Oxhearts and Others - More Tomatoes

We're starting to get substantial numbers of tomatoes now.  Lots of Fourth of July, Early Challenge and First Lady fruits.  We've had several Cosmonaut Volkov fruits and some tomatoes which are labeled "Aunt Ginny's Purple", from a second plant which may have been a victim of the "toddler label mix-up" event. They're a tender, meaty heirloom type, but not "purple" or pink.   Lots of perfect-looking, egg-shaped Barbara fruits, too.   We hit the jackpot with several Pink Oxheart fruits today.  One is pictured below with several other varieties:

At 12 o'clock is our first little Royal Hillbilly.  The fruit of this variety is usually larger, according to the description.  Next to it going clockwise is a small Momotaro, a pink market tomato from Japan.  Then a Marianna's Peace, looking more like an oxheart than it should.  Then our first Goose Creek, a little bit over-ripe, with cracks at the stem end.  You can't see the little white speckles which are sometimes noted on this variety in the photo, but they're there.  Next to Goose Creek are three dusky Nyagous, slightly darker in hue than the big, boat-shaped JD's Special-C Tex   in the center of the platter. The green on the shoulders is characteristic of many of the "purple" or  "black" tomatoes when ripe.  Two of the Nyagous fruits are likely over-ripe.

At six o'clock are two Moskvich fruits, then one of the Oxheart Pink fruits.  The ones I picked today were variable is size and shape.  Not all of them looked this much like a heart.  The comes a Ponderosa Pink with some green on the shoulder and a little cracking, and finally a big double heart - Anna Russian.  There was also a HUGE double Anna Maria's heart that got stuck in the fencing where two layers overlapped.  The second time for this variety.  We'll have to find a better one to photograph.

We're still getting a lot of squash, too.  And a lot of squash bugs.  I had to pull up two plants of Saffron Prolific crookneck this week due to disease.  Zucchini plants generally last longer than crooknecks and straightnecks in our yard.  And some of F's volunteers.   Our 107 degree day was hard on the beans.  Haven't had any edible ones since.  Still getting a few Summer Dance cucumbers.

First Tomatoes and Beans, Last Summer Turnips 2010

Well, our first tomato was a little currant tomato, variety "Sweet Pea". Not bad. There were also a couple from a mis-identified "Fourth of July" plant that turned out to be a tiny, crunchy grape tomato - Not outstanding. We had a Stupice tomato ripening, but lost it, along with a few others of the 61-plus plants we planted. Interestingly, all of the plants lost were either purchased rather than started by us, were over-wintered or were planted where a diseased plant came out.

Our second harvest includes a few tiny Sweet Pea and "Fourth of July Mystery" tomatoes, plus one larger (still not very big) real "Fourth of July" tomato.  They're pictured above with the last of the "Summer Turnips", variety - Oasis.  Still good.  Only a hint of the off-flavors which develop in turnips during hot weather.  We've had variable weather this spring, but it's been cooler than normal lately, in the 70s and 80s during the day.

Also pictured, pole beans "Fortex", perhaps the best pole bean in the world, and a heat-tolerant variety, "Champagne".  A bean specialist gave me some seeds to try.  I only planted a few plants, as pole beans are usually marginal on our spring weather.  I typically like them small, but a few got away from me, going to the "beany" stage that David's Mom likes.  There's also a sprig from the "Grenada" pomegranate, with a baby fruit and blossoms.  Not enough tomatoes to provide color.  They needed some help.  We should have a bunch soon.

Honors for Biggest Green Tomato go to "Anna Maria's Heart".  This is a surprise, as it is listed as a late variety.  Healthiest-looking Plant award goes to "Nyagous", a smallish "black" tomato.

Update June 15:    Anna Maria's Heart produced a ripe tomato.  It had been squished against the fence support, and had some bad spots.  This is the first time I've grown oxheart tomatoes.  I think I'm going to like this one.  Sweet and meaty so far.  It's pictured below with what is probably "Sweet Million" plus some more currant and grape tomatoes in the little bowl and "Sweet Quartz" (a Japanese cherry tomato named for the color of Rose Quartz) on top of the beans.

'Champagne' pole bean is out-producing 'Fortex'. Champagne is a flatter bean and has strings - just like old-time string beans with less-elegant names like 'Turkey Craw' or 'Blue Greasy Grit'. I hope to try Fortex again in the fall.

The difference in hue between the "pink" Anna Maria's Heart and Sweet Quartz and the "red" tomatoes in the bowl is not particularly evident in the picture, but the "pink" tomatoes have less yellow pigment in the skin when fully ripe.  The "Sweet Millions" pictured here were sweet and a little on the mealy side.  Hard to judge quality on these first tomatoes.  "Sweet Quartz" was juicier with more complex flavor.  It's large for a cherry tomato.

Below is a row of our tomato plants with the June 15 vegetable harvest.  "Nyagous" is in front, with dark foliage to go with its dark-colored tomatoes.  There are four of these rows, plus extra plants along the dog-run fences.

I was successful at emasculating some blossoms for hybridization, but not at drying and transfering pollen.  I'll probably skip further  hybridization experiments until next year because of the tobacco mosaic virus in the yard.  We will likely lose the "Brandywine OTV and "Haley's Purple Comet" to disease.  I think I can get some fruits from the latter variety first.