The Carolyn Tribute- what did you grow-reactions?

[HL2601]

Hi all-
I thought it might be nice to do a round up of varieties people received and tried from Carolyn's Tribute. All input welcome!

I will start-
I grew
Aunt Ginny's Purple- a workhorse with well rounded taste. Variable fruit size for me. A perennial winner.

Bulgarian Triumph- I have wanted to grow this for a while. Finally with seeds from the Tribute I discovered why it was recommended. A well behaved, tall plant which delivered almost perfect red orbs of 3-4 oz. No blemishes in site and a good old rich with good acid red type flavor. Clusters of 4-5 fruits produced over and over. I would grow it again.

Heidi I have grown this one before, which came originally from a student of Carolyn's from Africa named Heidi. This one is a smaller red paste but boy oh boy does it produce. It seemed every other day more were coming. This is a perennial favorite in my garden. It's a good old workhorse I can count on for salsas and sauces.

Pale Perfect Purple- My daughter chose this one as the wildcard I let her choose from the list. This is another great tomato which performed well despite our heat. Around 4 oz each, this dark pink tomato arrived in perfect clusters of 4. It quickly became a snacking- in- the- garden tomato for us. To my taste buds,. this one was similar to Aunt Ginny's. A winner.

Does anyone else have any great finds or skips from what they grew?
Heide

[Labradors]

I didn't get any seeds from the tribute, but I grew my Carolyn tribute last season.

I always grow Bulgarian Triumph which has great taste. For me, it is a compact plant which always does well in a cage and produces perfect red saladettes.

I grew Dr. Carolyn Pink and Galina. I had thought that both would taste great at the end of the season, but both were disappointingly mild all season long. Thank goodness the chickens are not tomato connoiseurs!

Linda

[Shule]

Where's the list of tomatoes? I forgot.

I'm growing Aunt Ginny's Purple, at least. I just reviewed it on my growlog.

[MissS]

Where's the list of tomatoes? I forgot.

I'm growing Aunt Ginny's Purple, at least. I just reviewed it on my growlog.

Here you go Shule. https://www.tomatojunction.com/viewtopi ... =118&t=762

[habitat-gardener]

Overall, not a great tomato year. We had heat waves earlier, hotter (100F+), and longer than before. Few of my indeterminates did well, and several produced nothing.

Aunt Ginny’s Purple
Picked 2, one was probably the biggest tomato of the season; taste was ok but not good enough to grow again. As The NY Times said recently, this is the coolest summer of the coming years.

Heidi
Still hoping to get more than a handful, because when I grew it in a cooler garden, it was late and very prolific.

Wuhib
So far got a few more than Heidi. Only a few. Just as dense and rampant, though.
(I’m also growing Nistru, which is also dense and rampant, and has so far outproduced both of them. Still not a lot; a bigger handful.)

Pervaya Lyubov
Of this group of four, this one did the best. Maybe 5-6 tomatoes? Taste was good. Probably would not grow it again in this climate.
(The only indeterminates that did well this year were Pink Princess cherry and Purple Boy F1. My usual stalwarts failed — Rose de Berne pooped out early, and Pruden’s Purple produced nothing but foliage.)

[Sue_CT]

I guess it was a great tomato year for me production wise, but only mediocre for taste. 14 inches of rain in July is probably the culprit for mild flavors. Tomatoes rotting on the vines I haven't had time to pick and turn into sauce I have so many. I grew Brandywine Sudduth, Anna Russian which did not grow true, Box Car Willie, Reif Red Heart, and Orange Russian 117. I also grew one from one of her offers Gallego. "Anna Russian" was not a heart so I don't know if there was a stray seed in the packet or I mixed something up. OR117 is too mild in taste for me this year but an absolutely beautiful tomato! I will research it and maybe try it again if it sounds like this year was a fluke due to the rain. Reif Red Heart is always good and is again this year. Better production from BS than ever before! Also milder in taste but still good. Gallego not as tasty as last year but very productive. They will all be good in sauce since it simmers down and concentrates the flavors and gets rid of the extra water anyway. Honestly, the very best for taste in this odd year was not one of these but Girl Girls Weird Thing.

I did spray with Daconil this year AND use Texas Tomato Food, and I believe the Daconil is primarily responsible for the fact that I am even still getting tomatoes and the TTF for the great production! In years past I have omitted spraying since I like to go organic when possible but conditions were extreme this year, and I do use it when it becomes a do or die situation. I suspect it is still better than what commercial nonorganic farmers can use. Certainly not any worse.

[rxkeith]

last year, i only had matina growing. all plants damped off in the garden after a cold, wet june week in the garden.
the one tip i managed to saved grew, but only produced a few tomatoes before frost hit.
this year, different story. matina is back to its old productive self. its one of my favorites for taste, production, and earliness.


keith

[HL2601]

Great to know Keith- I haven't grown Matina yet. Thanks for your input.

[Gardadore]

Only asked for and got Eva’s Purple Ball. Seems to produce a little later than other varieties so am getting ripe ones now. Liked their size for slicing and drying. So much rain lately has made most tomatoes watery and flavor is OK. Fairly prolific and will grow again.
Were challenging to germinate but got one plant and have saved seeds since ran out trying to start them.