Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Tomato heaven with a 2020 roma or 2 and a Big duck?
As I mentioned last week, I have been roasting tomatoes and dehydrating them.
The best tomatoes for roasting are paste or romas, those with more meat than juice. It just so happens, there’s a 2020 AAS winner that could be a great candidate for roasting! It’s called ‘Early Resilience F1’.
The AAS Judges noted that this variety was very resistant to Blossom End Rot, resulting in a high yield and less fruit loss. Similar great taste as the comparisons but a much healthier plant and fruits. This is a determinate plant growing to just 2 feet with the number of fruit per plant about 25. Some of the qualities the judges loved have excellent tomato flavor with a good balance of sugar to acid, which means they’re great for canning. Super great for small space gardens. And by the sounds of things, it’s great for our colder climates as it ripened 2 weeks earlier than other test varieties!
Another early ripening tomato that is a 2020 AAS winner is ‘Celano F1’. It’s also another small space tomato, although a bit larger plant than Early Resilience.
The description is a grape type patio plant with a bushy habit, although they do say it needs staking. That is because of all the fruit it produces!! One judge summed it up by saying “(Celano) is sweeter, the texture is better, the color is deeper, the plants are healthier, and the yield is phenomenal.” It’s also late blight tolerant.
There are plenty of gardeners that plant marigolds in their vegetable garden to attract beneficial insects and ward off nematodes. There is a 2019 AAS winner called ‘Big Duck Gold F1’. Big Duck blooms are 3 inches across, the plant is about 15 inches tall and flowers from summer to frost.
