So I promised at the All Hands Gathering that I would let you know what tomatoes we grew last year. I’m the one who said that we had our best tomato year ever. I only bought seeds that specifically had resistence to the early and or late blight. The following is the key right out of the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Catalog(SESE):(Look for the Key to Tomato Disease Tolerance.
Known disease tolerance or resistance is indicated in parentheses after the variety name. V, F, and N at the end of a variety name indicate known resistance to verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt, and nematodes, respectively. Many factors affect disease resistance and results may vary from region to region and from season to season. Disease resistant varieties will not be totally disease-free but they will resist or tolerate disease better than other varieties. Note that many heirloom tomatoes have not been extensively tested for disease tolerance either in the laboratory, or in extensive field trials – absence of disease resistance information in the variety description does not imply lack of resistance.
ab = Alternaria (early blight) fw2 = Fusarium wilt, race 2
asc = Alternaria stem canker gw = Gray wall
an = Anthracnose gls = Gray leaf spot
ber = Blossom end rot lb = Late blight
bw = Bacteria wilt nhr = Nail head rust
cf = Cat facing rkn = Root knot nematode
clm = Cladosporium leaf mold st = Stemphylium spot
cr = Crack resistance sun = Sun scald
cs = Crease stem tmv = Tobacco mosaic virus
fw1 = Fusarium wilt, race 1 vw = Verticillium wilt )
We planted these both in the High Tunnels and the field. Of course the High Tunnel one’s outperformed the field one’s but still we had the best tomatoes in the field we’ve ever had. We also supported all of them with the florida weave method. We planted them with a little Chicken Poo fertilizer. We sprayed a few times with copper fungicide and serenade. We did our best to keep up with the pruning. {THANKS DAVID FOR TEACHING US ALL THIS}

Tomatoes from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange [PS I order all the seeds I can from SESE because it’s the biggest seed catalog growing seeds close to us. My training taught me to get seeds grown as close to you as you can.]
abraham lincoln
mortgage lifterVFN
tropicVFN
west virginia63
***big rainbow [this was everyone’s favorite tomato last year]

Tomatoes from High Mowing
iron lady F1
caiman F1
granadero F1

Tomatoes from Johnny’s
*mountain fresh plus [most consistently perfect and large]
verona F1

I didn’t raise my hand on the onion growing question but we’ve grown onions from seed for I think 4 yrs now. We start them in seed trays in February or March. Then we set them out in a raised bed 2-3 inches apart in April or May. Depending on the weather they generally have done quite well. We love growing and eating them. They are usually ready in early July.
Onions from SESE
new york early
red wethersfield
texas early grano
yellow of parma

It was great fun getting together last week. I just love meeting people and learning about what everyone is doing at their sites. I also enjoy learning new things from everyone each year. So, bye for now and Happy Growing! Sue