The Most Interesting Tomato Plant of the Month! September!

Tomato Plant of the Month

I don't always grow tomatoes. But when I do? I grow some very strange plants that cannot be identified. This is what it is like to grow your own tomato garden, my friends. Sometimes you know what you are growing. Other efforts are complete surprises. That is the story behind the Tomato Plant of the Month for the month of September. I cannot begin to tell you what variety it is.

I've chosen this one plant for a reason. The picture located above right is an example of the harvest from this one plant. That is not the total harvest. It is just the harvest that came off this one plant on the day I took this picture. That's why I took the picture to be completely honest. This one plant, the plant of the month, has been churning out round and red tomatoes since early July. It is still churning out tomatoes in the month of September. I could have taken five more photos of the daily harvests from this one plant, but WHY?

Mystery Plant

I can tell you one or two things about the September Tomato Plant of the Month. It is not what tomato growers call a "Determinate" tomato variety. This list comprises a small number of varieties. They are marketed under names like Early Girl or Better Boy and a few others. These types of "Determinate" varieties, which also include some types of Roma or Paste tomatoes, will usually result in one large harvest. The plant might spit out a few more tomatoes as the season progresses, but the idea behind "Determinate" plants is one big harvest.

Indeterminate plants, which are also known as "heirlooms," are different. They will also produce one big harvest. They will also produce a second big harvest. If you're lucky, you might even receive a third big harvest. Indeterminate, or heirloom, plants take a bit longer to ripen than the determinate varieties. But, the advantage is they don't stop producing. They will keep forming new tomatoes throughout the growing season. I live in California. The tomato growing season here can be very long. It can start as early as March and keep right on going until the Thanksgiving holiday arrives in late November.

Plant of the Month

As much as I would like to tell you the name of this variety, I cannot. This is due to a gardening "accident" that took place earlier this year. The seedling plants that I received had been scattered about due to this accident. Which means every plant was a complete and total mystery. As these plants started to grow and produce ripened tomatoes, I could correctly guess the names of some varieties. The "Lemon Boy" variety was easy to spot because those tomatoes turn yellow when ripe. I could also spot the Kellogg's Breakfast plant, because those tomatoes ripen into a pleasing shade of orange.

However, most tomato plants produce round and red tomatoes. The vast majority of the tomatoes in this year's garden produced round and red tomatoes. How can you tell them apart? The short answer is: you cannot. You just enjoy them. You turn them into a lot of tomato sauce or canned tomatoes. You give them away to friends and neighbors. That is what I've been doing with the tomatoes from the September plant of the month since July. It started to produce early. It is still producing in September. It may keep right on producing through the months of October and November. I really don't know.

Tomato Sauce Project

I have been fortunate (lucky) enough to grow some varieties that have been as productive as this one plant has been. The variety known as Druzba comes to mind. Druzba is an heirloom that came to America from Bulgaria. This variety also produces a ridiculous amount of red and round tomatoes throughout the growing season. This variety produces tomatoes that ripen early. It also produces tomatoes that will ripen in November, provided the weather cooperates. But, the September Tomato Plant of the Month is not a Druzba. How do I know this? Because my tomato growing buddy who provided me with starter plants during spring planting efforts did not plant Druzba seeds.

So, while this plant may act like a Druzba, it is not a Druzba.

I suppose the name of this plant could also be Prarie Fire, Bella Trix, Say Brook or Original Blue Ribbon. These are varieties that produce red and round tomatoes. These are also seeds that my tomato growing friend DID plant. So, I suppose it could be one of these. Except, all of these varieties are listed as Determinate. This means one big crop of red and round tomatoes and not much else. That doesn't match what I'm growing.

Lots of green tomatoes

The bottom line is I'll never really know for sure. But it really doesn't matter. Because backyard tomato growers pray for production like this. It's a non-stop harvest so ridiculously large that you will never eat them all. You need help.

Thank goodness I have friends and family that love vine-ripened garden tomatoes as much as I do.

Grow Tomatoes, My Friends.