My 2026 tomato season in SE Texas is underway. Always feels like an accomplishment to start from seed, this year ‘s crop started January 5th, and then nurture the seedlings along all the way until they are ready for transplanting. Takes some commitment and attention to details.
Twelve tomato plants were transplanted in total, six on February 16th and six on February 27th. Three Pruden’s Purple went in, each one from different seed sources, one self saved seed (unbagged), one acquired from Tomato Growers Supply (source of the tomato from which the seed was saved) and one from purchased seed from Fedco. Then one each of Brandywine (Sudduth’s), Rebel Yell, Lloyd E. Frey, Polish, Marianna’s Peace, Huevos De Toro, Mark Twain, Black Krim, and Abraham Brown. So eight pink tomatoes in total, two red tomatoes and two dark tomatoes, all are large slicer/beefsteak types. I like the large beefsteak types far above anything else tomato so that is what I grow.
I still have four plants in reserve. One each of Brandywine, Pruden’s Purple (TGS), Marianna’s Peace, and Huevos De Toro. Plan is to soon give those to my daughter that loves to garden.
Pruden’s Purple, Brandywine, Black Krim, and Huevos De Toro have all been grown by me in past seasons and I love each one based on their flavor and production. The rest are new to me and were chosen based on reading many reviews on each except Mark Twain. That one I mostly just liked the name.
Wishing everyone a wonderful year growing tomatoes.
by karstopography
1 Comment
Glad to see they are in the ground now and taking root! I always breathe a sigh of relief at that point too. An “intermediate goal” has been reached. Still a long way until the harvest, but so far so good. I planted out a Pruden’s Purple yesterday, based largely on your positive reports. This afternoon I finished getting the full-sized varieties into the ground (or into large grow bags, to be more exact.) Will hopefully plant out the cherry and dwarf varieties tomorrow.
So far: Pruden’s Purple (1), Black from Tula (2), Black Krim (2), Cherokee Carbon (2), Noir de Cosboefu (1), Bella Rosa (2), Black Seaman (2), Big Beef Plus (2), Dark Star (2). As you can tell, I like the dark tomatoes best of all and have favored them in the lineup. Noir de Cosboeuf and Pruden’s Purple are both new to me this year.
NE Texas.