produce many ripe tomatoes before the temps drop in the fall. I actually have a few jars left of tomato sauce I made in Pennsylvannia from home grown tomatoes (yes I know they are 8 years old) and sauce made from tomatoes I grew here, and in an attempt to show westerners the difference, cooked up comparative batches last year. They could not believe how much better the Pennsylvania tomatoes were, even being way too old. So I think climate and growing conditions have as much to do with a tomatoe's flavor, as whether they are or are not heirlooms. |
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| Trotsky | Apr 9 2014, 04:20 AM Post #11 |
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Big City Boy
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Maybe it's a Pennsylvania thing but I have never had tomatoes like I grew in the Lehigh Valley. Tomatoes definitely have specific needs. They like heat, a lot of full Sun, and a dry August. So yeah BJ, tomatoes and the weather of Western Washington seem at loggerheads. |
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| Kahu | Apr 9 2014, 09:04 AM Post #12 |
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I doubt it. Hybridisation, in the great scheme of things, can mean just subtle changes occurring through insect pollenisation. I've always found Beefsteak to be great though, really meaty, flavoursome, juicy eating. I suppose having an intensive warming period during the ripening process may improve the flavour. Although towards the end of the season we normally pick them before they are totally red and leave them on the windowsill to ripen up. I usually grow Cherry Tomatoes too ... these are really sweet, heavy croppers. There's a yellow variety too, and mixed in a salad, they add to the visual appeal. As kid we used to use them as ammo for our shanghais (slingshot). |
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