Last year I tried two “new” tomato varieties and saved the seeds.
Black Strawberry was a curiosity that I ended up liking quite a bit. Like other dark black cherries I have tried, this one took a bit of patience to allow to ripen. They were dark black/blue for what seemed to be a long time, but once the color started to lighten and the flesh softened, they were juicy and delicious.
Roma is the classic paste tomato and I have grown it before, so no big surprises, except the huge yields. The reason I decided to offer it was the fact that many of my customers grow exclusively in pots, and it is a determinate variety. I tried to grow them without any trellises or stakes, but they got too crowded, so I staked them up a bit. (I’m an “overcrowder”, otherwise they would probably be OK being allowed to spread out on the mulch.) The sauce was nice and thick and a beautiful red.
I also chose to grow my eggplant in grow bags. They got much larger that way and didn’t have nearly as many insect invaders. It was also easier to find a nice hot spot for them since the trees continue to give more and more shade to my established plots. Worth a try.
24 Years and Still Growing 