Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4 Experience)
Here is the official description from the State Register: Approved for outdoor and high tunnel cultivation in backyard plots. Requires staking and pruning. Salad type. Very early, with concentrated ripening. Determinate plant. Leaves are small and green. Simple blossom clusters. Jointed pedicel. The fruit is flat-round, smooth, and of medium density. Unripe fruits are green with a dark green shoulder; fully ripe fruits are red. Contains more than 4 locules. Average fruit weight is 2.8 oz (80 g). Good taste. Marketable yield is up to 1.3 lbs/sq ft (6.3 kg/sq m). Resistant to blossom end rot and root rot.
In my garden, the plant wasn’t very tall, topping out around 2.3 feet (70 cm). Ironically, it ripened later than all the other varieties I had specifically planted for early harvesting. The tomatoes were a decent size, juicy, but just had a very ordinary, basic tomato flavor. Because my better-tasting varieties were already starting to ripen by the time this one was ready, we only ate these fresh in salads and ended up juicing the rest.
There was a decent amount of fruit on the bush. It definitely didn’t yield 13 lbs (6 kg) per plant, but to hit that promised yield per square meter, you’d probably need to cram in 6 bushes instead of just 2 😉.
These photos span from June 2nd to July 10th. In the last ones, you can already see that the foliage was getting diseased. Somewhere in the second half of July, I harvested everything that was left and yanked the bushes out.
I grew Gardener’s Dream from SeDeK seeds in my greenhouse back in 2014.
It only gets truly delicious once it takes on a deep, dark red hue. When it is just standard red, the flavor is nothing special. However, it stores and counter-ripens excellently. I actually ate my last fresh one on January 4th, 2015!
Full Summary: Gardener’s Dream (Mechta Ogorodnika)
- 🌿 Plant & Foliage: A determinate, compact bush that generally stays around 2.3 feet (70 cm) tall. The foliage may be susceptible to late-summer diseases, so the plant is usually harvested and pulled by mid-to-late summer.
- 🍅 Fruit & Shape: Flat-round, smooth red tomatoes averaging about 2.8 oz (80 g). They transition from green with dark shoulders to a bright red, but growers note they need to reach a deep, dark red stage to unlock their best flavor.
- 📈 Yield & Health: Sets a very respectable, concentrated yield. While commercial marketing boasts massive harvests per square meter, this relies heavily on dense planting (high plant per square foot ratios). It shows good resistance to blossom end rot.
- 👅 Taste: Fresh off the vine at the standard red stage, the flavor is described as very basic and ordinary. It shines primarily as a juicing/salad tomato and boasts phenomenal long-term storage capabilities. Picked green or blushing, they will counter-ripen indoors and can last for months.
