SemiOT - Beefsteak tomato

~patches~ said:

This is food related but unless you consider toasting bread cooking 😉

Here's a pic of the largest beefsteak tomato from my garden this year. It
can't be considered a prize winner because of splitting - dang rain. It
was a bad year for tomatoes. It weighed in at just a wee bit under a
pound, so close to a pound.
http://tinypic.com/elcsno.jpg

Here's why I love beefsteak tomatoes 🙂 One slice on toast with mayo & a
little salt & pepper makes a quick meal!
http://tinypic.com/elcvhj.jpg
http://tinypic.com/elcvwk.jpg

While I do dearly love tomato sandwiches, I like BLT's even better. Or a
tomato-egg-and-cheese sandwich (ETC, I guess!) Or a
bacon-lettuce-tomato-avocado sandwich. We had a discussion on this group
about BLT's sometime last year, around the beginning of summer.

Damn, now I'm hungry, it's almost time to go home, and I've only got a
couple puny yellow tomatoes waiting for me...

Bob

In article <[email hidden]>,

~patches~ said:

This is food related but unless you consider toasting bread cooking 😉

I'm a little bit jealous. Where do you live? Around here you can't
grow those tomatoes. They don't set fruit until way late, they don't
get big anyway, and they are horribly cracked and disfigured.

You can only grow early tomatoes around here, and they aren't that
reliable. This has been a terrible year for them, and most of what
we've gotten are cherry tomatoes.

On the other hand, even if the tomatoes don't like the weather, people
do. Almost nobody has an air conditioner, even though it gets warm
during the day in the summer.

Dan Abel said:

I'm a little bit jealous. Where do you live? Around here you can't
grow those tomatoes. They don't set fruit until way late, they don't
get big anyway, and they are horribly cracked and disfigured.

You can only grow early tomatoes around here, and they aren't that
reliable. This has been a terrible year for them, and most of what
we've gotten are cherry tomatoes.

On the other hand, even if the tomatoes don't like the weather, people
do. Almost nobody has an air conditioner, even though it gets warm
during the day in the summer.

Where's your around here? Tomatoes like all plants in the nightshade
family love hot weather... beefsteaks are about the easiest of all
tomatoes to grow... and they're supposed to look deformed... if any
tomatoes are cracked it's due to too much water. It's not possible to
control rainfall but it's fairly simple to control drainage... perhaps
you need to amend your soil with some sand, or better yet consider a
raised bed.

Sheldon

Dan Abel said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

~patches~ said:

This is food related but unless you consider toasting bread cooking 😉

I'm a little bit jealous. Where do you live? Around here you can't
grow those tomatoes. They don't set fruit until way late, they don't
get big anyway, and they are horribly cracked and disfigured.

Ontario & have been babying this one for awhile. I have a few more
beefsteaks but not as big. Normally my vines over produce to the point
the neighbours lock their car doors but not this yeat 🙁

Quoted message said:

You can only grow early tomatoes around here, and they aren't that
reliable. This has been a terrible year for them, and most of what
we've gotten are cherry tomatoes.

Tiny tims did well as did the mellow yellows. DH has warmed up to
yellow tomatoes yet. They are really sweet!

Quoted message said:

On the other hand, even if the tomatoes don't like the weather, people
do. Almost nobody has an air conditioner, even though it gets warm
during the day in the summer.

AC ran non stop this summer.

~patches~ said:

Dan Abel said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

~patches~ said:

This is food related but unless you consider toasting bread cooking 😉

I'm a little bit jealous. Where do you live? Around here you can't
grow those tomatoes. They don't set fruit until way late, they don't
get big anyway, and they are horribly cracked and disfigured.

Ontario & have been babying this one for awhile. I have a few more
beefsteaks but not as big. Normally my vines over produce to the point
the neighbours lock their car doors but not this yeat 🙁

Quoted message said:

You can only grow early tomatoes around here, and they aren't that
reliable. This has been a terrible year for them, and most of what
we've gotten are cherry tomatoes.

Tiny tims did well as did the mellow yellows. DH has warmed up to
yellow tomatoes yet. They are really sweet!

Quoted message said:

On the other hand, even if the tomatoes don't like the weather, people
do. Almost nobody has an air conditioner, even though it gets warm
during the day in the summer.

AC ran non stop this summer.

Try growing "Better Boy" tomatoes next year. They grow plenty of 12
ounce very meaty slicing tomatoes, and they are early-to-midseason. You
should be able to get a crop even in Ontario.

Best regards,
Bob

zxcvbob said:

~patches~ said:

Dan Abel said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
~patches~ <[email hidden]> wrote:

> This is food related but unless you consider toasting bread cooking 😉

I'm a little bit jealous. Where do you live? Around here you can't
grow those tomatoes. They don't set fruit until way late, they don't
get big anyway, and they are horribly cracked and disfigured.

Ontario & have been babying this one for awhile. I have a few more
beefsteaks but not as big. Normally my vines over produce to the
point the neighbours lock their car doors but not this yeat 🙁

Quoted message said:

You can only grow early tomatoes around here, and they aren't that
reliable. This has been a terrible year for them, and most of what
we've gotten are cherry tomatoes.

Tiny tims did well as did the mellow yellows. DH has warmed up to
yellow tomatoes yet. They are really sweet!

Quoted message said:

On the other hand, even if the tomatoes don't like the weather,
people do. Almost nobody has an air conditioner, even though it gets
warm during the day in the summer.

AC ran non stop this summer.

Try growing "Better Boy" tomatoes next year. They grow plenty of 12
ounce very meaty slicing tomatoes, and they are early-to-midseason. You
should be able to get a crop even in Ontario.

Best regards,
Bob

Heck the only thing that did good this year was beans. I'm still
picking those little buggers. This is big tomato growing area and even
the farmers are complaining. Our relative that grows tomatoes for a
living is really whining. I'll try the Better Boys though - it sure
couldn't hurt! Thanks for the tip

In article <[email hidden]>,

Sheldon said:

Dan Abel said:

I'm a little bit jealous. Where do you live? Around here you can't
grow those tomatoes. They don't set fruit until way late, they don't
get big anyway, and they are horribly cracked and disfigured.

You can only grow early tomatoes around here, and they aren't that
reliable. This has been a terrible year for them, and most of what
we've gotten are cherry tomatoes.

On the other hand, even if the tomatoes don't like the weather, people
do. Almost nobody has an air conditioner, even though it gets warm
during the day in the summer.

Where's your around here?

Petaluma, California. We're about 40 miles north of San Francisco and
25 miles east of the Pacific Ocean.

Quoted message said:

Tomatoes like all plants in the nightshade
family love hot weather... beefsteaks are about the easiest of all
tomatoes to grow... and they're supposed to look deformed... if any

That's the problem. We don't have hot weather around here.

Quoted message said:

you need to amend your soil with some sand, or better yet consider a
raised bed.

We have raised beds.

--
Dan Abel
[email hidden]
Petaluma, California, USA

In article <[email hidden]>,

~patches~ said:

Dan Abel wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm a little bit jealous. Where do you live? Around here you can't
grow those tomatoes. They don't set fruit until way late, they don't
get big anyway, and they are horribly cracked and disfigured.

Ontario & have been babying this one for awhile. I have a few more
beefsteaks but not as big. Normally my vines over produce to the point
the neighbours lock their car doors but not this yeat 🙁

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On the other hand, even if the tomatoes don't like the weather, people
do. Almost nobody has an air conditioner, even though it gets warm
during the day in the summer.

AC ran non stop this summer.

Even my zucchini didn't inspire me to break into people's cars and
houses!

:-)

--
Dan Abel
[email hidden]
Petaluma, California, USA

~patches~ said:

This is food related but unless you consider toasting bread cooking 😉

My former boss once taught a course for college students on how to cook
.. He started out with how to make toast, crack an egg, and other
complicated culinary operations. It was a popular course 🙂 Canned
beef broth was sophisticated for his students 🙂

Nice looking tomato sandwich.

John Kane
Kingston ON

Dan Abel said:

Quoted message said:

you need to amend your soil with some sand, or better yet consider a
raised bed.

We have raised beds.

Raised beds are awesome. You can seed earilier and your harvest will be
longer because the beds are warmer. Are you using the square food
method? I've had pretty goo sussecces with that methodl

Quoted message said:

Dan Abel said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

~patches~ said:

Dan Abel wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm a little bit jealous. Where do you live? Around here you can't
grow those tomatoes. They don't set fruit until way late, they don't
get big anyway, and they are horribly cracked and disfigured.

Ontario & have been babying this one for awhile. I have a few more
beefsteaks but not as big. Normally my vines over produce to the point
the neighbours lock their car doors but not this yeat 🙁

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On the other hand, even if the tomatoes don't like the weather, people
do. Almost nobody has an air conditioner, even though it gets warm
during the day in the summer.

AC ran non stop this summer.

Even my zucchini didn't inspire me to break into people's cars and
houses!

:-)

Ok I picked enough zucchini that neighbours were sneaking away in the
middle of the night just to avoid them 🙁 We won't even go into the
issue with the bean & just about everything else. It was too hot for
the lettuces. We are just now enjoying lettuces that that dang rabbit
doesn't get. People are so stupid! This appears to be a pet rabbit,
well fed, and just dropped off to fend for itself. It touches my garden
one more time & it might be made into rabbit sausage or dinner of some kind!

Sheldon wrote (in response to Dan Abel):

Quoted message said:

Where's your around here? Tomatoes like all plants in the nightshade
family love hot weather... beefsteaks are about the easiest of all
tomatoes to grow... and they're supposed to look deformed... if any
tomatoes are cracked it's due to too much water. It's not possible to
control rainfall but it's fairly simple to control drainage... perhaps
you need to amend your soil with some sand, or better yet consider a
raised bed.

It was a terrible year for tomatoes here (Salt Lake Valley). Everyone
had trouble. A colder than normal spring/early summer with lots of rain,
moving almost immediately into temperatures in the 90s for weeks on end
set plant establishment back significantly. By the time fruit set and
began to grow, temps were into the 90s and 100s, something tomatoes do
NOT like.

I lost my beefsteaks early -- they simply would not take, but my Early
Girls, Brandywines and Golden Boys finally got a foothold. But high
temperature slowed down blossoming, many blossoms simply dropped, and
fruit set was late. The fruit developed very slowly. My Early Girls were
the first to come on, but even they were late and *very* small when
ripe. I got enough of my earliest tomatoes for some nice sandwiches and
such, but by the time we had a killing frost in the first week of
October none of the Brandywines or Golden Boys had even begun to turn.

Consequently, I brought in a ton of green tomatoes. Yes, some have
ripened since they came in and became several pints of tomato sauce.
Mostly, though, I have little green golf balls. Anyone for green tomato
bread??

pennyaline said:

It was a terrible year for tomatoes here (Salt Lake Valley). Everyone
had trouble. A colder than normal spring/early summer with lots of rain,
moving almost immediately into temperatures in the 90s for weeks on end
set plant establishment back significantly. By the time fruit set and
began to grow, temps were into the 90s and 100s, something tomatoes do
NOT like.

It was terrible here with too warm & not wet enough spring followed by
too hot weater & daught conditions 🙁

Quoted message said:

I lost my beefsteaks early -- they simply would not take, but my Early
Girls, Brandywines and Golden Boys finally got a foothold. But high
temperature slowed down blossoming, many blossoms simply dropped, and

My tiny tims did ok as did the mellow yellows. The brandysines were so
so as were the beefsteaks. The romas wer greaat except they would get a
blush the drop from the vine. Still I have enough for a good 3 lg
baskets of tomatoes once they ripen in the greenhouse. I'd like to get
that cleanded out before the end of the month.

Quoted message said:

fruit set was late. The fruit developed very slowly. My Early Girls were
the first to come on, but even they were late and *very* small when
ripe. I got enough of my earliest tomatoes for some nice sandwiches and
such, but by the time we had a killing frost in the first week of
October none of the Brandywines or Golden Boys had even begun to turn.

Consequently, I brought in a ton of green tomatoes. Yes, some have
ripened since they came in and became several pints of tomato sauce.
Mostly, though, I have little green golf balls. Anyone for green tomato
bread??

I put most of the green tomatoes in the greenhouse but green tomato
salsa is really nice & I made green tomatoe ketchup. If they are golf
ball size kids love to bat those around - given my kids' antics yesterday 😉