Should anyone question if this is a weird tomato year

[Siwsan]

On the right is an Early Girl tomato. The one on the left is a Grape tomato. Yea, it's a small Early Girl and the rest look a little closer to normal, but 2nd pic shows the Grape tomatoes, on this year's plants, are massive. The plants were purchased from the same Farmer's Market I always use. I'm going to show them a photo and see if anyone else has mentioned the freakish size. I have a couple of 'volunteer' grape tomato plants, from last year's crop, that look like they'll produce something closer to normal size.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. You have a cross or seed mix up there!

We've had a spectacular tomato year - 125 plants, already have 35 quarts canned, incredible flavors - but for the most part, things are what they should be color and size-wise....but then again, I start all my plants from my own seed. You may have a bee produced hybrid there or an early generation of segregation from a prior year cross, so saved seeds could give you quite a lot of diversity.

[Siwsan]

4. That's my suspicion

All 4 plants seem to have gigantic fruit. The two volunteers, so far, look normal.

The Roma and Golden I started from seed are finally producing fruit so I can only HOPE we have a warm Autumn. I like to make and freeze stewed tomatoes for Winter stews, soups and curries.

I think I'm going to do everything from seed, next year, and maybe start them a little earlier. I think things would have been very close to 'schedule' had our Spring not been so cold and wet. The plants went in close to 2 weeks later than usual and I lost several to the bad conditions.

I'm anxious to see how this monster tastes. I've got a zucchini and yellow squash ready for picking, probably one more grape tomato will be ripe, and my garlic is ready to use so I'm going to make a nice Mediterranean treat for my supper, tomorrow.

[rampartc]

2. i am finished picking for a while

trying to keep the vines alive incase they want to set in the cooler weather.

if that is actually a grape it should not be bigger than an early girl. may be a celebrity but more likely something feral. if they taste good save some seeds and see the next generation.

[Siwsan]

5. If they are tasty, I'll definitely save some seeds.

The bigger Early Girl are finally starting to turn so I'm hoping I'll soon be noshing on 'mato and mayo' sandwiches.

We had such an awful Spring, everything went into the garden late and I almost lost everything due to the cold and long stretches of soggy soil. Only 4 of my pepper plants are producing and I usually have really great pepper crops. Just a lousy, lousy planting season in Mid-Michigan.

[TEB]

3. At farmers market

The woman I get my tomatoes off of I told her. I’ve never seen tomatoes this huge they are so huge.

[blueinredohio]

6. My grape tomatoes are also big.

Not as big as yours but they are bigger than normal.

[procon]

7. Looks more like Roma tomatoes.

Maybe you have a new variety, or someone just mislabeled the seeds. Whatever they are, nothing beats munching on warm, freshly picked tomatoes.

[Siwsan]

8. I am counting the days until the serious munching begins

Right now I'm limited to peas and beans. I never quite make it out of the garden with enough for a side dish.

[rsdsharp]

9. We're getting very large cherry tomatoes

but my wife thinks they may have been mismarked.

[JudyM]

10. I like your thumb ring.

[FakeNoose]

11. I'm not growing tomatoes this year

However I'd think that the heat and rain would make this an outstanding year for them. Yours look great, by the way!

My problem is I can only grow the smallish tomatoes, like the cherry and grape varieties, because anything larger than that won't ripen in time. We get hot nights in July (Pittsburgh) that are great for ripening tomatoes. After July the nights become cool and sometimes too cool for ripening tomatoes. Sure I can pick them green and let them ripen on the window sill, and sometimes it's my only resort. However I found it discouraging, and I stopped trying to grow the Big Boys. The last several years I've had the smaller varieties and they've done really well.

But my other problem is that I only get enough sun right at the front of my house, like next to my front door. The side yard and back yard get almost no sun, which isn't good for tomatoes. After re-landscaping and planting ornamental bushes, day lilies etc. at my front entrance, I decided that tomato plants were just too messy looking. Next year I might try growing tomatoes in a tub or barrel, but I skipped it for this year.

[El Mimbreno]

12. Weird, but at least you have tomatoes

Us, not so good. Our tomato plants started out well, after a slight setback from a late frost. Then they just started to wilt away. I finally gave up yesterday and rerouted the irrigation to the peppers and onions in the bed. Think I need to dig up the tomatoes and see if something's been eating the roots. The tomatillo plant is odd also; blooming like crazy, but few fruits.