By a nose............
Bloody Butcher!
Although Victor was the first to blossom, Bloody Butcher once again was the first to bear fruit! Last year, this variety gave me my first tomato of the year on June 21.
Of course, the four Minigold tomato plants, that were started in January and grown to fruiting in the laundry room window, are still the big winners.
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This one has several clusters of tomatoes, some ripening ones at the lower left.
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Both of these are loaded with blossoms, and one has several clusters of baby tomatoes.
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The fourth one grew too tall for the patio, so it was planted in the garden a couple of weeks ago. It also has ripening fruit.
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Not a huge harvest, but not bad for Eastern Washington in May! If we ever get more than a few warm days in a row, all four Minigolds will be loaded with ripening fruits.
As I brag about my tomatoes, my heart goes out to Elizabeth, from Montana, whose garden is under a layer of heavy snow today. Everybody please cross your fingers that her peas survive!
*sigh* I want tomatoes so bad right now. My earliest tomato is the Oregon Spring and while it has just opened a few blossoms, it will still be quite a while before I have actual tomatoes. They look so yummy.
ReplyDeleteAnywhere, they're tiny, and they're few and far between, but by golly they taste like tomatoes!
DeleteOh, lucky Granny! I just went out and took the Kozy Koats off my early tomatoes and put up temporary stakes. They have blossoms starting! But, it will be awhile before we have any maters.
ReplyDeleteRobin, I'm surprised the Bloody Butcher even set fruit during our cold weather, but it didn't seem to bother the Minigolds.
DeleteI remember growing up in Colorado. One year we got three feet of snow at the end of May. Heck farther up (I lived at 6666ft) I've seen it snow in July and August. I'm so glad I live in zone 6. Really really glad. Some days I wish it was zone 7.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, I'm in zone 7 here, so it's pretty good gardening weather for the most part. At least I don't have to worry about snow in May!
Deletewow tomatoes already...I haven't even bought mine yet...lol I have my fingers crossed for Elizabeth I am sure some will survive!!
ReplyDeleteMrs. P., I'm sure glad I live in a warmer climate than you! I'd probably just grow onions, potatoes and radishes, LOL!
DeleteLucky you to have tomatoes!! I am just transplanting mine now. It will be a while before I see any fruit.
ReplyDeleteRachel, mine are doing quite well considering how early I set them out and how cold it got.
DeleteMy, my... just look at those 'Mini Golds' they are doing great. I'm so glad that you got all the seeds that would germinate ;) Don't count 'Victor' out just yet, it will out produce 'Bloody Butcher' by a large margin.
ReplyDeleteEd, I've already saved us some Minigold seeds for next year, so not to worry ;-) I saved them from the plant that had the first fruit to ripen.
DeleteHi Annie, Lucky you to have little tomatoes! Do the mingolds taste like the little cherry ones? Does it take you a long time to water all those pots you have? Nancy
ReplyDeleteNancy, it is a cherry tomato. Not a sweet one early on, just tomato tasting, but gets a bit sweeter as the weather warms and they ripen faster. It's not my favorite for flavor, but certainly worth growing for its small size and huge production of fruits. No, it Doesn't take long to water all the pots as they're so close together and right next to the water source.
DeleteMy winner is Stupice which has fruit forming too. The Silvery Fir Tree tomato that I also started in January has fruit on it too and if we get a stretch of warm days soon they will quickly finish to maturity and they want to set more fruit as well. I need to look at my Defiants more closely this weekend, as I think I may have spotted some fruit setting on those too but it was late evening and I could not see well in the semi darkness to be sure.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you are off to a great tomato season start!
Kitsap, I actually missed the first tomato. I happened to spot it yesterday on a Marglobe Supreme, and it was the size of a quarter!
DeleteThanks for the good wishes! The weather is still bad here, its the 3rd day of snow, 3 more inches last night. I understand one day of snow in May, but this is getting ridiculous! I'll let you know how things in the garden are looking, once the sun finally comes back out. Can't wait to get back out in the garden!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, my fingers are still crossed for you!
DeleteThis is my first year of successfully growing tomatoes (only second year gardening, unless you count a couple of basil pots on a balcony three years ago).
ReplyDeleteI've had what I feel is good success with Sun Gold and Riesentraube. Would you say that Minigold and Victor deserve a space in any future cherry/grape tomato bed?
Aaron Gardener, I wouldn't give Minigold the space. The flavor isn't worth it, it was just fun to grow it in a pot and see how early I could get it to fruit. Victor doesn't have the greatest flavor, but it pumps out an incredible amount of early tomatoes. It's larger than a cherry, more of a salad type, and almost indistinguishable from Bloody Butcher in size and taste. I would grow it again just for making tomato sauce, and I'm finding the flavor improving with warm weather. If I could only grow two cherry tomatoes, and next year I think I will, they would be Black Cherry and Una Heartsock. If I could only grow one, I'd pick Una Heartsock.
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