2007
Update for 9/2/2007
I didn't have any luck with Cherokee Purple tomatoes this summer. Other varieties did OK for me, though. Here are some tomatoes waiting to be eaten in the window sill. Their color gets darker each day they stay in the window.
Update for 8/26/2007
Watch a Cherokee Purple get sliced in half right on the farm.
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Update for 8/25/2007
Update for 8/21/2007
Ahh, darn it. Another year wasted. My only Cherokee Purple plant died without producing any fruit. My best tomato plant was the JS 2000 this year, which provided the best taste with a good yield. I bought those as plants and they did just fine, producing sweet fruit. But I had another bad year with the Cherokee Purple plant. Granted, I only grew one plant in my garden. I didn't have enough room to plant too many with the other stuff I had already planted. I'll try again next year and give more garden real estate to this tomato variety. Mark submitted a comment today. Thanks for your note.Update for 6/25/2007
My plant is now 2 months old. The leaves are beautiful and free from disease. The plant is growing slower than normal, though, because it is in partial shade.
Update for 5/14/2007
Here are seedlings, one month after planting seed directly in garden. They are growing in a shady area this year. I'm hoping they will survive the extreme heat of our summers this way. I have grown other tomato varieties in this shady bed with good success before. So we'll so how it goes for the Cherokee Purple variety.
I will thin the plants down to one plant in this location soon.
Update for 4/24/2007
Planted seed directly in garden bed this year. Waiting for seedlings to emerge.This is off topic, but thought it might help someone doing a search.
Do you have a Zarafina Tea Maker? If it stopped heating the water and no longer makes tea, you can get a replacement. Here is how:
(I am documenting this because it wasn't easy to find out.)
- They will ask for the code on the outlet plug, so have that handy.
- Call 1-877-927-2832. (Zarafina put an incorrect phone number on their own website in 2 places on their FAQ page, as of 4/24/2007.) Press 2. Tell them how it doesn't work anymore. You can check for updates on this issue on their site: http://www.zarafina.com/Support.aspx#Troubleshoot
- They say wait 4-6 weeks for a replacement. I received my replacement in just one week! That was fast. And the replacement is working very well. I'm back to making great tea with my Zarafina tea maker. You will have to return the old one.
For previous updates, click here.
The first time I tasted a Charakee tomatoe was tonight at supper and made a salad with my pasta dinner. These tomatoes are yes sweet and make a salad taste even better although the top of this tomatoe was a little green I still tasted it and I really love them. I planted mine as a plant here in CT on June first and very slow to grow but know being in Aug on the 21st they are just about finished with the crop and only few more tomatoes left on the Cherakee.
Marki have been growing Cherokee purple tomatoes since 2000 and i save there seed every year i live in denver and they seem to like the hot and dry climate,and high altitude i have pictures if your interested the tomatoes get huge and their bursting with flavor
I chose to grow purple tomatoes for the first time this year.
The ones I planted near pole beans and corn are producing small
tomatoes and didn't leaf out very much. The ones that I planted near
cucumbers and zucchini are huge and healthy and heavily leafed out.
They are in big clusters of five to six per cluster. The small tomatoes
have developed cracks and I assume it is from the intense summer heat
we've had this year. I also notice that the skins from these and the
other variety of tomatoes I planted with them are really tough too. The
ones doing great do not have tough skins.
I planted around June 5th this year and the tomatoes are still green
and I am going to have to bring them in as frost has already nipped the
leaves. I plan on wrapping them in newspaper for storing until needed
I'm hoping they will survive storage. I'm also hoping the few I have
brought inside will ripen quickly so that I can taste them.
Glenna, I think your observation is interesting, that the tomatoes with thin skins are doing better than those tomatoes with thick skins. I wonder why thin skins might have a growing advantage. (I assume that's what you meant, but not sure.)
Good luck saving your tomatoes and getting them to ripen off the vine. I don't know where you are from, but here in Arkansas we haven't even been close to a frost yet. But it was hot here in the summer.
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