I'm back, and advice needed

Hi all:

I'm back now and had a great time, but am feeling the damp and cold here. I have posted some of the flower pics along with others here:

grannyinkenya.wordpress.com

I have posted (and, naughty me, cross-posted) to veggie and tomato forums a tomato question which I won't again post here, but if any of you consider yourselves to know the ins and outs of tomatoes, would sure appreciate any thoughts you have.

Thank you kindly - and have a wonderful Christmas all, if I don't get back here before then. I'm still running to catch up from my time away.
~marilyn

Great to have you back, Marilyn. I hope you will find the time to post often. I'll be over to look at those pics.

My parents lived in Kenya many years ago and I am quite certain that they grew tomatoes there too. I will ask my father if he remembers what type they grew.

This message was edited Dec 14, 2009 7:51 PM

Thanks!

AS I said in my big tomato post, there seems to be only one kind of tomato grown in Kenya, and it is completely tasteless.

I had thought only my local large grocery chain could make tomatoes have so little interest to the taste buds.

Though those I had in Kenya were vine-ripened and picked not long (a day at most) before sale, still - no taste at all.

I am wading in here with"isn't it the long sunlight hours that make a ripe tomato tasty?"
I though the heat didn't work so well. It's nice to know that our long days make a difference!
Ann

Hi annabelle:

I'm not even sure about that - and if that's true, they may have more problems than I thought. being on the equator, it's 12 hours up and 12 down, pretty much all year round.

Boy, oh boy - I sure wish I knew more stuff . . .

My father told me they had good tomatoes when they lived there. That was in the 70's. They weren't as savvy about tomatoes in those days, and their tomato sophistication topped out in later years at thinking a pink oxheart was heavenly. Now my father does appreciate the odd looking varieties that I give him. We like to try different types, especially the heirlooms.

Back then, they had to have a "garden boy" to look after the garden, but told him what to plant and when. They planted four times a year instead of the usual two plantings and had tomatoes year round, some better than others.

I hope you get some suggestions in the tomato forum. I would send some of a few varieties for them to try, and an explanation of how to save the seeds from year to year. You would want to stay away from the hybrids for that purpose. Farmerdill would be a good one to ask, I think. Lilypon, where are you?

This message was edited Dec 15, 2009 8:07 PM

Hi echoes:

I'd be really interested to hear what your dad says. My hunch is that he thought they were good tomatoes then, since he'd had no exposure to others, but that if he went back today and tried the same tomatoes, he'd get a shock.
Mostly they seem to eat tomatoes cooked there, chopped up and mixed with onions and sukumaweeki and maybe finely chopped potatoes too. I never saw a Maasai eat a raw tomato.

Farmerdill did give some advice in the tomato forum, and I have to go back when things slow down a bit and look at the tips, links and variety suggestions that were given to me in more detail. I'm still out of breath from running to catch up, since I had the two months away, and some renos done to my house while I was gone too. I may get caught up by Easter, if I'm lucky!!

Anyway thanks, echoes, and if your dad can give some more information it would be great.
Of course, every few miles you go in Kenya produces a vastly different elevation, so the growing conditions are different. Some great growing conditions in the Kikuyu lands between Nairobi and Lake Nakamura, but horrible farming conditions out where I was in Kajiado.

Hope all had a Merry Christmas, or a wonderful holiday for whatever you celebrate.

the best ones would be indeterminate since they will keep producing as long as the plant is taken care of, determinate produce a crop and die of since it has done its job

San Marzano - The famous Italian sauce tomato. It’s considered by many connoisseurs to produce the finest sauce in the world. The juice from this variety is so thick it that needs very little boiling down to make sauce. You can nearly squeeze a San Marzano directly onto your pasta. In 1770 this variety was brought from Peru to the Kingdom of Naples and planted near the village of San Marzano, near the base of Mount Vesuvius. Indeterminate - 90 days to maturity Limited Supply, 20 seeds

Gardener’s Delight - A popular red cherry tomato. The flavourful, sweet fruit are produced in long trusses on hugely productive tall vines. Indeterminate - 70 days to maturity

Galina - Huge producer of yellow cherries. Tall plants need support as they can grow over six feet. Potato leaf. Indeterminate - 75 days to maturity

Brandywine - Large deep pink fruit. One of the best tasting tomatoes. The fruit are almost solid with little juice so they’re perfect for slicing. A potato leaf first introduced in the 1800’s. Indeterminate - 90 days to maturity

Amish Paste - Reliable high yields of large plum shaped tomatoes. Solid flavourful fruit are great for sauce or for fresh eating. Mother Earth News magazine recently rated Amish Paste as one of their top 20 best tasting tomato varieties. Indeterminate – 85 days to maturity

Speckled Roman - Oblong, medium-sized fruit are red with wavy yellow stripping. Discovered by John Swenson from a chance cross in his garden between Antique Roman and Banana Legs tomatoes. Great for sauce and the thin skins make it great for fresh eating too. Indeterminate – 90 days to maturity Limited Supply, 20 seeds

Wentzell - A large beefsteak. Dense, meaty and awesome for sandwiches. This variety has been grown for generations by the Wentzell family who were the original homesteaders of what is now Windhorse Farm. A potato-leaf which grows to 4 feet. Indeterminate Limited Supply, 20 seeds

Sicilian Saucer - Huge, flat beefsteak and paste tomato. An heirloom variety passed down in a Sicilian family for generations. Inderminate - 95 days to maturity

Stupice - Extra early-ripening small red tomato. Productive even in cool conditions. A potato leaf variety developed in Czechoslovakia. 2 inch diameter fruits are crack resistant. Indeterminate – 75 days to maturity

Maria’s - A good paste tomato originally from Hungary. Prone to cracks. Indeterminate - 85 days to maturity

Black Prince - A medium-sized, round, black tomato from Irkutsk, Russia, near Lake Baikal .Rated as one of the best for flavour. Indeterminate – 85 day to maturity

Black Cherry - High yields of dusky brown cherry tomatoes, with sweet, smoky flavour. Indeterminate – 85 days to maturity

Black Plum - An extremely high yielder of crack-resistant, mahogany coloured 3" plum tomatoes. Makes a flavourful dark sauce. Indeterminate - 85 days to maturity

Bali - Three to four foot tall heavily branching plants each produce a few huge clusters of highly ribbed almost “brainlike” fruit. The beautiful fruits are marbled red, yellow and pink. A rare variety from Indonesia. Indeterminate – 90 days to maturity

Mama Leone’s - A large plum variety with few seeds that’s perfect for making sauce. Brought to New York by a family that immigrated from Italy. Indeterminate – 85 days to maturity

Moneymaker - A great all-perpose slicer. Medium-sized, round, red fruit are crack-resistant. Indeterminate - 90 days to maturity

(new) Cabot - This medium sized red slicer was one of my earliest and most productive tomatoes this year, starting to bear in mid-August. I had buckets and buckets from just a short row. Requires no staking. It's local too, developed in the 70's at the Agriculture Canada station in Kentville. Dependably grows where few others will! Determinate

(new) Scotia - Another excellent early red slicer from Kentville. This popular tomato is very similar to Cabot but larger and higher yielding. Determinate

(new) Crnkovik Yugoslavian - A new favourite! This large red beefsteak produces tons of delicious solid fruit on 3-4 foot vines. Comparable to Brandywine except much higher yielding and earlier. Indeterminate

(new) Carbon - Large, brown-red slicers produced on 4' vines. Flavourful and fairly early. Indeterminate

(new) King Umberto - Produces masses of small red plum tomatoes on very vigourous 6' vines. Early and prolific. Indeterminate.

(new)Yellow Pear - Small, sweet, 2" fruit are shaped like yellow pears, just as the name implies! A huge producer on 6' tall plants, it will keep bearing heavily up to the first frost. Indeterminate

(new)Principe Borghese - An old Italian heirloom. Huge yields of small grape tomatoes with little juice, perfect for sauce or drying. Plants are 6' tall and so loaded with fruit that staking is really needed! Indeterminate

(new)Heidi - Another standout variety in 2009. A prolific producer of 5" long dark red plum tomatoes perfect for sauces, canning or eating fresh. Indeterminate

(new)Chadwick’s Cherry - A vigourous producer of large, sweet, plump red cherry tomatoes. Vines grow to 6' and produce long trusses of fruit. Developed by Alan Chadwick, the creator of biointensive gardening and one of the fathers of the modern organic movement. Indeterminate

(new)Tommy Toe - Huge yields of large red cherries. Tall plants need plenty of support. Indeterminate

(new)Mortgage Lifter - A top quality slicer, producing huge, red, lumpy, and very flavourful fruit. Developed in the 1930s by M.C. "Radiator Charlie" Byles. When his radiator business slumped during the depression he turned to plant breeding. After word spread about this tomato he sold the seedlings for $1.00 a piece, paying off his mortgage in the process.

(new)Elizabeth - Small, oblong red fruit produced on extremely vigourous vines, easily reaching 6'.

(new)Cherokee Purple - Another big, dark-fruited slicer. Definitely one of the very best for flavour, it produces sweet, complex dusky purple fruit with green shoulders. Indeterminate

(new)Super Early Latah - This one rivals Stupice as my earliest tomato, I'd have to call it a draw! Small, red, plum shaped fruit are produced heavily on 4' plants. Indeterminate

(new)Absinthe - A green when ripe slicer! Large, solid coloured fruit on on stocky 4' vines. Developed from a cross of Aunt Ruby's German Green and Emerald Evergreen by my friend Alan Bishop of Hip-Gnosis Seed Development out of Indiana. Indeterminate Limited Supply

(new)Pine/Fog - A stabilized cross of Pineapple and San Fran Fog. The sweet, round, 3" fruit are red skinned and orange fleshed! Plants to 4'. Indeterminate Limited Supply

(new)Tigerella - An excellent, tangy tomato with orange/yellow stripes over red skin. Productive, tasty and fun. Indeterminate Limited Supply

(new)Green Zebra - Introduced in 1985 by master tomato breeder Tom Wagner. Definitely one of the best green tomatoes, fruits are 3-4" across with dark stripes over green skin.

(new)Early Black Brandywine - A black fruited sport of Brandywine. Outstanding flavour and early yields compared to other black slicers. Indeterminate

http://www.annapolisseeds.com/tomatoes_9.html

check it out

Your hunch could be right Marilyn. But they had grown some very good gardens, for quite a few years before they went to Kenya. And some tasty tomatoes did come out of those gardens, in both Alberta and Manitoba. Perhaps its my memory too, that can't discriminate between the tomatoes of my youth and the luscious ones I've been able to grow since discovering all the different ones. I'm just not that keen on the determinate ones like 'Manitoba'.

My parents were close to Kisumu, south of Nairobi. You're right in thinking that the growing conditions could be quite different when these areas are that far apart.

our season is much shorter and the sun is not as hot, it takes much longer for the tomatos to turn red here which means a higher sugar content but sicily grows the best tomatos and they have no rain and its mostly rocks and sand so if they can do it there it can be done everywhere with the right attitude and patience

Marilyn - an interesting thread. It started the day we left for Vancouver and I've just now found it. I'm wondering what took you to Kenya and how long you were there. have you posted pics anywhere? I suspect that Mona is right about seasons and that it's a matter of finding the right tomato for the growing seasons. I bet the old standbys have been replaced my newer varieties with less flavour.

Ann

so sure and now with the hybrids determinates are just awfull I hate them since I start my plants at home really early I find that they rippen at the same time end of july early august and then the plants die off looking all yellow and no more tomatos

I so prefer the inderminates they take a bit longer to mature but will keep producing for months longer, mine start blooming inside so I polinate them and then when they go out they are in full swing till end of september this year since we had to build the garden I bought the plants and I was so disappointed that I already had my seeds sorted to grow my own again

much better results and better tast juicy and sweet just mouth watering

I can see if I can maybe get a few seeds for you, I have them shipped by a cousin in sicily those are probably better suited than what we can get here in canada

mona

I hear you Mona about some determinate hybrids dieing off. I prefer heritage toms over hybrids.

for sure and the taste is always so much better it seems that the hybrid start to go bad before they are even fully ripe so they never get that juicy sweet tast, alwasy to acidy and dry, but I am so picky about what I grow

Hi all:

Thanks for all the good information.

Mona, I never thought of using Sicilian varieties, and that just might be a really, really good idea.

And VA, Really it was happenstance that took me to Kenya - this trip was supposed to be an Asian one, but what with political realities, ended up in Kenya instead. Pictures posted on: grannyinkenya.wordpress.com

Some great flowers, and a fruit that I can't identify, as well as some video of a Maasai wedding and so on. It was an interesting trip, and if anyone knows what this plant is, I'd love to know. As my grandchildren would say, "Freaky!"