Tomatoes 2013

Winter is the time when vegetable gardeners assess the results of last season's crop and begin poring over the mountain of seed catalogs that have begun showing up in the mailbox.

2013's tomato crop came from several different varieties of tomato plants and one very prolific tomatillo.

The 2013 tomato plants were:

Box Car Willie, described as an indeterminate, meaning that it continues to produce tomatoes throughout the season, and expected to produce a very heavy crop of good sized, smooth red tomatoes with delicious flavor, ranging from 6 to 10 ounces.  We got 12.5 pounds of tomatoes from Box Car Willie, in spite of the fusarium wilt that cut its season short.

Better Bush, an indeterminate tomato, described as "perfect for large containers or small gardens", with a yield of good-sized 8 ounce fruit with real tomato flavor.  Six pounds.

Champion II VFNT Hybrid, another indeterminate, described as "a luscious sandwich tomato, solid, meaty slices with just the right sweetness.  High yields of larger fruit, bigger than Early Girl and earlier than Better Boy."   Champion was the champion in our garden with a yield of 43.25 pounds.


Cherokee Chocolate, an indeterminate variety described as "a stabilized version of Cherokee Purple, this 10 to 16 ounce mahogany-colored variety has excellent flavor and beautiful large fruit."  The word "Chocolate" in the name, alas, refers to the color of the fruit and not the flavor.  13 pounds.

Early Girl VFF Hybrid, another indeterminate.  This tomato is an early slicing tomato, providing solid 4 to 6 oz fruit. The second most prolific bush with 30 pounds of tomatoes.

Siletz, a determinate variety, described as "deep red, full-flavored slicing tomatoes are 8 to 10 oz.  Developed by Dr. James Baggett of Oregon State University, these plants yield well even in cool weather.  Good acid taste and excellent interior fruit quality in a very early tomato."  13.75 pounds

Sweet Seedless, an indeterminate variety, described as a truly seedless tomato with a perfect balance of lively tomato flavor and juicy sweetness, weighing an average of 6 ounces.  14.25 pounds.

Riesentraube, a variety of small, oval grape style tomatoes.  Cindy just kept picking these off the enormous bush and didn't keep track of the totals, but it produced tomatoes for salads all season.

That meant a total of over 150 pounds of delicious tomatoes, a pretty good season.


All descriptions are from the 2013 catalog of the Tomato Growers Supply Company.