Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
From the Archives: Curated grower diaries…
📌 Quick Summary: The Early Harvest Container Trick 🪴 The “Pot-on-Soil” Method: To get super early cucumbers, zucchini, or eggplants, don’t plant them directly into freezing spring greenhouse soil. Instead, plant them in black nursery pots and set those pots on top of the greenhouse beds. The black plastic absorbs the sun, heating the root … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: The Great Calcium vs. Potassium Mix-Up 🍅 The BER Mistake: Blossom End Rot (BER) is caused by a lack of Calcium, not Potassium. Many growers confuse the two! Feeding a plant suffering from BER with Potassium will actually make the rot much worse. 🛑 Nutrient Lockout: Potassium and Calcium are antagonistic elements … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Late Harvests & The “Small Tomato” Myth 🍅 Size Doesn’t Equal Speed: Many growers assume that small cherry or paste tomatoes will ripen much faster than giant beefsteaks. However, genetics play a bigger role than size! An early-season beefsteak will easily beat a late-season icicle tomato to the table. 🌿 The Density … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: August Harvests & Greenhouse Mysteries 🍄 Foraging & Forests: Late summer isn’t just about tomatoes! Heavy rains bring massive flushes of wild mushrooms (Porcini, Chanterelles, Aspen boletes) and unexpected forest finds, like shed moose antlers. 🏷️ The “Shape-Shifting” Tomato: Have you ever grown a famously pointed tomato variety, only for it to … Read more
📌 Saving Heat-Stressed Potatoes With Grass Mulch 🥵 The Heatwave Problem: When summer temperatures stay consistently high with no rain, potato vines turn yellow early, and the tubers stop growing entirely. You are left with a disappointing harvest of tiny “baby” potatoes. 🌧️ Will Late Rain Help? If the vines have already yellowed and died … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Growing & Using Giant Sweet Onions 🧅 The Giant Onion Appeal: Growing colossal sweet onions (like the ‘Exhibition’ variety) takes patience, but the payoff is huge. When you need 3 lbs of onions for a canning recipe, you only have to peel two bulbs! ⚖️ Alternatives to Exhibition: If you want … Read more
📌 Quick Diary Summary: Determinates vs. Heirlooms 🔥 Heatwave Survivors: During prolonged heatwaves (95°F+ / 35°C+), tall indeterminate and exotic heirlooms often drop their blossoms due to sterile pollen. However, gardeners are finding that compact determinate (bush) varieties keep setting fruit without dropping a single truss! 🍅 Early Determinates: Determinates are early producers, but some … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Loaded Trusses, Heat and Blossom Drop in a Greenhouse 🍅 The Goal: Valeriy set out to grow several well-loaded fruit trusses on every plant. He says it worked on Bulgarian Miracle, Brandywine Covlik’s Strain, Chocolate Stripes, Japonka, Coeur Fondant, Summer Sun and Dark Galaxy, but he hasn’t figured it out for pink … Read more
📌 Quick Diary Summary: Mid-July Harvests 🧄 The Whole-Bulb Garlic Trick: You don’t always have to separate garlic into cloves. If you plant a whole garlic bulb directly into a strawberry bed (as a companion plant), it will grow a cluster of slightly smaller bulbs that are just as good as single-clove plantings! 🥒 Spider … Read more
📌 Quick Diary Summary: Berry Flavor & Yields 🫐 The Honeyberry Waiting Game: When you plant a new honeyberry (haskap) bush, it spends the first 3 years entirely focused on root development. Do not expect bucket-loads of berries until year 4 or 5, and never heavily prune a young bush! 🐝 Strict Cross-Pollination: Honeyberries are … Read more
📌 Quick Diary Summary: The Tomato Jungle 🌱 The Problem: Heavy watering (to help plants survive extreme heat) causes explosive vegetative growth. By early July, indeterminate tomatoes can easily hit the 7-foot (2.2m) ceiling of a greenhouse. ✂️ Option 1: Topping. Simply pinching off the main growing tip stops vertical growth, but it limits your … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Summer Storms & Harvests 🥔 New Potatoes: If you dig up early “new” potatoes after a dry spell and find them too small, don’t panic. If the vines are thick and green, the tubers will rapidly size up after a heavy soaking rain. Steaming fresh new potatoes keeps them starchy and … Read more