Tomatoes with Flavor
 

I have searched the forums hoping to find someone who has successfully grown tomatoes in The Villages that have some flavor. Lots of lamentations about how horrible Florida tomatoes taste but not much on any good tasting varieties. If anyone has recommendations I would like to hear them as tomato planting season approaches. I'm not expecting flavor like vine-ripened New Jersey, New York or Ohio, just something better than supermarket.

I think it's hard to grow good tomatoes down here (especially if you're used to the ones from the Northeast) because they grow in sand and not in dirt. Big difference.

I grow tomatoes in pots on my lanai with fair success-use smaller bush types and try and keep out of direct sun during the hot time of the day. My lanai faces north so i can actually place them in an area that gets the morning and late afternoon sun-just have to pollinate by hand but the tomatoes taste much better than anything at the store.

OK, I will admit I'm growing tomatoes in Ohio, but I swear mine are better than any of my neighbors. I dug my vegetable patch 12 inches deep and amended three-fourths of it with peat moss and manure. We have really heavy clay soil here, so it needed it. Each year I add compost and more fertilizer. Now in year 4, my vegetables are growing like crazy and taste "slap your mamma good." So, amend, and amend.

I can bring you down dirt from up north when we come back :1rotfl:

Hubby grew up on a large tomato farm in Michigan and learned how to grow tomatoes from his dad. Hasn't been able to grow good tomatoes here in Florida in the 7 years we have been here. The best tomatoes we have gotten have been the cherry tomatoes but the larger tomatoes seem to always get blossom end rot or birds get them or some other reason. We tried growing them on the lanai (not enough sun), outside (too much sun) it's very discouraging. We get our tomatoes at the farm stands or farmer's market in Brownwood or Marion Market. This time of year it is tough to find the ones that smell like a real tomatoes.

I miss tomatoes from NJ (and corn from Ohio). We have east facing lanai and are considering trying to grow in pots. Gardener's Supply catalog has a variety of kits available.

When is the season down here?

Several weeks ago Winn Dixie had some wonderful heritage tomatoes. I'm pretty picky about fresh fruit and vegetables but I can usually find something that is worth buying.

IF one tries to use the FL summer as the guide to grow them, I think it's too hot for them. A woman who has a tent at the local farmer's market said they're grown here from (I think) Dec. to May. That's why the F.M. gets shipped tomatoes from up north this time of year. I just bought some yesterday there that were grown/shipped from TN. They're good!

San Marzano tomatoes are very good.
America's Test Kitchen did a blind taste test and Hunt's won out of the 4 that they tested.
Many times I have read in cookbooks that unless you can buy the very best fresh, which is difficult to do in Florida you will have better results with canned.
For a salad or sandwich I like the roma-but I scrape out the pulp and cut into strips.

Yeah, but they don't make very good BLT's!

OFF TOPIC:
You inspired me to start a new topic. See you later.

I grew upside down tomatoes my first year here, 2010. They were pretty good but needed watering twice a day. Too much trouble and besides the upside down planters fell apart after one season

I just read that there are some fraudulent San Marzano canned tomatoes on the market. May have to start a new thread on that.

My neighbor plants [in ground] shortly after the last of the potential frost warnings. By Easter her plants are strong, tall and producing the tiny yellow flowers that come prior to the fruit. She plants in Southern exposure.

Thanks for the info.

There are two planting seasons for gardens, mid February to mid June and September to December, some hot weather.Crops can be planted in August like corn, beans and okra. Here are some pictures of my Earthbox garden.

I have had reports that Brandywine and Celebrity are the best for growing in hot humid climates like ours.
Has anyone had any experience with either variety?

Doesn't the dirt fall out?

Take a gander at this, tomwed.

Revolution Upside Down Tomato Planter | Hanging Tomato Plants

Black Cherry tomato
 

I have had some luck with a cherry tomato called black cherry. It has lots of old tomato flavor. I can find it at times at Lowe's or Home Depot but not all the time.

Tasty tomatoes
 

In the 8 years we have been here, the only tomatoes that we have found with flavor are "Compari" brand tomatoes. They are delicious and remind us of our home grown tomatoes from Illinois. We get them from Walmart. They come in a plastic container. If they are out of them, we just don't have tomatoes.

Take a gander of Post 17.

I'll keep an eye out for the Black Cherry.

Too funny!

Agree. We buy a box every week at Sam's Club. The Campari tomatoes are expensive but dependably good.

Are they sandwich size tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes?

https://www.google.com/search?q=camp...6la0RKoRcQ4%3D

Looks like they are the tomatoes that come on the stems. I like those also.

Yes, bigger than cherry tomatoes. Hydroponic from Canada. They're available all year long.

We buy the packs of tomatos from BJs and use a mandolin slicer to get them thin on sandwiches. Most supermarket tomatos are shipped green from California and they gas them with ethlene (sp) to turn them in transit. Like the ones from sams also.

My slicer
 

I just used my mandolin slicer on romas today for a sandwich. Left them as they sliced without preseeding them. Nice and thin.

I've not tried tomatoes here but I expect the lack of taste that many have complained about is due to both the climate and the soil.

Someone mentioned JERSEY TOMATOES. WELL- my LONG ISLAND tomatoes were ACCORDING TO ME, mush better than the best jersey tomatoes.

BACK TO THE VILLAGES-and tomatoes. Much of the taste of tomatoes is ACID. The soil here is ALKALINE PH 7.5 and up to 8. To make is worse we are loaded with LIMESTONE-the proof is in the sinkholes. PUT SOME OF OUR SOIL IN A GLASS AND ADD VINEGAR-IT WILL FIZZ JUST LIKE THE OLD BAKING SODA TOYS.

So if you want GOOD TOMATOES, you need to grow them in large pots, you need to either buy soil or add a lot of organic matter to the soil we have-peat is far more acidic them manure. You need to get a PH of about 6.5-that is a large change from 8 and even in a pot it will take you at least a year to have it stabilize in a pot. In your garden beds you will be fignting a loosing battle to try to get 6.5.

I am growing blueberries in pots and holding 4.5 PH.

You aren't going to make a whole lot of friends bashing other states and their produce. Guns have been drawn...

My Michigan tomatoes were much better than New Jersey or Long Island. :girlneener:

Our Cascade dirt did not produce very good MI tomatoes. But our PA tomatoes were good!:a20: