More tomatoes!

Handsome Hombre indicated that he wants to grow BIG tomatoes.

Stupice (the size of golf-balls), Golden Icicle (the size of a computer mouse) and Sweet Baby Girl (cherry tomatoes) do not meet the specification.

Since he authorized me to help get seeds and plants for his venture (HH works a lot of hours) Mrs ERJ and I will swing by the local greenhouse to see what they still have.

A week ago they had Big Boy hybrid, Celebrity Plus and Black Krim.

Big Boy

Big Boy is one of the first generation, hybrid tomatoes. Many people still consider it unsurpassed for flavor. It is large, does not crack or get green shoulders (in most places), and the slices have the optimum combination of seeds and flesh to hold together as slices.  The vine is productive. The breeders in the 1950's and 60's had firm memories of the Great Depression and that formed their breeding priorities.   ---Follow up--- The inexpensive three-cell packs were gone. I bought on, 6" pot with a 24" tall plant in it.

Celebrity Plus

Celebrity Plus hybrid is a very recent introduction. It has a  broad package of disease resistance winnowed from a broad swath of tomato ancestors. It is productive and it tastes good, but maybe not as good as the Big Boy and not as big. The first release of Celebrity (i.e., Not Plus) was a great favorite of market gardeners because diseases build up when you grow tomatoes without enough 'gap years' between them. ---Follow up--- The inexpensive three-cell packs were gone. I bought on, 6" pot with a 24" tall plant in it.

Black Krim

Black Krim is an open-pollinated "heirloom" tomato that originated behind the Iron Curtain. The color is unattractive to most people and it is subject to cracks. The disease resistance is unremarkable. The upside is that Black Krim scores very well in many taste-tests. ---Follow up--- All Black Krim were gone but "Carbon" was still available in the 3-cell packs. I bought one pack. From the descriptions and pictures, "Black Krim" and "Carbon" could be identical twins. Have any of you grown both of them side-by-side?

To finish the row I bought a 3-cell pack of Big Beef. One very nice thing about a smart phone is that I can pop on the internet and do a quick search.

Anyway, HH will get at least three four varieties that will produce very different-but-large tomatoes and he will probably have a favorite and a not-next-year choices.

Bleg:

Do any of you readers have any opinions or recommendations for mustard greens? Varieties that produce reliably and don't bolt quickly in a dry spell?

Note:

Rosa multiflora hit peak bloom about three days ago, 550 GDD b50 F.