Homegrown Tomatoes Planned for 2020

What homegrown tomatoes are in store for me in 2020?  As I mentioned in my previous post of my new location, I’ve got a whole different growing style to get used to.

Looking forward to my first baby tomato!

Instead of two short growing seasons, I have one longer one.  If I am lucky, I’ll be able to do a little succession planting.  The humidity up here isn’t nearly as bad as S Florida, even though I still will get days in the 90s come August.  My season starts in early April, so I’m lining up all my supplies now.

All that being said, what tomato varieties do I have planned for the 2020 gardening season?  Here’s what I want to grow.

Tomato Varieties Planned for 2020

I’m going with all new (to me) varieties, with one exception.  All are either heirloom or open-pollinated, so I can save seeds if I like.  And for a change, I am planting some dwarf tomatoes!  Here is the lineup:

• Dwarf Arctic Rose:  Determinate, pink, early-season.  Regular rugose leaves.  Fruits average 2 to 5 ounces.
• BrandyFred:   Indeterminate (dwarf), purple, mid-season.  Potato rugose leaves.  Fruits average around 10 ounces.
• Dwarf Pink Passion:  Indeterminate, pink, mid-season.  Regular rugose leaves.  Fruits average 8 ounces.
• Dwarf Bendigo Blush:  Indeterminate, pink, mid-season.  Potato rugose leaves.  Fruits average 1 to 2 ounces.
• Red Robin:  Determinate, red, early-season.  Regular rugose leaves.  Fruits average 1 ounce.  Not a dwarf so much as a tiny micro-determinate — tiny as in maybe 10 inches tall.  This is the one variety I have grown in the past, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it grows up here.
• Tennessee Yellow Cherry:  Indeterminate, yellow, early-season.  Regular leaves.  Fruits average 1 ounce per tomato – supposed to be very prolific.  And since I now live in Tennessee, it seemed appropriate.  😉
• Vorlon:  Indeterminate, purple, mid-season.  Potato leaves.  Fruits average 6 to 8 ounces.  I get a kick out of the show “Babylon 5”, and this was supposedly named after a character on the show.  I just couldn’t resist, and purple tomatoes are generally pretty flavorful.

Three unusual varieties I’ll be growing are:

• Blue Beauty:  Indeterminate, blue, early- to mid-season.  Regular leaves.  Unknown average size.  I’ve not grown a blue tomato as yet, so this will be my first.  The “blue” is due to anthocyanin, which is more of an indigo-purple color.
• Alice’s Dream:  Indeterminate, blue/striped, mid-season.  Regular leaves.  Unknown average size.  I have to admit, this one intrigues me.  More anthocyanin, so it’s a “blue” tomato, but ripens to what looks like a striped tomato.  It’s supposed to be beautiful and tasty!
• Girl Girl’s Weird Thing:  Indeterminate, striped red/green, mid- to late-season.  Regular leaves.  Unknown average size, but appear to be medium.  The name drew me in, and the striped red and green was fascinating.  Supposed to be very tasty.

Although Blue Beauty, Alice’s Dream and Girl Girl’s Weird Thing have unknown average sizes, from the photos I’ve seen I guess that between 6 and 10 ounces seems reasonable.  I know that “tasty” can vary from person to person, so when I eventually review these varieties, I’ll have to compare them against some well-known varieties for comparison.

I’m really excited to be growing in this new location, and with these new-to-me tomato seeds.  I look forward to sharing my progress and photos of the garden and tomatoes.