Spotlight on ...... Wapsipinicon Peach Tomato

Review

This is an unusual tomato as it has a slight fuzz on it - hence the Peach in the name. The fuzz isn't as pronounced as on a peach and you don't notice it when you eat it.

My bush is doing well and like most of my others, suffered from early blight due to improper feeding causing weak bushes. This was fixed with Dynamic Lifter.

Other than that the bush has been healthy. It produces well and takes about 10 weeks from transplant to harvest. Mine seemed to take a little longer than that, more like 14 weeks.

Cutting

I can only describe the skin as soft and "fleshy" to touch. Not thick or thin but a different feel to normal. Probably because of the slight fuzz. It cuts well and is juicy. The skin seems to mark easily as it is soft skinned - not thin but soft. It doesn't have the shine of a usual tomato skin.

Taste

Very low acid in this tomato. Great for people who can't tolerate the acidity of tomatoes. It has been described elsewhere as so sweet it could be a desert fruit..... To me it lacks that tang I am looking for.

Will I grow them again.

A big no for me as they don't really taste like a tomato to me and I miss that zing. This is just my opinion. I have read many great reviews for the taste..... I just like more acidity. Great for kids and people with low acid tolerance.

I am glad I grew them and tried it out as it is unusual.

Seeds: The Diggers Club.

Spotlight on....... Jaune Flamme

Review

Jaune Flamme is a bright orange salad tomato the size of a golf ball. My bush seems to be going well. It had some early blight but that could have been due to being underfed at first. It is very striking and almost luminous or fluorescent. The skin is shiny and smooth and they really stand out in the bush.

It is quite a prolific producer and one they start ripening you will get quite a few coming through.

The below show them on the bush but not yet ripe enough to pick - I made the mistake of picking the first one when yellow and unripe. The name is misleading as Jaune is yellow in French - leading me to believe yellow means ready to pick. The name should be D'orange Flamme however I guess that doesn't sound as good. The flamme part is right as it does almost glow.

The second picture shows them ripe and orange.

Here is a ripe one ready to taste.

Cutting

The skin is not thick or thin so it cuts well. I would use it in salads as it is not quite big enough for a slicing tomato unless you are putting it on Cruskits / crackers etc.

A couple of small blemishes on the bottom that I cut off before tasting. BTW - this is not the above tomato. I am saving that for a salad :-)  This one had a little split in it so I cut that one.

Taste

It has a quite nice taste to it. Enough zing to satisfy the tomato lover and a lingering flavour on the tongue.

Will I grow this next year.

The jury is still out.. It is a lovely tomato, tasty, quite striking in the salad bowl and a great producer. There are however many more tomatoes to try and this one is not a blow your socks off in my mind. I have just eaten my first one so after a few salads I will know better.

Seeds: The Diggers Club.

Spotlight on - Wild Sweetie Tomato

Review

This is a very very tiny tomato. It is currant sized and really would be great for children (although could be a chocking hazard for the very young. They are bright red and very sweet and would be really fun for littlies to find and pick and eat in the garden.

They are so small that they would get lost in a salad and really are just for munching off the plant.

This is another one that I thought - small tomato - small bush - and planted in a hanging basket...... I have read that they can get quite big as a bush but mine is confined to the small limits of a basket.

It is quite a cute little tomato but I have decided it is not for me and I am giving it away. The reason being that I have so many others that I am picking and eating that this one gets lost and ignored so I am giving it a home with young children (hopefully) and appreciated more.

It has spray of about 8 tiny tomatoes and has produced a good crop considering it's small container.

It has been a healthy bush so far, especially as it is so confined.

In summary - I would only recommend this for young children to learn how to garden as I think they would get a real buzz out of picking the tiny gems.

I won't grow it again because of the size of the tomato. A great experiment.

Seeds: The Diggers Club.

Spotlight on..... Broad Ripple Yellow Tomato.

Review

The Broad Ripple Yellow Tomato has become my favourite eat off the bush tomato. It is an unusual bush with hundreds of little buds that keep on giving.

You can see the old small cage in there (see previous post)

It has a really cute little leaf on it and will sprawl if not supported properly. The tomatoes come on trusses of 8 to 10 tomatoes and they are golden yellow when ripe. They have a hard crunchy skin but not like the hard tasteless skin of store brought tomatoes. More of a crunch than "I can't get my teeth through this!!". They explode in your mouth as you crunch them with your teeth and give you a nice zingy taste that lingers in your mouth.

They are a large currant size and really would get lost in a salad I think. These are my "sit on the deck and eat straight off the bush" tomato and they rarely make it into the house. They really are delicious and I highly recommend these tomatoes as a pick and eat.

They experienced a bit of early blight but I think that could of been my lack of feeding (see last post). We had a few days of heavy rain and the ripe ones split. This can be fixed by picking ripe or ripening tomatoes before the rain or when it first starts.

This tomato is a prolific producer - if you squint you may be able to see all of the buds on this bush. I have circled them but it didn't come out very well. Believe me there are hundreds all over the bush.

A spray of unripe tomatoes.

Peeking through the branches you can spot a couple of ripe tomatoes and the golden colour. Note to self. Take some pictures before picking and eating ..... 😊😁

These will definitely be planted again next year.

Seeds: The Diggers Club.

Garden Update

Well it has been a few months now since I planted my first seeds and seedlings and what a remarkable journey it has been. I have learnt so much and will do better next year.

This is my initial thoughts on my plants.

Tomatoes:

• Tommy Toe - a great performer - especially since I planted it in a hanging basket.

• Wild Sweetie - another that I planted in the hanging basket. Very tiny currant sized bright red tomato. Has done well considering.

• Blueberry - a very cute bush with tasty crimson with purple topped cherry tomatoes.

• Black Cherry - a good strong bush with a good strong flavoured tomato.

• Ananas Noir - a beefstake with a large tomato and a very thick stemmed bush. The first crop suffered from blossom end rot and the next blooms are now ripening so I haven't been able to taste yet.

• Wapsipinicon Peach - a yellow tomato with a very slight fuzz. Not as fuzzy as a peach and you can't taste the fuzz. This has been reviewed as so sweet it could be a desert tomato. I am not that fussed with it as it is missing the acidic tomato zing completely. Great for people who can't eat acidic food or maybe for young kids. Also very soft.

• Jaune Flammee - The first crop was taken by blossom end rot and grubs. The next bloom is ripening so I haven't been able to taste yet.

• Yellow Ripple - a currant sized tomato with a nice zing and a great crunch to it. Becoming a favourite.

• Red and Black (otherwise known as Indigo Apple).  A lovely tasting soft skinned tomato with a bright red bottom and black / dark purple shoulders. Salad sized.

• Tigerella - a great performer with an abundance of salad sized tomatoes. A gorgeous orange with golden stripes.

• Beefsteak (mixed selection). Still growing. I planted 2 different types (apart from the Ananas Noir) but won't know what they are until they ripen as they come from a "rainbow mixed" packet.

• Tiny Tim - a "patio" variety which was late planted and still growing.

• Unknown. I have an unknown tomato that came in the packet of blueberry tomatoes. It is growing nicely and is a salad sized pink tomato with green shoulders.

The sunrise bumblebee and Pink Bumblebee seedlings died in the heat we had - my fault. I will try them next year.

I was also lucky enough to have a great packet of unknown tomato seeds gifted to me from Connie who I "met" through a Facebook gardening group. I shall plant out and see how these go.

I have decided to do a spotlight post in more depth on each tomato on a weekly / fortnightly basis.

Chilies

• Jalapeno
• Thai Demon
• Trinidad Scorpion
• Habanero
• Yellow 7 Pot

The habaneros, jalaenos and Thai Demon are going great guns. The others did not take.

Lettuce

• Crispmint - not really impressed with this. There are much nicer lettuces out there.

• Mignonette - very nice.

• Celtuce - won't grow this again. I grew it in my vegepod and the soil wasn't the greatest and they didn't produce a nice stalk to use and the novelty has worn off.

• Baby Cos - doing great.

• Red Flame - a beautiful looking soft leaf lettuce. Very nice.

As well as carrots, radish, Baby Broccoli, Mini Muncher cucumbers, sugar snap peas, capsicum, strawberries, parsnips and cucamelons. I have also planted a finger lime tree.

Things I have learnt:

1. As I said in my previous post - you need to have a good sized pot if you are not planting in the ground.

2. Feeding is vital. When I planted my tomatoes I read about adding this and that to prevent this and that. Well I thought that I didn't need to add things as I wasn't planting in tired old garden soil but in premium potting mix with everything already added including slow release fertilizer that feeds for 3 months!!!! I did use seasol and liquid fertilizer but worried that I was over feeding as the plants started to go yellow and get diseases. So I cut back on the liquid fertilizer. Ha - you live and learn. 

The first lot I planted out (Tommy Toe, Tigerella and Red and Black) were thin and yellow. I was picking off dead branches and the bushes looked like they were dying. I said to myself that I shouldn't expect a long haul when planting in pots. My larger tomatoes were also getting blossom end rot. 

When I was cleaning up the shed I found some old dynamic lifter. I thought it couldn't hurt the dying plants so I just put a handful in each pot. Within a week it had all turned around. Within 2 weeks the bushes were lush with new growth and heaps of tomato flowers. Go Dynamic Lifter!!!

I also added some old blood and bone I found in the shed for the blossom end rot and it seems to have worked. It must have been over 10 years old..... I purchased some Dolomite Lime and will mix that up and add too.

3.Tomato cages need to be solid. I purchased some great 27 litre (7 gallon) tomato pots. They were labelled as tomato pots and came with a tomato cage that you put together. Hmmmmm.... as you can see the tomato cage was no match for the thick stem and heavy tomatoes of Ananas Noir.

Here it is staked up and supported with a better bigger cage.

Enjoy your garden. My next post will be a spotlight on Broad Ripple Yellow Tomato.

The first garden

Welcome to my new blog "The Unfortunate Gardener". Why unfortunate? Well I took a video to track my tomato growth and I heard myself say "unfortunately" too many times. This is the first time I have tried growing vegetables and I am learning through my mistakes (and the internet).

This is not a "teaching" blog.... This is more a learning blog. Maybe you can learn something from my mistakes but I am hoping to learn more from everyone else. This is my gardening journal.

I am mainly gardening in pots as I find it too hard to get down on the ground and weed so I am keeping it all easy and contained so to speak.

I started with some herbs that my sister planted for me and have added to the pot garden with the following:

Tomatoes:

• Tommy Toe
• Wild Sweetie
• Blueberry
• Black Cherry
• Ananas Noir
• Wapsipinicon Peach
• Jaune Flammee
• Yellow Ripple
• Red and Black (otherwise known as Indigo Apple)
• Tigerella
• Beefsteak

I don't know if it is too late in the season but I have also just planted seeds for Tiny Tim, Sunrise Bumblebee and Pink Bumblebee. (Will there be another unfortunately here ..... unfortunately I planted the seeds too late.......)

I will be tasting these to see what will be planted next year.

Chilies

• Jalapeno
• Thai Demon
• Trinidad Scorpion
• Habanero
• Yellow 7 Pot

Now I know that is a lotta heat - these are mainly planted for sauces except for the Jalapenos.

Lettuce

• Crispmint
• Mignonette
• Celtuce
• Baby Cos
• Red Flame

As well as carrots, radish, Baby Broccoli, Mini Muncher cucumbers, sugar snap peas, capsicum, strawberries, parsnips and cucamelons. I have also planted a finger lime tree.

I am having varied success so I am going to post and see if I can get some help.

Things I have learnt so far:

1.  Pots aren't pots. Size does matter - in the area of pots that is. I have planted some tomatoes in hanging pots and this may have been a huge mistake... 
2. On the same note - just because you plant something in a hanging pot doesn't necessarily mean it is going to "hang". Beautiful mind images of trailing tomatoes don't work in reality with Tommy Toe "sigh".
3. You can love too much.. Stalking your tomatoes should be a crime. I think I may have over-watered at first. It is so hard not to....
4. To be a gardener you need PATIENCE....  Who knew you didn't plant a seed and then eat a tomato a month later. Just getting them to planting out time took longer than I thought the whole process would take 😁😲.
5. Don't they look so cute when the do start to sprout and even cuter when the tiny little baby fruit come through..... 💓

Here is my back garden in video. I will show you the front garden in the next post. The "forgotten" tomato type is Wapsipinicon Peach. No wonder I forgot it - I can't pronounce it! 🙁. Apparently it has a slight fuzz like a peach - hence the second part of the name. Also the red and black tomato is known as Indigo Apple - not Indigo rose as stated on the video. Here is a You Tube link. The actual video was too big to upload here. 

https://youtu.be/eQsTlI4Qys4

Here is my first harvest of tomatoes - 2 little Tommy Toes.. How cute.

The little green caterpillars got the first couple - DOH!