Today, I found a big white steam circle on our table. I read up on techniques for removing water rings, and decided to try ironing the table. It worked. The table has a polyurethane finish. I would be careful if trying this on lacquer. There are now clear water-based finishes, too. Sometimes marks on these will go away if you just wait a while.
But back to the almost-magical technique I tried. Steps below:
1. Find a clean, soft white cotton cloth or handkerchief with no texture or pattern. I used a doubled cotton handkerchief.
2. Place the cloth over the mark. Run a hot iron (no steam) back and forth over mark, moving the cloth every few seconds. Repeat until mark is gone.
3. Rub with lemon oil or other water-free furniture polish.
4. If the finish still looks damaged even though the ring is gone, you might eventually go over your entire surface of the furniture piece (i.e., the entire tabletop) with Danish Oil. Requires good air circulation and some time when you won't need the furniture.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Tomato Choices
This time last year, I already had tomato plants in the ground. I started plants indoors in January. Last year I also had problems with tobacco mosaic virus (or a very similar virus) in my tomatoes. I didn't start any plants indoors this year. The plan this year is to plant a TMV-resistant variety between varieties that are not resistant, since the virus can spread plant-to-plant and by handling (dip hands in milk to prevent the spread).
LOCAL TOBACCO MOSAIC VIRUS RESISTANT VARIETIES
I now have 12 Big Beef VF12NTSt (6 from RiteAid, 6 from OSH). May not need all 12. This variety is not quite as large as some of the giant beefsteaks, but it is recommended for our hot valley and is earlier than most big beefsteaks. Stores well. Peels more easily than Better Boy when raw.
2 Champion from Walmart (from the racks outdoors). This is the indeterminate cousin of Celebrity, slightly larger tomatoes and reportedly with better flavor. The original Champion has VFNT resistance. Champion II: VFFNTA plus yellow leaf curl. Don't know which this is (or even if it's labeled correctly, for that matter).
1 Jetsetter VFFNTA - an early disease-resistant variety recommended for our hot summer climate, from OSH.
I may also pick up from OSH:
Carmelita VFNT Hybrid version of famous French heirloom Carmello. Red/pink with green shoulders. Midseason. 8 oz.
Sunsugar FT Even sweeter than Sungold, less cracking, less fruity flavor. Other TMV resistant varieties which may be available commercially include Sweet Million, Orange Paruche and Sweet Baby Girl (compact). Also Sweet Hearts grape tomato and Golden Rave FT mini-Roma. You can plant cherry tomatoes in places where they can just sprawl, if you like.
OTHER LOCALLY AVAILABLE VARIETIES
I picked up cheap gallon containers of Early Girl and Ace. I had an Ace die on me (probably due to a soil disease) once, but it is very popular locally. Early Girl is early. Roma and Beefmaster were also available in gallons, 2 for 3 dollars.
I also got from Hofman's 6 each of Black Krim and Cherokee Purple. Won't need 6 each. Black Krim did very well here last year. There are reportedly 2 strains running around: one "smoky" and one "salty". I got the "smoky" one last year. Cherokee Purple is not real productive, but has exceptional flavor. Pick black/purple varieties while the shoulders are still green (as a rule). Not applicable to Indian Stripe, a slightly smaller, more productive version of Cherokee Purple. It's available from Victory Seeds, which also sells rechargeable desiccant packets for storing seeds.
Hofman's has some pretty nice plants this year, including several heirloom and OP types. I picked up a "mystery plant" labeled as Early Girl from a flat of Early Girls. It's a rangy potato-leaf plant - certainly not Early Girl. My thrills come cheap. I also saw at Walmart an Early Girl plant with one stem which had sported to potato leaf. Didn't buy it.
I will probably get a Better Boy, which I think has a little better flavor than Big Beef, but is harder to peel when raw. It is not TMV resistant
I may also pick up the following from OSH:
Jubilation F1 6 oz, orange, firm flavorful, unspecified multiple disease resistance, indt.
Sunny Boy Determinate (?), very sweet, firm, few seeds
Arkansas Traveler Medium-sized, pretty, pink, late. Others with similar breeding are Traveler 76 (less cracking), Burgundy Traveler (better flavor) and Bradley F (bigger, soft, delicious, used for canning and fresh eating in the South. As with other determinate types, you can restrict water as the fruit ripens to increase flavor). There is a Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival in Arkansas. I also planted a Porter's Dark Cherry (Bonnie Plants). I suspect that it may actually be Porter.
From Home Depot or Lowe's
Sungold - the world's favorite cherry tomato. Be sure you get the hybrid. Golden orange color, prone to cracking, distinctive fruity flavor
Also, I think I have a German Johnson this year (one of the more heat-tolerant pink heirloom beefsteak types), a Lemon Boy VFN hybrid for mild yellow salsa, and a Mama Mia paste type. I don't know if the last one is a hybrid or not. It's a big, gangly indeterminate and the only reference to a tomato of that name I find is a standard determinate type.
OTHER RECOMMENDED VARIETIES
The heirloom tomatoes which are most commonly used as standards for flavor and texture are Brandywine Pink (particularly Sudduth's Strain or another named strain) and Cherokee Purple. Brandywine Pink is notorious for poor production, even though it tastes wonderful. It's worthwhile looking around for some similar varieties with better production (especially in hot-summer climates). Marianna's Peace and Mexico, along with Boondocks, are recommended for our hot valley. There are also some red Brandywine types recommended for warmer weather, such as Brandywine OTV.
If you're in Utah, you might check out Diane's. In addition to their own Purple Passion, they sell other great pinks. Caspian Pink, Rose and Chianti Rose would be good bets for cooler climates. Gregory's Altai is early for a big pink. Little Rosalita is very pretty and lasted late into the fall last year here. If you want to try an Ivory-colored tomato, Super Snow White might be a good choice. Nyagous is a beautiful "black" tomato that did well here. Amazon Chocolate sounds nice.
Gardeners in more humid areas need to be aware of local blights, and new virus prevalent in the East. Resistant varieties should be available locally, like Mountain Magic, (early and late blight, FFF, V). This new variety is highly regarded for flavor by "tomato people", and is said to improve in flavor if left on the counter for a few days after picking. Choose a resistant type as insurance even if you plant non-resistant types. In the Pacific Northwest, Territorial and Nichols are two catalogs with good information on varieties which get enough heat units to ripen there, as well as blight resistance.
In the East, Bella Rosa, Amelia, and other tomato spotted wilt virus-resistant varieties would be good insurance of a tomato crop even if you plant other varieties. Early standard tomatoes are also described here. Fourth of July hybrid is small, has tough skin, is very early and gets sweet in hot weather.
If you typically set out plants in May, you may still be able to start some seeds indoors. Otherwise, you might consider picking up some seeds for next year. Pinetree is a good source of reasonably-priced seeds. Check out their International section. (I also have tomato seeds if you just need a few). On its Hybrid Tomato page, Pinetree now sells the famous old Moreton Hybrid and the slightly newer Jet Star, (both having some characteristics of older, flavorful standard tomatoes) as well as other hybrids, notably Grandeur VFFNST (a Japanese short internode variety, said to be heat tolerant), Polbig VFT (very early, tolerates cool weather), and Sungold.
Their standard tomatoes include interesting varieties such as Prudens Purple, Tip Top, Oregon Spring (parthenocarpic, tolerates cool weather), Mortgage Lifter, Peach Blow Sutton, Black Krim, Black Cherry, Gold Nugget (parthenocarpic, takes cool weather, may be grown in container), Nebraska Wedding and Stupice. The last is reportedly tolerant of cool weather, hot weather and difficult growing conditions. People love the flavor or they don't when served fresh. It's supposed to be wonderful cooked. Moskvich (same size range, semi-determinate)) did well here last year and has nice flavor. Ditto Cosmonaut Volkov.
Tomato Grower's Supply ships promptly. They sell the beloved pink cherry tomato Rose Quartz VFNT, as well as a wide variety of good open-pollinated and hybrid varieties. Husky Cherry Red is a good front-yard variety. Husky Gold is the other recommended "Husky" variety (short internode indeterminate). Green Grape if you're worried about pilferage and don't mind a less-neat plant.
If you like Roma-type tomatoes, you might as well pick a variety with some flavor or disease resistance. Most Roma types are determinate. If you want fruit all season, you might go for an indeterminate type (if you're canning, determinate might be better). If you want to use them fresh, pick a variety described as good fresh (orange and black plum types are listed by color). Or maybe even a meaty, flavorful oxheart. Expect wispy foliage on oxhearts. You might even think the plant is sick.
For next year, I'm thinking about Sweet Treats F1 Large pink cherry tomato. F12,TMV, grey leaf spot Resists leaf mold, tolerates gray leaf post, crown rot and root rot. And Bulgarian Triumph.
Wild Boar Farms has your wild-looking tomatoes. AAA Sweet Solano was my favorite orange/yellow variety last year. Has faint stripes. Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye had TMV here, but is recommended for cool-summer climates. Early. Mine took a long time to germinate last year.
Have fun. Don't get carried away, though.
UPDATE: The new favorite very early tomato of Carolyn Male (heirloom tomato expert) is Moravsky Div or Wonder of Moravia in one of the Slavic languages - very close in Slovak. (apparently not ultra-early in Oregon) - potato leaf, determinate.
LOCAL TOBACCO MOSAIC VIRUS RESISTANT VARIETIES
I now have 12 Big Beef VF12NTSt (6 from RiteAid, 6 from OSH). May not need all 12. This variety is not quite as large as some of the giant beefsteaks, but it is recommended for our hot valley and is earlier than most big beefsteaks. Stores well. Peels more easily than Better Boy when raw.
2 Champion from Walmart (from the racks outdoors). This is the indeterminate cousin of Celebrity, slightly larger tomatoes and reportedly with better flavor. The original Champion has VFNT resistance. Champion II: VFFNTA plus yellow leaf curl. Don't know which this is (or even if it's labeled correctly, for that matter).
1 Jetsetter VFFNTA - an early disease-resistant variety recommended for our hot summer climate, from OSH.
I may also pick up from OSH:
Carmelita VFNT Hybrid version of famous French heirloom Carmello. Red/pink with green shoulders. Midseason. 8 oz.
Sunsugar FT Even sweeter than Sungold, less cracking, less fruity flavor. Other TMV resistant varieties which may be available commercially include Sweet Million, Orange Paruche and Sweet Baby Girl (compact). Also Sweet Hearts grape tomato and Golden Rave FT mini-Roma. You can plant cherry tomatoes in places where they can just sprawl, if you like.
OTHER LOCALLY AVAILABLE VARIETIES
I picked up cheap gallon containers of Early Girl and Ace. I had an Ace die on me (probably due to a soil disease) once, but it is very popular locally. Early Girl is early. Roma and Beefmaster were also available in gallons, 2 for 3 dollars.
I also got from Hofman's 6 each of Black Krim and Cherokee Purple. Won't need 6 each. Black Krim did very well here last year. There are reportedly 2 strains running around: one "smoky" and one "salty". I got the "smoky" one last year. Cherokee Purple is not real productive, but has exceptional flavor. Pick black/purple varieties while the shoulders are still green (as a rule). Not applicable to Indian Stripe, a slightly smaller, more productive version of Cherokee Purple. It's available from Victory Seeds, which also sells rechargeable desiccant packets for storing seeds.
Hofman's has some pretty nice plants this year, including several heirloom and OP types. I picked up a "mystery plant" labeled as Early Girl from a flat of Early Girls. It's a rangy potato-leaf plant - certainly not Early Girl. My thrills come cheap. I also saw at Walmart an Early Girl plant with one stem which had sported to potato leaf. Didn't buy it.
I will probably get a Better Boy, which I think has a little better flavor than Big Beef, but is harder to peel when raw. It is not TMV resistant
I may also pick up the following from OSH:
Jubilation F1 6 oz, orange, firm flavorful, unspecified multiple disease resistance, indt.
Sunny Boy Determinate (?), very sweet, firm, few seeds
Arkansas Traveler Medium-sized, pretty, pink, late. Others with similar breeding are Traveler 76 (less cracking), Burgundy Traveler (better flavor) and Bradley F (bigger, soft, delicious, used for canning and fresh eating in the South. As with other determinate types, you can restrict water as the fruit ripens to increase flavor). There is a Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival in Arkansas. I also planted a Porter's Dark Cherry (Bonnie Plants). I suspect that it may actually be Porter.
From Home Depot or Lowe's
Sungold - the world's favorite cherry tomato. Be sure you get the hybrid. Golden orange color, prone to cracking, distinctive fruity flavor
Also, I think I have a German Johnson this year (one of the more heat-tolerant pink heirloom beefsteak types), a Lemon Boy VFN hybrid for mild yellow salsa, and a Mama Mia paste type. I don't know if the last one is a hybrid or not. It's a big, gangly indeterminate and the only reference to a tomato of that name I find is a standard determinate type.
OTHER RECOMMENDED VARIETIES
The heirloom tomatoes which are most commonly used as standards for flavor and texture are Brandywine Pink (particularly Sudduth's Strain or another named strain) and Cherokee Purple. Brandywine Pink is notorious for poor production, even though it tastes wonderful. It's worthwhile looking around for some similar varieties with better production (especially in hot-summer climates). Marianna's Peace and Mexico, along with Boondocks, are recommended for our hot valley. There are also some red Brandywine types recommended for warmer weather, such as Brandywine OTV.
If you're in Utah, you might check out Diane's. In addition to their own Purple Passion, they sell other great pinks. Caspian Pink, Rose and Chianti Rose would be good bets for cooler climates. Gregory's Altai is early for a big pink. Little Rosalita is very pretty and lasted late into the fall last year here. If you want to try an Ivory-colored tomato, Super Snow White might be a good choice. Nyagous is a beautiful "black" tomato that did well here. Amazon Chocolate sounds nice.
Gardeners in more humid areas need to be aware of local blights, and new virus prevalent in the East. Resistant varieties should be available locally, like Mountain Magic, (early and late blight, FFF, V). This new variety is highly regarded for flavor by "tomato people", and is said to improve in flavor if left on the counter for a few days after picking. Choose a resistant type as insurance even if you plant non-resistant types. In the Pacific Northwest, Territorial and Nichols are two catalogs with good information on varieties which get enough heat units to ripen there, as well as blight resistance.
In the East, Bella Rosa, Amelia, and other tomato spotted wilt virus-resistant varieties would be good insurance of a tomato crop even if you plant other varieties. Early standard tomatoes are also described here. Fourth of July hybrid is small, has tough skin, is very early and gets sweet in hot weather.
If you typically set out plants in May, you may still be able to start some seeds indoors. Otherwise, you might consider picking up some seeds for next year. Pinetree is a good source of reasonably-priced seeds. Check out their International section. (I also have tomato seeds if you just need a few). On its Hybrid Tomato page, Pinetree now sells the famous old Moreton Hybrid and the slightly newer Jet Star, (both having some characteristics of older, flavorful standard tomatoes) as well as other hybrids, notably Grandeur VFFNST (a Japanese short internode variety, said to be heat tolerant), Polbig VFT (very early, tolerates cool weather), and Sungold.
Their standard tomatoes include interesting varieties such as Prudens Purple, Tip Top, Oregon Spring (parthenocarpic, tolerates cool weather), Mortgage Lifter, Peach Blow Sutton, Black Krim, Black Cherry, Gold Nugget (parthenocarpic, takes cool weather, may be grown in container), Nebraska Wedding and Stupice. The last is reportedly tolerant of cool weather, hot weather and difficult growing conditions. People love the flavor or they don't when served fresh. It's supposed to be wonderful cooked. Moskvich (same size range, semi-determinate)) did well here last year and has nice flavor. Ditto Cosmonaut Volkov.
Tomato Grower's Supply ships promptly. They sell the beloved pink cherry tomato Rose Quartz VFNT, as well as a wide variety of good open-pollinated and hybrid varieties. Husky Cherry Red is a good front-yard variety. Husky Gold is the other recommended "Husky" variety (short internode indeterminate). Green Grape if you're worried about pilferage and don't mind a less-neat plant.
If you like Roma-type tomatoes, you might as well pick a variety with some flavor or disease resistance. Most Roma types are determinate. If you want fruit all season, you might go for an indeterminate type (if you're canning, determinate might be better). If you want to use them fresh, pick a variety described as good fresh (orange and black plum types are listed by color). Or maybe even a meaty, flavorful oxheart. Expect wispy foliage on oxhearts. You might even think the plant is sick.
For next year, I'm thinking about Sweet Treats F1 Large pink cherry tomato. F12,TMV, grey leaf spot Resists leaf mold, tolerates gray leaf post, crown rot and root rot. And Bulgarian Triumph.
Wild Boar Farms has your wild-looking tomatoes. AAA Sweet Solano was my favorite orange/yellow variety last year. Has faint stripes. Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye had TMV here, but is recommended for cool-summer climates. Early. Mine took a long time to germinate last year.
Have fun. Don't get carried away, though.
UPDATE: The new favorite very early tomato of Carolyn Male (heirloom tomato expert) is Moravsky Div or Wonder of Moravia in one of the Slavic languages - very close in Slovak. (apparently not ultra-early in Oregon) - potato leaf, determinate.
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