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And of course I ate most of them before I managed to get inside. Ha! Still, I saved one for photographing. These are such fun tomatoes! I'm really glad I chose to grow them. For anyone else who might be growing or thinking of growing this variety, here's my experience with it so far!
First of all, I got my plant on eBay. It arrived in mid-April very small, but with flowers already. I didn't expect it to get very big because it was already fruiting when I put it in the ground and only a foot or so tall. I WAS SO WRONG. It's grown huge and it's still making new flowers and setting new fruit. I wish I'd staked it earlier! It took some desperate remedial measures to bring the tomato part of the garden under control but I think I've finally gotten them tied up.
Even though I'm not growing in the best soil, it's not showing any sign of nutritional deficiency or any other sort of stress. On the hottest days it needs extra watering, but that's the only special care I've had to show it. Either I'm just lucky or else it thrives in clay-y, pebbly soil and otherwise difficult conditions.
The fruit themselves are kind of funny. It fruits in large, close clusters that remind me of oversized cherry tomatoes, but the fruit are far too big to be considered cherry. I'm not sure whether to consider it an oversized cherry fruit or a small normal fruit. It has the somewhat flattened shape of a typical tomato rather than being perfectly round like all the cherries I've seen. So I guess it's a small normal. Still the plant is cherry-like in some ways.
While growing, the fruit begin green, then the top part becomes very dark purple. Sometimes the whole fruit turns purple but not always. Eventually as they ripen, the bottom part of the fruit turns yellow. Then they begin to turn red. I recommend picking them at this stage or when they're red below but still purple up top. If you leave them on the plant long enough they may turn totally red. I ate one like this and it was less appealing than the others in both flavor and texture. So don't let them get overripe.
Speaking of flavor and texture, I found this surprising. They are somewhat liquidy, with a soft but not mealy texture and somewhat thin but still meaty flesh. The flavor is not quite the same as a typical tomato. I can't put my finger on the difference except to say that it's kind of a cooler, darker hint of flavor and it's not so sour or biting as some tomatoes can be. It's not as intense a flavor as I was hoping for, but it's unique and unusual, and I'm hoping that the fruits which come later in the season, with more time on the plant and exposure to more consisent high temperatures, will taste better, as the ones I'm eating are those very first few that the plant had on it when it went in the ground. They're probably not the best representatives for flavor. A fun thing about them though was that the ones that hadn't gone 100% red were patchy colored on the inside, with yellows and reds mixing together very prettily.
All in all, I really like this variety and would defnitely grow it again! Lots of fun.
First of all, I got my plant on eBay. It arrived in mid-April very small, but with flowers already. I didn't expect it to get very big because it was already fruiting when I put it in the ground and only a foot or so tall. I WAS SO WRONG. It's grown huge and it's still making new flowers and setting new fruit. I wish I'd staked it earlier! It took some desperate remedial measures to bring the tomato part of the garden under control but I think I've finally gotten them tied up.
Even though I'm not growing in the best soil, it's not showing any sign of nutritional deficiency or any other sort of stress. On the hottest days it needs extra watering, but that's the only special care I've had to show it. Either I'm just lucky or else it thrives in clay-y, pebbly soil and otherwise difficult conditions.
The fruit themselves are kind of funny. It fruits in large, close clusters that remind me of oversized cherry tomatoes, but the fruit are far too big to be considered cherry. I'm not sure whether to consider it an oversized cherry fruit or a small normal fruit. It has the somewhat flattened shape of a typical tomato rather than being perfectly round like all the cherries I've seen. So I guess it's a small normal. Still the plant is cherry-like in some ways.
While growing, the fruit begin green, then the top part becomes very dark purple. Sometimes the whole fruit turns purple but not always. Eventually as they ripen, the bottom part of the fruit turns yellow. Then they begin to turn red. I recommend picking them at this stage or when they're red below but still purple up top. If you leave them on the plant long enough they may turn totally red. I ate one like this and it was less appealing than the others in both flavor and texture. So don't let them get overripe.
Speaking of flavor and texture, I found this surprising. They are somewhat liquidy, with a soft but not mealy texture and somewhat thin but still meaty flesh. The flavor is not quite the same as a typical tomato. I can't put my finger on the difference except to say that it's kind of a cooler, darker hint of flavor and it's not so sour or biting as some tomatoes can be. It's not as intense a flavor as I was hoping for, but it's unique and unusual, and I'm hoping that the fruits which come later in the season, with more time on the plant and exposure to more consisent high temperatures, will taste better, as the ones I'm eating are those very first few that the plant had on it when it went in the ground. They're probably not the best representatives for flavor. A fun thing about them though was that the ones that hadn't gone 100% red were patchy colored on the inside, with yellows and reds mixing together very prettily.
All in all, I really like this variety and would defnitely grow it again! Lots of fun.
