This Year's Tomatoes - The Dwarfs (C-D)

More of the dwarf tomatoes that I'm growing this year:

Caitydid - 80 days, dwarf — 'Dwarf Caitydid' is a rugose, regular leaf variety that produces lots of medium to large, smooth, oblate-shaped, yellow tomatoes with red swirls, and heavy red coloration in the flesh. The flavor is well balanced and delicious. Developed by members of the "Dwarf Tomato Project" from a cross between 'New Big Dwarf' and 'Mortgage Lifter' (Pesta Strain) made by Patrina Nuske Small in 2007 and named "Pesty." 'Dwarf Caitydid' was selected and named by Craig LeHoullier after his daughter, Caitlin, in 2011. Introduced in 2016.

Carolina Gold - I was told this was a dwarf, but in fact it may not be, but instead is a Hybrid regular determinate plant. I'll have to see what develops.  Solanum lycopersicum. (F1) Plant produces high yields of 8 to 10 oz golden-yellow tomatoes. They are firm, meaty, sweet, and very flavorful. Perfect for salads and garnishes. Low acidity variety. Developed for the Southeast regions and high elevations areas. Grows well everywhere! Plant requires support, either staking or cages. Good shipping variety. Excellent choice for home gardens and market growers. Disease Resistant: V, FF, St, GW. Determinate.

Cherokee Tiger Black - Determinate, mid season variety. Plants grow about 80-90 cm tall and have Lime Green Leaves! Fruits are purple with yellow and green stripes. The fruits keep well once picked. Can be grown in large pot. One of the best tasting of all dwarfs.

Clown - I know nothing about this one, can't find it online, except that it was noted to be a saladette size tomato, yellow/orange. No photo to be found.

Coastal Pride Red - Dwarf . Rugose foliage. Excellent sweet flavor and add high production to the list of these beautiful plants.

Czech Bush - A squat, quick growing determinate tomato (Solanum lycerpersicum) that requires very little upright trellising. Sturdy bushes and prolific yields of red fruits four to six inches in diameter. This is a great sauce tomato; a fair amount of acid content and a slight sweetness. A definite workhorse. Fruits approximately 90 days from seed and 70 days from transplanting. 

Delta Diver - “Delta Diver” is a vigorous dwarf variety with impressive rugose potato leaves. This is Blane Horton’s segregate from the cross Dwarf Wild Fred X H-28, which produced many fine dwarf types. Delta Diver grows vigorously to just over 3 feet in a 5 gallon pot. The gorgeous dwarf plant produces gleaming striped sunshine yellow fruits, very flat beefsteaks. The flavor was a bit on the tart side, but very clean. This segregate, Delta Diver, has light striping of orange-red on bright yellow. The flesh is pale yellow and may show some interior red/pink if ripened in the heat.

Dwarf Stone - 85 days, dwarf — The compact plants have sparse, rugose leaf foliage, and produce attractive, red-colored, smooth fruit. Very prolific and the fruits ripen evenly. The fruits are larger than 'Dwarf Champion' but slightly smaller than standard 'Stone'.

This Year's Tomatoes - The Dwarfs (A-B)

I'm growing dwarf tomatoes almost exclusively hoping to get enough tomatoes to make my salsa and other tomato products this coming year. I'm going to do a little run-down on the varieties for the next few days.  They've all been potted up to Solo cups and we're just waiting for a sign that our frost days are over before putting them in the ground!

Aftershock - Recent variety, F8 in 2017, selected and developed by Blane Horton. Small sister of "Pit Viper". Round salad type from 60 to 80 grams. Little sister of "Pit Viper". Light and dark green striped epedermis with bright red traces. Green bicolour flesh with a red patch in the center. Juicy flesh with a fruity and sweet flavor. Dwarf plant that can reach 4 feet if grown in full soil, a little smaller pot. Regular rugosa foliage, indeterminate. Good production from mid-season to first frost.

Amber Colored Dwarf -  Not exactly sure what this one will be, but possibly this one. I got the seeds from a seed group I belong to on FB, so it's not from a seed house. 1-3 oz, yellow-gold globes are plentiful and early, yielding for quite a while despite being determinate. With very compact and early plants, Amber is dwarf enough for container culture. Russian origin.

Antho Striped - Recent variety from the USA, developed by Mark McCaslin. Fruit from 100 to 150 grams, usually round.Red dress striped streaks dark indigo shoulders. Flesh pulpy and juicy, sweeter taste with small acid, pretty good for a blue. Dwarf plant type compact habit but can reach 1.20 meters, determinate, regular foliage rugosa. Very productive and beautiful.

Barossa Moon - Dwarf Barossa Moon originated in a cross by Ray South in 2009 between Snow White Cherry with a dwarf red F2 selection from the Sleepy line which he named Snowy F1.  Dwarf Barossa Moon is a prolific midseason, indeterminate, potato leaf dwarf producing  2-4 oz ivory colored fruit that range from round to oval with a mildly sweet, slightly citrus flavor. Dwarf Barossa Moon was selected and named by Patrina Nuske Small. The Barossa Valley is a wine growing region in South Australia where German immigrants settled in the 1800s.

Black Seaman - A Russian Heirloom tomato. Tomatofest certified organic tomato seeds produce small determinant, potato-leaf plants that yield an abundant set of 12-16 ounce beautiful tomatoes that are rich mahogany colored with olive green shoulders when mature. Inside of tomato is deep, reddish green and loaded  with excellent, full-bodied, complex, intense, creamy tomato flavors. This is an outstanding tomato for sandwiches and salads. Black Sea Man heirloom tomato does well growing in mid-sized containers. A great early black tomato.

Bush Chaborovsky - Small pink fruit, 2 foot tall plants, determinate. That's all I know about this one. I can't find a photo of it anywhere, but it was a purchased seed from Bunny Hop Seeds. It's no longer on their website.

This past week in the garden .....February 1, 2020

Beginning to clear the fall/winter garden so it will be ready to plant in March. All the carrots are pulled, washed and frozen. Nice amount, about 4.5 pounds -- I wish I had planted more. We both love carrots!

Our plum trees have decided it's spring already and they're committing suicide. Arghhhh!!!! At least the bees have a nice tasty meal during the winter. I'd be VERY surprised if we don't have another hard freeze and lose all of these potential plums. Very sad.

The little pepper and tomato seedlings are up and growing. I'm busy every day transplanting these into little grow bags so they will continue to grow and get ready to go out into their permanent place in mid-March. 

 (Sweet pepper seedlings)

 (Baby tomatoes in grow bags)

I was gifted some garlic bulbils this fall and threw them into a pot on the greenhouse porch. They've sprouted!! This is a long project, it will be over a year before I'll see garlic bulbs from these, but it's fun to try.