Got the 4 Rutgers planted this morning. Watered all the plants. I will put the straw mulch down this afternoon.
The Super Sweet 100 has its first blossoms on it.
So the tomato season is on! I sure hope it is a successful one!
May 23 and I got Super Sweet 100 & the Golden Girls planted this evening. I thought I was organized but that proved to be wrong! loll
Oh well, got 4 of 8 done!
May 14, 2016
Nothing seems to be going right this year. I started my seeds right on time this year for a change. I did Prudens Purple, Golden Queen USDA & Earl Of Edgecombe. It took 2 tries to get PP to sprout. They all seemed to be doing okay. I potted up and it was downhill after that. They did not seem to be growing. They eventually ally died.
At this point I have decided I just have too much going on. So we have just purchased plants instead. And hopefully plants that will produce well. Just don't feel up to having a challenge growing tomatoes this year!
The temps have been up and down, Today is only in the 50's. And we have had lots of rain. So it may play out to be cool & wet this summer.
What we will plant this year:
Super Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato -1
Rutgers - 4
Golden Girl - 3
First delay was getting seed started. Then I had to redo some since they were not germinating. Then we had to decide on what new fencing we were going to use to keep out the deer and order it. Next delay was we had way below normal temperatures. But finally on May 21, I was able to get them in the ground!! 
While I was sure they were getting plenty of sun during the hardening off period I was so wrong. They suffered sun scald. 
I watered them well for a couple of day and they began to recover.....whew! I did lose 1 Rutger's.
This year is my first year using straw to mulch my tomato plants. We had very heavy rains yesterday and I have no soil splashed on the plants at all. I hope this will help with soil spread disease over the season.
Also new this year is our fencing to keep deer from doing too much damage. Before we used chicken wire, which we used for 2 years. It was not very stable and does not hold up to weather & winds over a long period of time. We decided to purchase a dog kennel and plant inside of this. We did a 15X5X6 configuration. I lost some space but I think it will work for us. I have a total of 9 plants in it. All
The plants for this year are:
2 Rutger's.....Both of these did not survive
2 Sioux
2 Sweet Ozark Orange...... Only 1 has survived
1 Pruden's Purple
1 Arkansas Traveler
1 Jaune Flamme
1 Super Sweet 100
ADDED 2 Big Boy on JULY 1 to replace the lost plants.
All our new to me except Rutger's, & Super Sweet.
Today is May 30 and the plants have made great progress. The Super Sweet (which was bought) has blossoms on it now! SO it was a rough start. Hoping things go smoother from here on out.
It is now June 17 2015
We have blossoms on all plants except 2. One SOO and the Pruden's Purple. The SOO plant is also trailing behind the other plants in growth. Do not know if it is the plant or the spot it is in. I have been feeding every 2 weeks. I gave it a shot of Fish Emulsion last night. The Super Sweet 100 has little green tomatoes on it! It is about 4 ft tall now. Need to get photos and add them. Have a fruit on one of the SIOUX!!
I will never ever plant again without straw mulch. It is so much nicer to not have to walk in the mud after it has rained! And I just think it looks pretty!
Super Sweet 100 Plant
Super Sweet 100 tomatoes
June 18 I found a small fruit on Arkansas Traveler!!
June 26
Had a set back this past week with 3-4 plants wilting over last weekend. They are now looking better. Rutger's is better but one SOO is looking really bad and just not growing. Do not know why. I am feeding We are getting plenty of rain. I do wonder if we have had too much rain.
Super Sweet 100 is now at 6 feet tall & loaded with tomatoes! They rest are growing well considering our weather conditions I guess. We have green tomatoes on both Sioux, Arkansas Traveler, Jaune Flamme.
Arkansas Traveler
Sioux
Super Sweet 100
JULY 1, 2015
All plants are setting fruit except for 1 SOO & the remaining Rutgers's. Decided to pull them out. They had very little root system. I believe they may have been hit by drifting weed killer. I bought 2 Big Boy Hybrid tomato plants and put them out today. They looked like healthy plants. Planted them deep. They will be a bit behind the others but hopefully will catch up soon. Maybe even help extend our season a little!
Very anxious to pick our first ripe tomato!
JULY 25
This season has been very frustrating and one problem after another!
Have picked off several tomatoes that have BER from both one Sioux plant and SOO. Picked the first tomato off Jaune Flamme yesterday. it needs to finish ripening. One Sioux plant is not growing so I may have to pull it. I will try some of these plants again next year. The Big Boy plants are getting blossoms. Cherry tomatoes are going crazy!
Oh well.....there is always next year!
JULY 27, 2015
Have been picking Super Sweet 100's for a couple of weeks now. There is some inconsistency in the taste. Some are very sweet and some a bit tart. I have picked 2 Jaune Flamme. Have not tasted one yet. The first one is just about ready to eat. The other has to ripen more. This photo shows them compared to the cherry tomatoes.
I picked the first Arkansas Traveler today. 7/27/15. It is small and need a couple more days to ripen fully.
The healthy Sioux has some very nice looking medium tomatoes on it now. Hopefully we are done with BER issues!
Lots of tomatoes on Pruden's Purple.
I ordered Golden Queen USDA seeds today for next year. It is a yellow variety.
AUGUST 6
I have determined that my Pruden's Purple is in fact not PP. The tomatoes are way too small. So that is a bust for this year. We have gotten 1 small tomato off this plant. It has lots of green tomatoes but they are all small. The first one was not very good We will see if the next ones taste better.
AUGUST 8
Some photos...
SIOUX, IMPOSTOR PP, ARKANSAS TRAVELER
SIOUX, IMPOSTOR PP
Definitely NOT PP!
AUGUST 21
Topped of a couple of the plants today. The Arkansas Traveler & the small Sioux. That way they can put energy into the few green tomatoes they have and not growing more blossoms.
Sweet Ozark Orange has 14-15 small green tomatoes on it. It has grow straight up in the cage, so now the trick is try and keep the branches from falling over and breaking! I have tied it best I can to the kennel fencing.
While this year has not been what I had hoped for, we have had adequate amount of tomatoes. So we will be thankful for what we have and look forward to next year!
