Garden Review, Looking Back at 2019

My Gardens in 2019

Varieties I loved, some I didn’t, and some just notable. Here’s my rundown.

2019 was a surprisingly good tomato year for me. I had disease problems in 2018 and was concerned about that returning, but I cover cropped over the winter, rotated crops, kept up with summer feedings and applied beneficial microbes and things turned out well. There were no total flops, which is good, although the flops usually have some amusing story around them so I don’t have much to poke fun at. Here’s my take on the standouts of 2019.

Tomatoes:

Cherokee Purple Heart: My #1 favorite of the year. So much to love! I’m a fan of heart tomatoes, so when I found seed for a heart strain of the iconic Cherokee Purple, how could I not try it? It’s far better than the standard Cherokee Purple in my book. Far and away more productive and earlier than the standard variety. This was one of the first to produce, the plant was loaded, and the flavor, oh the flavor. And oh and the texture. It was a whole package. Bonus points for being a versatile heart tomato. It’s definitely coming back and I’m hoping for another great season.

Vintage Wine: My almost #1 favorite of the year, it came in a very close second to Cherokee. I was expecting an attractive striped tomato variety that was nice to look at. What I got was a not-so-striped, juicy, sweet knockout of a variety that produced large quantities of large delicious fruit. What a lovely surprise! I’m excited to bring this one back.

Orange Strawberry: Almost nobody bought this variety. Did you all know something I didn’t? Maybe my descriptive skills were lacking or the tall wispy habit of the plant was just too ‘ugly duckling’ for folks. In my garden, this was my most productive variety and one of the earliest but also the most bland in flavor. I got an abundance of perfectly smooth, crack-free heart tomatoes all season that just didn’t rock my taste buds. However, because heart tomatoes are so versatile, I got to make a lot of sauce and salsa with them. Too bad they didn’t taste better sliced. It didn’t make the cut this year.

Bear Creek: This one is still holding in my top favorites. I absolutely love the flavor, texture and deep color. I’ve concluded it’s at its best in a raised bed. In the ground the fruit is smaller and it’s less productive, although still a fantastic tomato. It will return this year.

Sunrise Bumblebee & Pink Bumblebee: A bit of a mixed bag here. These both win top honors for the most complex flavor. Friends who tasted them were delighted both by the stunning color and striping, and by the layers of flavor that emerged as they ate them. I’m reminded of the Everlasting Gobstopper from the original Willy Wonka movie...if you’re over a certain age maybe you remember that. Anyway, the downside of these cherry tomatoes was the thick skin. It was a bit much, although most people liked the flavor so much they overlooked it. For me, I’d grow them for occasional fresh eating, but I think they’d really shine as a sundried tomato or for paste. I debated whether or not to bring them back, and decided to do so. They’ll be in limited quantities.

Mortgage Lifter VFN: Absolutely the biggest, healthiest plant with the biggest tomatoes of the year. It was an interesting plant in the garden; it grew at a leisurely pace, in no particular hurry to get big or start producing, but once it did, OMG, it was a monster! This hearty, thick-stemmed bushy plant pushed out some beautiful, smooth skinned, large fist-sized fruit, and as the season wore on the tomatoes got bigger, better and more numerous. Flavor wise it was good, not super fantastic, but solid, and the texture was spot on. I think it’s a great choice for those who want really large tomatoes and those who have some disease issues in the garden.

Chico III: Wow, that was a LOT of tomatoes. This short, albeit bushy variety set so much fruit it was almost too much to keep up with. Being a determinate plant I expected it to set all it’s fruit at once and then give up, but it just kept pumping out red plum tomatoes all season. There was enough ripe fruit to make nice batches of sauce throughout the season. Admittedly, they weren’t the very best tasting plum/paste tomato—that category belongs to Opalka, but it was such an impressive producer and healthy specimen I’m happily bringing it back this year.

Others:

Natsu Fushinari Cucumber: I thought I’d seen the most voracious cucumber variety when I grew North Carolina Pickling, but for sheer size of the vine, this one was unmatched. I woefully underestimated this plant, giving it a 5’ x 7’ trellis. That was silly. I had cucumber vine all over my little front yard, and it just laughed at my pruning. It took awhile to start producing, but oh boy did it go nuts when it did. Tender, mild, fleshy cucumbers with a small seed cavity were plentiful and became gifts to neighbors and friends. The plant had a nice long season and resisted mildew. I was impressed and it’s welcome back this year.

Ethiopian Brown Berbere Pepper: I was excited about growing an African chile but didn’t know what to expect. What a delicious surprise. Medium hot and beautifully brown in color, I got a lot of chiles, which I used a little for fresh salsas, but mostly I dried them. I made a ristra and kept adding chiles as they ripened, and now have a good quantity of dried chiles for making Berbere paste. I’m excited to grow it again.

Chervena Chushka Sweet Pepper: I had this one planted near my back door and couldn't see the tag for it buried at the base of the plant. I kept getting beautiful red, fleshy peppers and couldn’t figure out what the plant was. I’d convinced myself they must be a red Hatch, but these were sweet without even a hint of heat, so I went through the summer thinking it was a random variety that didn’t come true to type. Only when I cleaned up the bed at the end of the season did I find the tag. Doh! These were wonderful. They didn’t sunburn easily either. I’m growing extra this year.

Noir de Carmes Melon: Wow these had a great year! I know many gardeners don’t grow melons, but there isn’t a farmer’s market or fruit stand I’ve ever found that offers muskmelons like these at peak ripeness. They are intoxicating. When ripe, the garden air around them smells sweet and floral, and they barely make it into the house before getting eaten. No dessert holds a candle to a ripe melon like this. I got lots of lovely little melon gems over the season. It’s been a standard offering of mine for years, and will continue to be.

That’s the roundup for the year. Now hoping for March rains and another good growing year. Happy gardening!