Tomatoes P H N
Solonaceae:  Lycopersicon esculentum
Brandywine Tomatoes, 2009
Brandywine Tomatoes, 2009
2023
May 26: I got 4 seedlings from a giveaway box down the street, 2 Roma and 2 similar name to Beefsteak.
May 28: Planted in the rhubarb row.
June 5: Doing fine. I mulched around them. I also found a tomato seedling in a zinnia pack, and planted it near the nicotiana.
22: I bought a Better Boy, and planted it.
28: One of the 4 seedlings has a flower. One is barely alive but 3 are doing fine.
 

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2022
June 22: I received a tomato whose seeds had sprouted inside it, and broken through the skin. I cut it up and planted 5 portions. They survived for a while in the garden, but today they are all gone, so Ben is planting 6 bush Early Girls from Home Depot to replace them.
August 21: The Early Girls are large and bushy, with many green tomatoes. One tomato has started to turn orange. There are also 4 volunteer plants in another bed, with small fruits.
 
2021
May 24: I bought 3 plants and set them out today, 2 Better Boys and 1 Sweet millions.
May 26: I dug them up for fear of frost.
May 28: I returned them to the garden.
 
2020
March 23: I have seeds of Better Boy, Jelly Bean, Bush Beefsteak, Charlie's Red Staker, Centennial Rocket,and Manitoba. I started 18 cells with 2 cells of each variety.
28: All 6 seeds of Jelly Bean have sprouted! No others.
29: 13 sprouts.
April 6: I moved half the seedlings into styrofoam cups. Almost all seeds sprouted.
19: I moved all the seedlings into styrofoam cups, 28 large cups and 2 small ones.
May 6: Doing fine. One of the Centennial Rockets has a flower.
23: Planted out. Two of the Centennial Rockets have small fruits.
June 26: First ripe tomato today. So early! It weighted 30 g, was a Centennial Rocket, and tasted delicious.
July 3: Second ripe tomato.
 
2019
December 15: I had Better Boy and Orange Zinger and s cherry tomato. I got a few tomatoes. Poor weather, as I recall.
 
2017
April 3: I bought a package of Tiny Tim and a package of Jelly Bean Hybrid at Lacoste. My Better Boy seeds have not sprouted yet.
 
2016
April 6: I seeded 5 cells with 5 Cobra seeds.
8: I seeded 5 cells with 10 Manitoba seeds and 6 cells with 12 Better Boy seeds.
24: Good germination and the seedlings are coming along. I have moved some into large foam cups.
June 2: I set out 10 Better Boys beside the stakes and 7 Manitobas and 2 Cobras. I still have 2 Cobras and 1 Manitoba.
 
2015
June 4: I set out about 8 plants.
December 31: There were few leaves but a fair number of small or medium tomatoes.
 
2014
April 2: I started 18 cells, 9 cells of Big Beefy using 15 Stokes coated seeds bought this year, 6 cells of Ultra Sweet using 12 Stokes seeds bought this year, 2 cell of Early Girl using 4 old seeds, and 1 cell of Sub Arctic Plenty using 1 old seed.
8: Two sprouts.
May 31: I set out 11 plants: 3 Big Beefy, 3 Ultra Sweet, 3 Early Girl, and 2 Sub Arctic Plenty. All are staked except one Sub Arctic Plenty.
June 20: Doing well. Most plants have small fruits.
July 19: I picked 3 ripe medium-sized tomatoes.
 
2013
April 27: I started 16 cells with 2 varieties, Big Beefy and Juliet, with one seed in each styrofoam cup.
June 7: I set 8 plants out. When I dug to put the stakes in I found that the bed contained many spruce tree roots. I guess sheet mulching (no digging) won't work very well in this bed.
10: I set out 2 more plants that I got from Joan, an Ultrasonic and a Sweet 100. They are 2 or 3 times the size of the one I started myself.
22: I put my last 2 Big Beefy plants in the south east bed. I don't intend to stake them. The majority of plants are doing well, and one is flowering.
July 4: I tied them up and pinched the side shoots. Almost all plants are in flower.
August 6: First ripe tomato.
September 23: Did fine. Juliets produced early and numerous fruits. Sweet 100 had the very best flavour but there were not many for such a small fruit. The Beg Beefy were big enough and well flavoured. The Ultrasonic ded not distinguish itself
October 19: I came back from a trip and I see the plants are still going today!
20: But today they are frozen. I picked the final fruits, which did not themselves freeze.
 
2012
March 25: I started 6 cells with 3 varieties.
April 8: No sprouts yet.
16: I bought fresh seeds from T&T: Primo Red and Early Girl, and planted 5 of each.
May 3: I transplanted my seedlings into large styrofoam cups.
 
2011
March 29: I started 12 cells with about 1 seeds per cell. Six of Big Beefy, 3 each of Lunch Box and Sub-Arctic Plenty (marked with clay on top).
April 28: I transplanted 5 seedlings into 4 inch square pots.
May 27: I set out my seedlings, 5 Big Beefy and 1 each of Lunch Box and Sub-Arctic Plenty. They are a fine size.
June 13: One was dying. On inspection the outer layer of the stem had apparently been eaten off. I cut the stem and put it in water to see if it will root.
23: It developed roots quickly, so I put it in vermiculite. Today I planted it back in the garden, with soil and vermiculite around it.
29: Generally doing fine. I gave them some acid fertilizer, 30-10-10. The plant I rerooted and put back has recovered a good colour in parts.
 
2010
March 13: I bought a package of Big Beef hybrid from T&T seeds. They are described as 70 days to maturity.
24: I planted my seeds. Two cells of Brandywine, 2 of Lunch Box, 2 of Ultrasonic, and 3 of Big Beef, with 2 seeds per cell.
29: One sprout visible in the morning.
April 16: Transplanted into large cups.
May 30: I set out 7 plants.
June 17: I replaced one plant, but the others are coming along. All but one are starting to produce new healthy-looking leaves. They had lost most of their leaves due to drying out once whilst in their pots.
July 2: Doing well, except for the replacement plant. I suspect there's something wrong with that spot.
August 6: I had a few tomatoes about 10 days ago, but none are ripe right now.
 
2009
April 1: I made 14 paper tubes and started 2 seeds in each tube. There are 6 tubes of Brandywine, 2 of Sub-Arctic Plenty, 3 of Ultrasonic, and 3 of Lunch Box. I put them on the heating mat.
5: 3 sprouts this morning. I moved them under the lights.
10: More sprouts day by day, but no Lunch Box seeds have sprouted.
23: I finished transplanting the seedlings into styrofoam cups. It isn’t possible to tell the Ultrasonics from the Sub-Arctic Plenties. The germination rate was very high, except for the Lunch Boxes.
May 30: I set out 3 Brandywines and 3 others, varieties unknown.
July 4: Coming along fine, especially in sunny hot weather.
14: One of the plants looked sick for a while then died so I replaced it with a Sugar Snack from Schriemer's, 75 cents.
August 3: I have eaten 2 Brandywines, and one from a medium sized variety, and a few yummy Sugar Snacks. I have been tieing the plants to their stakes.
September 20: Finally, some more tomatoes! Several plants have ripe fruits today.
 
2008
March 23: I planted 9 cells using 18 seeds. Of the seeds, 9 were Brandwines bought last year, 4 were Sub-Arctic Plenties bought last year, 4 were Lunch Box bought for 2004, and 4 were Ultrasonic for 2004.
25: I move the seeds onto the heating mat.
28: 5 sprouts.
29: 4 Brandywine sprouts, 2 sub-Arctics, and 1 Ultra.
April 6: More sprouts have appeared, which I have culled, leaving 9 seedlings.
9: Moved under the sodium lamp.
14: Transplanted to large styrofoam cups.
May 22: I set out 5 plants: 2 Brandywines, and one each of sub-Arctic, Ultrasonic, and Lunch Box.
July 13: First tomato, an Ultrasonic.
 
2007
April 7: I bought a package of Brandywine seeds and a package of Sub-Arctic Plenty seeds at T&T, and planted 12 Brandywine seeds and 8 sub-Arctic seeds in 2 pots. The Sub-Arctics have a days-to-fruit rating of only 45 days; the Brandywines rate at 95 days.
10: Some sprouts of both varieties.
20: The Brandywines are in 4-paks and the sub-Arctics in 9-paks.
May 12: Ben put in the tripods and 3 new plastic and metal stakes. The supports are for the Brandwines. The sub-Arctics are a bush variety.
May 27: Ben set out all the seedlings—6 Brandywines and 4 sub-Arctics.
June 15: They are all doing well, and 2 of the sub-Arctics began flowering today.
23: Both varieties are flowering.
 
2006
January 3: I planted 4 Whippersnapper seeds in 3 cells, and 4 Ultrasonic seeds in 4 cells.
March 12: No sprouts. Discarded some time ago. I bought a package of Brandywine from T & T today.
27: I planted 6 cells of each of Ultrasonic, Lunch Box, and Early Girl, with 2 seeds per cell. I discovered that my package of Brandywine seeds is empty! T & T says they will send a replacement.
29: A replacement package arrived yesterday. That was fast! I planted 9 cells with 2 seeds per cell.
April 2: A few Ultrasonic and Early Girl sprouts.
29: I transferred the plants to large styrofoam cups. I have about 10 Brandywines, 9 Early Girls, and 6 Ultrasonics. The leaves of the Brandywines are quite different than the leaves of the others. They resemble potato leaves.
May 13: I took my extra plants to the garage sale where they sold promptly.
21: I set out 1 Brandywine.
22: I set 4 more out, an Early Girl, and Ultrasonic, a Lunch Box, and another Brandywine.
28: A cutworm got the second Brandywine so I replaced it, and found the cutworm in doing so.
June 4: A Brandywine and the Ultrasonic are flowering.
July 20: I picked a small Ultrasonic. There are several more almost ripe on the Ultrasonic and many on the Lunchbox. There are some green ones on the Early Girl, and a couple on each Brandywine. The plants are small compared to other years, because there has been little rain. I have installed drip irrigation to each of them which I expect will help sustain them.
August 1: I've picked a good number of small fruit from the 3 early ones. Many of them show blossom end rot.
 
tomato
Tomatoes, 2005
2005
March 31:  I started 9 cells of Ultrasonic and 9 cells of Lunch Box, 1 seed per cell.
April 5:  One Utrasonic sprout.
19:  Now 9 Ultrasonic sprouts and 8 Lunch Box.
28:  Now all 16 plants are in large styrofoam cups. (One was discarded.)
May 7:  I donated most to a garage sale, and got some back due to rain and poor sales.
22:  I set out 2 Ultrasonics.
26:  I added 2 Lunch Boxes and another Ultrasonic.
June 3:  A Lunch Box broke and I had no more of those so I replaced it with an Ultrasonic. The plant already had a 2 cm fruit!
19:  Now 7 small fruits on 2 plants. The weather has been cloudy and rainy so the plants are stunted, small but with mature-looking leaves.
July 12:  In just a few hot days, unnoticed, the 3 separate plants have turned into a tomato jungle, and the other 2 have developed substantially.
19:  First 2 tomatoes!
October 4:  I picked 4 more. I have had a good crop.
December 25:  I received seeds of 3 heritage varieties, Whippersnapper Sundrop, and Red Currant, and a container in which to start them. The internet says that Whippersnapper was developed in Alberta for short-season gardening.and is a small determinate plant that can be grown in an 8 inch pot. The fruit are pinkish. Sundrop is a semi-determinate with yellow fruits or an indeterminate with small-fruited orange fruits on vigorous plants, depending on whom you believe. Red currant is a different species from the usual tomato, Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium (L.) Mill.. It forms very productive, sprawling plants that yield lots of ½ inch fruit.
 
2004
March 24:  I started 9 seeds of Ultrasonic VFT and 9 seeds of Lunch Box VF.
29:  4 sprouts of Ultrasonic and 3 of Lunch Box.
April 10:  I treated the 15 plants with acid fertilizer and chelated iron.
12:  I transplanted the 6 largest into large styrofoam cups.   There is less risk of their drying out in the large containers, but I had to move them under the fluorescents instead of the sodium lamp.
May 7:  I took all but 3 plants to the garage sale, keeping on Lunch Box and 2 Ultrasonics.   All were in individual cups by now.
23:  I set out 1 plant, the lunch box.
24:  I set the other 2 plants out.
June 6:  Not much change.   They got a toss of fertilizer and a toss of sulphur today.
19:  More sulphur and acid fertilizer.
August 24:  There are many green tomatoes, but I have picked only 4 small ripe ones so far.
October 18:  I got a good crop of tomatoes finally, but not until late September. The summer was very cool and wet.
 
2003
March 21:  I planted 2 large cells of seeds from First Lady and 2 cells of seeds from a beefy variety, 3 seeds per cell.
29:  2 sprouts of beefy are just poking through.
30:  Now there are 3 sprouts of beefy in the same cell.
31:  Now also a sprout of the early variety.
April 1:  I moved one beefy to its own cell, and planted 4 more early seeds.
April 5:  I put the seedlings under the sodium lamp, near the lamp.
8:  Two more First Lady sprouts.
May 17:  I set one plant out.
20:  It lost parts of a couple of leaves to frost, despite being covered with a bucket.
May 22:  I set out 2 more plants.
June 3:   I sprinkled a little sulphur around them.
13:   There is one small fruit.
14:   I mulched around them with lawn clippings.
July 1:   They are doing well and there are several small tomatoes.   Today I gave them some acidic fertilizer.
24:   First ripe fruit.
August 26:  Enough small or medium fruit, but my plants are evidently determinate and I will run out soon.
December 9:  Seeds arrived from Stokes, one package of Ultrasonic VFT, $2.25, and one package of Lunch Box VF, $1.50.
 
2002
March 21:  I started 4 cells.   Two of them have 3 seeds each of my Bush Early Girl collected in 2000, and two of them have 3 seeds each of Roma from a package packed for 1997.
April 1:  No sprouts, so I planted more seeds in vermiculite.   I used about 8 seeds each of the 1997 Romas, of the 2000 Bush Early Girl, of the 2001 First Lady, and of the 2001 Romas.   The last 2 may be crosses.
6:  Many sprouts from the newly planted seeds.
7:  I transferred 2 Roma sprouts and 2 Bush Early Girl sprouts to a 4-pak.
May 28:  I set out my 4 plants.
July 31:  I picked my first orange fruit.   It's not quite ripe, but it was on the ground and I wanted to save it from slugs or other harm.
September 8: I have been getting enough fruits to keep me in tomato sandwiches, and a few more for cooking with.
 
2001
May 26:  I planted 4 plants from Joan, one each of First Lady Hybrid, Celebrity Bush, Better Boy, and Mamma Mia.
June 17:  Flowering.
August 4:  I ate my first tomato today, from the First Lady plant.
August 22:  One of the plants was very large and healthy looking, but had no fruits! I cut much of it back.
December 2:  I got a moderate harvest this year.
 
2000
March 24:  I started my seeds today, 6 cells of Bush Early Girl with 1 seed per cell.
April 1:  2 sprouts.
May 21:  I set out 4 plants, leaving 1 for Jennifer.
June 10:  First flower.
August 4:  First 2 ripe tomatoes. There are many fruits, almost ready to start ripening.
September 17:  I collected 2 bowlsful of fruits today.
~22:  Frost last night killed the plants. I collected more tomatoes; they do not seem to have been harmed.
 
1999
March 24:  I started my seeds today, 6 cells of Bush Early Girl, that I bought at T&T yesterday, and 3 cells of the beefy type that I saved from last year, with 2 seeds per cell.
30:  Four sprouts this morning.
31:  Eight sprouts today, 6 Early Girl and 2 beefy.
April 3:  Fifteen sprouts today, thinned to 9.
7:  I removed 2 more sprouts. That's 17/18 germination.
25:  I transplanted the 3 beefy tomatoes into 4-paks.
27:  I transplanted the 6 Early Girls into 4-paks.
May 21:  I set 2 Early Girls out, anticipating a weekend of coolness and rain.
24:  Wayne planted one of the beefy type plants.
June 4:  I planted my last 2 plants at Parkview. I gave 4 to Mac last weekend.
8:  All 3 plants are in flower, or almost so.
June 30:  Flourishing, with small tomatoes visible.
August 3:  First tomato, an Early Girl.
31:  The Early Girls are doing fine, but the beefy plant is doing quite poorly. It looks like its main branches were almost torn off the main trunk. Some of its tomatoes are ripening now, but they are not big as they should be.
September 20:  Killed by frost. This was not a very productive year. I got a modest number of tomatoes, and many of those had black bottoms and slug holes.
 
1998
March 17:  Started 1 6-pak, 2 seeds per cell,
21:  6 sprouts visible.
~26:  Thinned to 6 plants.
April 13:  Moved to larger cells (4-paks).
May 24:  2 plants planted out.
 
1997
March 20:  Started 1 6-pak.
29:  First true leaves beginning to show.
April 20:  4 plants repotted into Styrofoam pots.
~May 1:  2 more put into Styrofoam.
24:  2 donated to sale.
27:  I planted 1.
29:  Wayne Barley planted 2.
June 8:  I mulched with lawn clippings
December 18:  A satisfactory harvest.
 
1996
March 23:  One 6-pack of a beefy variety started, from a tomato or two of last year.
May 4:  6 seedlings doing fine.
~10:  2 seedlings set out.
June 3:  Seedlings ok, but there hasn't been much growth.
June 15:  A few hot days have resulted in a flush of growth.
August 22:  I scattered metaldehyde pellets, against slugs.
28:  First tomato.
September 3:  Several ripe.   The slug pellets seem to have been effective.
 
1995
~April 4:  Started some seeds.
May 8:  I had only 3 tomato seeds, and only 1 sprouted and is growing.
June 1:  It is in the garden and growing, as well as 1 beefeater from Joan.
 
1994
April 13:  Started some seeds, 5 cells with 2 seeds each of Beefy tomatoes.
~17:  Sprouts appearing.
June 20:  5 plants outside and doing well.
August 16:  First ripe tomato.
September 9:  Killed many slugs.
 
1993
August 5:  There are fruits on the plants.
August 18:  One red tomato in the garden (Bush Beefsteak)!