Pink Brandywine Heirloom

[GoWyo]

My rancher husband does not like grass fed beef. It's the grassy taste. Grain fed is better. He used to buy pens of 40 steers and put them in feed yards. Sometimes made a lot of money, sometimes less. Then Opra said on TV red meat is poison. That was not a good time.

At certain times of the year dairy cows on lush pasture produce grassy tasting milk. I don't like it either.

Dad always blamed funky tasting milk on milk cow eating alkali weeds (kochia weeds). Probably the forb component in their diet later in the year that caused it.

 

[GoWyo]

Johnnys Seeds-- did she grow heirlooms? I just wrote 1 star reviews on Amazon for all the 'hairlooms' I tried to grow this year, with photos.

Lemon Boy- supposed to be a big round bright yellow tomato. Its a red plum tomato of some kind, nearly tasteless.
View attachment 33393

Great White- supposed to be a great big greenish white tomato with exotic fruity flavors. Tomatos are small to medium, red and sour.
View attachment 33394

Early Girl grown from seed. Supposed to produce tomatos in 60 days. 7 months later, still no ripe tomatos.
It's my own fault. I knew Hybrids can't be grown from seeds but I thought I'd try it because I'm not paying $4.
View attachment 33395

Well, there's these Cherokee Purple tomatos started making tomatos last month. They are smallish, horribly deformed and the insides colored like vomit, taste sweet/bland but better than nothing.

Basically, the whole tomato year was blown on hairlooms. I've learned my lesson. Buy those $4 Early Girls, root the cuttings from the suckers and have a lifetime supply of free Early Girl plants. Ripe tomatos in June, disease resistance, great flavor, indetermiant and produce all season.

Early girls were good. There were some heirlooms that I liked a lot. Can't remember which ones they were but we're all kinds of weird shapes and with green streaks. They were big and made a meal.

 

[farmerjan]

There is a greenhouse here closeby (20+) miles that grows all sorts of starter plants... 4 packs were 2.99 this year I think... up from 2.49 they used to be. I have 10 varieties of tomatoes in the garden this year.... Way more than I ever need but sometimes some varieties fail. I have grown the great white and they are very very light colored and make huge tomatoes. I especially like some of the Amish ones... German Johnson, Mr Stripey... both are a red/yellow striped ones with very good flavor. I grow Belgian Giants... I grow Yellow pear and Red pear for salads.... I also grow Hillbilly, Big Zac, and I like the Brandywines... red and yellow and they have a black that is smaller. I've grown an Oxheart that is meatier than some... and I grow 2 or 3 types of paste... Roma and an Amish Paste... tried a speckled roma but don't like the way they look but they might taste good once ripe. Want the meaty ones for canning.
I switch around and vary some varieties year to year.

Tomatoes have been very late right here due to the exceptionally cool June.... and no rain until the end and then we have been getting decent rain along.
Just now picking my first tomatoes and ate 2 yellow pear in the garden yesterday....
I also like the old fashioned plain Beefsteak ones...
I plant few, if any hybrids....

I have also had the strange occurrence of the tomato seeds starting to sprout and grow inside tomatoes from the store and they (tomatoes) taste bitter.

I would suggest a couple of places for seeds... Johnny's in Maine is good... Fedco also in Maine is also good. Have gotten seeds many times from Gurney's also.....and usually I just get seeds at the store when there isn't anything I need to make an online order worth it, and I like Harris seeds....plus we have a "local" seed distributor here... Wetsel Seeds.... in Harrisonburg Va... been here over 100 years.... usuall very good but have gotten some "string beans" in with the tendercrop green beans seeds and they are a pita to string when wanting to put them up... heard that from a couple of other farmers too... but that is the first time I have ever complained about their seeds.... I buy 1/2 lb bags and use the seeds for 2 or 3 years with very good germination... I think they ship all over....

I have 15 varieties of potatoes; I got most from Fedco because I wanted to try different varieties and want to have some to sell at a local farmer's market... about 20 ft rows of each... plus a couple of old standbys like red pontiac and kennebec...Mostly for some income....and they do not require alot of work once they are up and mulched heavy....
Deer and ground hogs do not bother the potatoes... they are eating the beans and the sunflowers and the developing butternut winter squash... Pi$$ing me off...
I have caught 2 coons, 3 possums and 4 ground hogs in the live traps... and saw another ground hog the other day but he is trap shy.... he just took some bites out of some butternut squash developing....

Most farmer's markets here, early in the spring, will have started plants... many sell 4 packs ... and $3-4 for a 4 pack is still a good deal. Or $2 for a started plant....

 

[Travlr]

Early girls were good. There were some heirlooms that I liked a lot. Can't remember which ones they were but we're all kinds of weird shapes and with green streaks. They were big and made a meal.

I'd pay good money to get some seed from the beefsteaks we used to raise in the early 70s. The tomatoes you describe may have been them. One slice covered a sandwich.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Ground hogs make good eating I hear.

The problem I had (one of the problems) is people selling seeds that are not the variety advertized. These open pollinated 'hairlooms'-- well, something else must have been pollinating. The one that bred true, Cherokee Purple, the tomtos are deformed looking and the multicolored insides are sweet/bland, not that great. My whole toamto crop this year is shot and it's not just the weather. Never again.

Meanwhile, I have put southern cooked mustard greens, English peas and swiss chard in the freezer and an endless supply of yellow squash and pattipan. The Kentuckey Wonder pole beans are just now putting out flower buds.

 

[Davemk]

Johnnys Seeds-- did she grow heirlooms? I just wrote 1 star reviews on Amazon for all the 'hairlooms' I tried to grow this year, with photos.

Lemon Boy- supposed to be a big round bright yellow tomato. Its a red plum tomato of some kind, nearly tasteless.
View attachment 33393

Great White- supposed to be a great big greenish white tomato with exotic fruity flavors. Tomatos are small to medium, red and sour.
View attachment 33394

Early Girl grown from seed. Supposed to produce tomatos in 60 days. 7 months later, still no ripe tomatos.
It's my own fault. I knew Hybrids can't be grown from seeds but I thought I'd try it because I'm not paying $4.
View attachment 33395

Well, there's these Cherokee Purple tomatos started making tomatos last month. They are smallish, horribly deformed and the insides colored like vomit, taste sweet/bland but better than nothing.

Basically, the whole tomato year was blown on hairlooms. I've learned my lesson. Buy those $4 Early Girls, root the cuttings from the suckers and have a lifetime supply of free Early Girl plants. Ripe tomatos in June, disease resistance, great flavor, indetermiant and produce all season.

You bought tomato seeds on Amazon? If you decide to try again here is the place to get the seed from.

Heirloom Tomato Seeds | Seed Savers Exchange

A wide selection of heirloom, organic tomatoes across all types: paste, beefsteak, cherry, and more. Our seeds are non-GMO and open pollinated and sales support our non-profit mission.

www.seedsavers.org

 

[redcowsrule33]

I have grown all of those heirlooms Jersey Milker and they turned out beautifully and as advertised. You got screwed. I get my seeds from Tomato Growers. I think you got yours from the same guy in Second Hand Lions.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

These hairlooms for me quit flowering just like determinants and are late season ripeners. In Oregon this doesn't work too well. I wish I had some actual fresh Earlygirls. The EG hybrids I grew last year still have a freezer and canning closet full. Great balance of sweet, tart and tomato y ness.

 

[Ky hills]

Glutin free bread tastes like it's made of saw dust.

I agree, I went gluten free a couple years ago, to try to stop lot stomach issues. I believe it's helped. I will eat about anything but I can't go that gluten free bread. I've tried several different kinds it's all been bad taste and texture.
Wife found a certain kind of crackers that are a lot like the club crackers. They are really good, but crumble a lot easier than a regular cracker.

 

[DNelson]

the last couple years i noticed that the store-bought tomatoes were sprouting its seeds inside itself during the winter when we sliced them to eat. must be treated to keep the tomatoes looking great on the outside. anyway, I decided to let the tomatoes sit and it eventually started to shrivel up. we cut the tomatoes in quarters and planted them in pots under our grow lights. They grew into mature plants and produced a good crop of tomatoes! I'll get a picture and post it of this years plants in the garden. already have had a few ripe tomatoes and there are a few turned red. not bad for north central Minnesota in a drought still.

here are the pictures of the sprouted tomatoes from store bought ones. I did some Roma ones too.

 

[dave_shelby]

My daughter has a gliadin allergy, which is another protein in wheat. My wife has stated that milk bothers her stomach and wheat even more so. Well my kids tested that out by slipping a small amount of milk and flour in discretely. Milk didn't seem to do anything but sure enough day after wheat she was sick

 

[CowboyRam]

My daughter has a gliadin allergy, which is another protein in wheat. My wife has stated that milk bothers her stomach and wheat even more so. Well my kids tested that out by slipping a small amount of milk and flour in discretely. Milk didn't seem to do anything but sure enough day after wheat she was sick

I have a cousin that is allergic to the wheat germ. Her mother would make bread and cakes out of rice and soy flower, if I remember right.

 

[GreyWolf]

It was a bad year and we didn't get a big crop but they are just incredible tasting, best ever.

View attachment 33027

Wife salivates when I walk in from the garden, sadly she's looking at the tomatoes . Same here with the Brandywine (Zone7b), Mortgage Lifter didn't produce much either, cherry tomatoes doing well (Sweet Baby, Gold Nugget, Nectar) though.