Beefmaster Tomatoes

My husband takes no real interst in gardening but he does help out in the garden. Now about this time of year he starts camping out in the garden waiting very patiently along with the toaster and loaf of bread. I tried to tell him he could pull a few weeds while he's out there but no he is after one thing and one thing only, a beefsteak tomato!

Beefmaster

The past couple of years have not been the best for beefsteak tomatoes. This year I planted Beefmaster and am being rewarded with nice sized beefsteaks. They are averaging just under a pound in weight. The plants are yielding one to two daily of the same size so I will definitely be saving seeds. This cultivar is a good producer that has done nicely in our zone, Zone 6A.

I try to grow as organic as possible so the tomatoes are not always perfect. The Beefmaster has a bit of splitting at the crown but that may be due to the amount of rain we've had. Late blight hit bed #1 and spread despite the measures I took of removing the affected foliage and burning it. All foliage from this bed will be removed and burned once the tomatoes have finished producing. Late blight has hit bed #6 but to a much lesser degree. Tomatoes coming from that bed are still copious. This is the bed where the Beefmasters are.

My neighbour asked me what the huge tomatoes were as he had never seen them that size. It's funny around here in the land of tomato growers that folk don't know much else besides hot house tomatoes and field tomatoes. Most can identify slicing tomatoes and romas but that is about it. When I talk of beefsteak or yellow tomatoes people just look confused. The reason people don't know about these tomatoes is they are not available in the grocery stores so unless they garden they have never been introduced to these wonderful cultivars. People, there are so many wonder varieties of tomatoes out there and so little time to taste test them all! I can recall when my family first tried yellow tomatoes years ago. My husband wrinkled up his nose and said eww before even tasting it. The kids were more adventurous. Now they are a family favourite and I grow some type of yellow cultivar each year. Last year I grew Mellow Yellows without a problem. They were good producers with no problems. This year I grew Lemon Boys and that is where the late blight started.

Happy Gardening

Garden Gnome