2025 Tomato Review Show...And More!
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In this episode, Farmer Fred connects with Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery to reflect on the 2025 tomato growing season, sharing their experiences and insights while evaluating the performance of various tomato varieties. Farmer Fred ranks his 2025 tomato season as one of his worst, only second to the scorching summer of 2022, yet he notes that the overall weather conditions this year were quite favorable.
Don shares insights from his own experience, noting that several of his trusted varieties, such as Rugby and Bodacious, underperformed this year, likely due to the dry start to the season affecting irrigation practices. They delve into critical topics such as soil moisture levels and root development, emphasizing the importance of watering practices in achieving healthy tomato yields.
As the conversation progresses, they discuss the other plants in their gardens, including peppers, onions, edible pumpkin seeds (Pepitas), and cucumbers. Don highlights the successful lemon cucumber, which flourished without issues of mildew, noting the significant yields from this variety. They also explore the common pitfalls of cucumber cultivation and the importance of managing watering strategies to ensure plants remain productive through the growing season.
From irrigation practices to soil health and the excitement of trying new varieties, this episode offers an engaging and informative wrap-up of the tomato growing season. Farmer Fred and Don conclude with hopeful notes for the next planting season, reinforcing the lessons learned and anticipating the joys of gardening and fresh produce in the coming year. And as always, a transcript of the podcast is attached for paid subscribers.
2025 Tomato Review Show…and More! TRANSCRIPT
Farmer Fred:
[0:00 ] So how was your 2025 tomato year? Well, you get to hear my sob story, and you can hear about all the successes from Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, California, for the next few minutes. And we’ll talk about other plants as well that did well or didn’t do well in the way of peppers and cucumbers. And who knows which way the conversation will go, but we’ll certainly cover tomatoes. I have to rank the 2025 tomato growing season in my own yard as the second worst ever. Don, you may remember the first worst, which was that summer two or three years ago when in September it got up to, what, 115 degrees?
Don Shor:
[0:40 ] Yes, two days at 116, two at 110, and three at 106 over here in the Davis area. That was quite epic in September 2022. We’ll talk about that one for a long time to come. Yeah, it did impact yields late in the season, that’s for sure.
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Farmer Fred:
[0:54 ] And this year, the weather here in Northern California was excellent. It didn’t get too hot for too long. I’m sure it got over 100, but not by much. And there weren’t extended days of over 100 degrees. It was a very, very nice summer. But I see in my notes here, the first full size tomato I took out of production was on September 27th, the Chef’s Choice Orange Tomato. I harvested 30 ripe tomatoes, but it was the end of production, and I needed the space anyway. But let me tell you about one success, though, and it’s a thing that you told me about to do, and it really works. One of the tomatoes I planted this past year was the Bush Early Girl, that I grew in a container, and I started it (from seed in the greenhouse in early February) and planted it outside on April 6th. And it produced early and often, come June. And by the end of July, it was done for, but it gave me those early tomatoes. And I think that’s a great idea to get an early ripening tomato off to a good start in an area that has warm soil to begin with, like a large container, like a half barrel, and just enjoy your harvest until the big boys come home to roost later on in the summer. But yeah, I’ll give the Bush Early Girl an A for its production. And Chef’s Choice Orange, well, I think that’s going to get an F since it came out in September. Sorry about that.
Don Shor:
[2:23 ] It’s not an F. Wait, wait, wait. It gets a C. You took it out after harvesting 30 tomatoes.
RUGBY TOMATO
Farmer Fred:
[2:26 ] All right. Yeah, I know. Okay, I’ll change that to a C because it did produce some very beautiful Chef’s Choice Orange tomatoes throughout the season. And they were very tasty. And we ended up making some relish with it. So it’s very pretty, too. One of the surprise failures in my yard this year was the Rugby, which up until this year has been doing great. But it went kaput as far as production goes on October the 8th.
Don Shor:
[2:55 ] And generally, it’s a good, generally a good late producer for us. I had good results with Rugby, but it was middle of the pack in terms of total yield. Yeah, this was a mediocre year for a lot of people. Obviously, I don’t give everything an F or a C or an A, but there are a lot more lower graded fruit in terms of total yield.
BODACIOUS TOMATO
Don Shor
Bodacious, for example, which I’ve done very well with for several years, only gave me about 15 or 20 fruit. Yes, they’re wonderful. They’re big, they’re firm. They were for slicing. I went out there, there’s three on there right now. We are recording this in early December. So, okay, I’ll brag about that one a little bit. But overall, in terms of the total yield, it wasn’t spectacular. And I think it goes back to actually how dry things were at the start of the season. We had our last significant rain fall on our side of the valley, first week of March. We had another light storm in April. But when people went out to plant, the soil was actually drier than usual. And all of our conversations with people who are having trouble with their tomatoes, not all of them, but let’s say 98% of them had to do with how they were irrigating. I’m reasonably sure that you know how to irrigate. So I don’t think that was your problem necessarily, but a lot of people use a drip irrigation system, they set it, and they leave it that way. And then we get to ask 20 questions with them. How often are you running it? How long are you running it? And they were not watering deeply enough. And in particular, this year, the tomatoes just never got their roots down in some cases. The soil was dry down further. And ordinarily, when you plant in March, well, you shouldn’t be planting in March. But when you plant April or May, there’s still enough moisture from the winter rains down there. And if you give them a good soaking, get them started, they can tap down and tap into some of that stored moisture. It just wasn’t there this year. So we were having a lot of conversations about plants that weren’t growing vigorously.
CHARLIE’S MYSTERY RED DELICIOUS CHERRY TOMATO
Farmer Fred:
[4:44 ] This is only the second year where I have not had tomatoes on the Thanksgiving dinner table because I ended the production of the Jetstar and the Dr. Wyche, back on October the 29th. The last full size tomato to go out was Cupid. Plants were cut out. But the one that lasted the longest was a gift seed from our friend Charlie in Brooklyn. It was his mystery red delicious cherry tomato that hung on until mid-November. But for us not to have a tomato on the table on Thanksgiving is a defeat. What really broke my heart, too, is that I did harvest some breaking tomatoes, the ones that are turning yellow after being green for a while. So, you know, they’re going to ripen. And I harvested those in early November and I set them way back in the corner in the kitchen counter, hoping to preserve them until Thanksgiving. But somehow they all managed to get used before Thanksgiving.
Don Shor:
[5:46 ] Oh, I see. The problem wasn’t that they spoiled. The problem was that your household residents ate them.
Farmer Fred:
[5:51 ] Yes.
Don Shor:
[5:52 ] Okay, well, that’s a problem to have, yeah. Well, I just went outside earlier, getting ready to have this conversation with you, and there are six in my garden that are still fruiting. Admittedly, the turkeys and the squirrels are helping themselves to the ones down at the end of the garden.
Don Shor:
[6:08 ] But I’m going to mention one that, boy, I was really impressed with this year, Marzinera. And there’s probably a dozen fruits still on this plant out there. Marzinera is one of the, Heirloom marriage tomatoes, these are where they’re hybridizing two heirloom varieties to get a, well, now it’s a hybrid that hopefully has the characteristics that made each of those heirlooms so desirable. And Marzinera, part of it is San Marzano. Now, San Marzano tomato has its own following, no question. But it’s got some issues. To me, it’s not the most useful tomato. There’s better sauce tomatoes. It’s kind of hollow and skinny and yields well. I mainly stock that one as a retailer just for my old Italian customers. But there’s Marzinera. He’s a bigger fruit, firmer, meaty.
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