First Tomato in 2012: Kimberley!

Last year my favorite tomatoes were the Sungold and the Cherokee Purple, but I wasn't that impressed by Black Krim or Black Prince. This year I planted a few other black/purple varieties similar to C.P. to see if any are earlier and/or more productive or taste similar/better than C.P.

I got a late start this year and didn't start my seeds until April 22nd, so my plants weren't ready to transplant until early June. I started 17 varieties from seed, including Sungold, Cherokee Purple, and Jaune Flammé which I grew using saved seed from open-pollinated (OP) plants from last season.

Tomato seedlings on May 9th

Tomato seedlings on May 15th

I prepared my two raised planting beds by adding a few inches of compost last fall, then I added another few inches of compost in April. I put black plastic over the beds in May and kept the plastic on until I planted the seedlings in early June. I started hardening off my seedlings on Memorial Day, and on June 3rd I transplanted 6-9" tall seedlings into the beds, adding Hendrikus Organics Start Right in the planting holes and spreading Dr. Earth fertilizer around each plant. I planted 7 plants in the first 4'x8' bed and 8 plants in the second 4'x8' bed, all about 2' apart since I was planning to stake them and prune to 3-4 stems. Because our springs have been so cool, I used PVC and white plastic to form a hoop house over the beds. I left a small opening on each end of hoop house to allow air flow, and I kept the plastic on until early July.

On June 10th I also planted two New Big Dwarf plants less than a foot away from a south-facing concrete wall. A week after that I planted the other black/purple varieties (C.P. Spudakee, Vorlon, and Paul Robeson) against a south-facing wall. I didn't use hoop houses with the NBD or these black tomatoes.

By July 10th a Kimberley and two Sungolds had several fruit set, and by July 12th Isis Candy and Jaune Flammé also had fruit set. The other tomatoes had lots of open blooms that would set fruit in the following week or two.

First fruit on Kimberley on July 10th

I even had one fruit set on a 15" tall Kimberley seedling in a 2" cell because I had about 20 seedlings left in my trays on the back porch, and I couldn't bring myself to throw them away as long as they still look healthy. I had already given away dozens of plants, even forcing some friends to take more New Big Dwarf (NBD) and Vorlon plants. I still ended up squeezing in the last three Kimberleys in a few sunny spots in the yard on July 11th, and I planted another Gogosha, White Queen, and Porkchop on July 12th before the rest of the plants declined and got added to the compost bin.

Extra seedlings on June 19th