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Interesting. I have one roma plant and it has green tomatoes but it isn't looking good. It's stunted and not growing well.

The super sweet 100 is 4' tall, spilling way out of the cage and loaded with blossoms and green tomatoes.

The other variety I planted was an heirloom Cherokee. It's doing very well also and already has a few small tomatoes and lots of blossoms.

Last week I yanked all of my determinate tomatos out and am now preparing for a fall garden. This is one of the few advantages of only having two seasons here in South Texas. Those 2 seasons are summer to be interupted by an occasional cool spell.


BP...

Cherokee Purple is a good tomato. We usually put out a couple of those because they are good and pretty. You'll enjoy them. Seem to come in pretty early also.

Same with North-Central Florida.

Ours are really starting to produce. This is about what I have been picking every other day.



Mike

Nice! Do I see a few Romas in there?

They're actually San Marzano's. We started planting them instead of Roma's a couple of years ago. Size and texture are the same but we like the flavor better and think they make a better sauce.

Mike

My neighbor has quite a garden. Same one from which, just a year ago, was pilfering cukes from.

Anyway found this outside on the lawn chair as I exited this morning. At lunch, went home and sliced and salted one of 'em as fast as I could. Very nice, but a bit tart, wondering if they will mellow in a few days...?

One could go liberal (apologies to sam...LOL) with the EVOO, and light on the vinegar.

Put the maters in a paper bag to ripen them up.

Heard of that, never tried it. Does it take a day or so? Longer?

A few days (2, 3 or 4) ... depending. Just check em and you won't overdo it. Leave them on the kitchen counter and not in the fridge.

It really does ripen tomatoes far better than doing nothing and there's a sound scientific principle behind it.

It's not magic but it helps.

Unless I'm mistaken, San Marzano is merely a place where they are known for the quality of their Roma tomatoes. Their Roma tomatoes are the best because of the volcanic soil in which they're grown. If you didn't import the soil you grow them in, therefore, they're not really San Marzano tomatoes. I have no doubt they're delicious, though.

San Marzano IS a listed variety and you are correct it's named after the region but Romas come in all different sizes,shapes,colors and flavors.Planting it here changes nothing as we have a diverse range of soils and some probably better than from its origin country..it's genetically the same, an open pollinated Heirloom true to seed no matter where it's planted.As a Big Boy is still a Big Boy no matter where it puts down roots.

yeah, I think you missed on this one... if I was going to do any grouping, I would say they are both a variety of "plum tomatoes"

as trh usually is.................

Sorry about the crappy cell phone shot.



Mike

Mike TRH seems to be the authority on many things but tomaters he's not!

fixed that for ya.....

Stumbled across [b][color:#3333FF]Tatiana's Tomatoes[/color][/b] by accident, but there's info on LOTS of different varieties...

That makes sense, but is the San Marzano a variety of tomato, or an indicator of where they were grown? I was under the impression it was the latter.

OK, a quick Google search turned this up. Looks like you folks are right. Link

I guess I was thrown by the many times I've read or heard Italian chefs warn against buying San Marzano tomatoes that aren't certified as being actually imported from San Marzano, since, according to them, it's the volcanic soil they're grown in that makes them distinct.