I had Arkansas Traveler a couple of years ago and loved them! They are a pink tomato, I thought great flavor, couldn't find them this year. I am guessing the plants you got were just not a good quality plant, you should try them again! The heirlooms always seem slower to produce for me and as you said they don't look pretty, but fun to grow and usually a good flavor. I have heard of the mortgage lifter, but have not tried them. Thanks for this post, interesting!!

Marilyn, I'm going to add the Arkansas traveler to my to-buy seed list and give it another try. This poor plant has gone through a lot. One of the dogs got hold of the four-pack and chewed up the other three; I found this one lying on the ground and replanted it in a pot. I kept it in the herb garden where I could give it more attention. The pot was then knocked off the shelf by a cat and I had to replant the poor thing again. Then the grasshoppers wanted to eat it. All in all, it's a wonder it's still alive, and I give it four stars for being so hardy! It deserves a second chance after all that.

We planted Mortgage Lifter tomatoes this year as well. I saved seeds so we could plant them again next year. They did great for us as well.

If you put some crushed egg shells around the base of the plant(s) that are having blossom end rot, and water it in, it'll help. That's from a calcium deficiency. :)

I was never impressed with the flavor of the pear-shaped yellow cherry tomatoes, either.

The mortgage lifter looks a lot like cherokee purple, just a different color!

I like them too, Tracy, they have a nice flavor.

Oh Rebekah, I have some crushed egg shells that I give the chickens instead of oyster shells, I'll go out and sprinkle around the plants this afternoon! Thank you!

I like Arkansas Travelers and Rutgers. They both have a nice meaty texture and do well for canned tomatoes, salsa, tomato sauce, or just plain eating. Thank you for the tomato review, Kathi. It's always good to see what other folks are growing.

Fern

Fern, I noticed on one of your recent posts that you are growing Arkansas traveler. I grew Rutgers for several years, along with the hybrid Early Girl. I always bought transplants, and those two were easy to find. This year I got serious about growing my own from seed so I could have the heirloom varieties I want, and had pretty good success with that.

Wow those are some tomatoes. That one is Huge! I love fresh tomatoes, they taste so much better then store ones.

I do too, Ida - fresh tomatoes are one of God's most tasty creations. :-)

Fresh tomatoes are the greatest. And those little pear tomatoes sound good for salads. It would just add a little color.

They really would add some color to a salad, Heidi. That almost-blandness wouldn't matter as much either if there were other well-flavored veggies in the salad. Great idea. Thank you for your suggestion.

Great review of tomatoes. Have you ever tried the Celebrity variety? My farmer friend has great success with them and they are so delicious.
I didn't have much luck with tomatoes this year, but will be soon planting some in the fall garden.
Thank you for joining The Maple Hill Hop this week!

Daisy, I've grown the hybrid celebrity tomatoes a few times in the past. They are quite good. Thank you for stopping by.

Great review. I'm mainly an ornamental gardener but who doesn't love tomatoes. My husband bought me a raised bed this year to grow tomatoes. We don't have a ton of sun on our property and in PA the growing season isn't as long as others so I grew a few heirlooms and a couple of cherries. The cherries out performed the heirlooms. I think I'll try some bush determinate types next year.

Patti, I've found that cherry tomatoes are really prolific and every variety I've ever grown has produced like crazy! I've not grown many flowers/ornamentals, but I'm really enjoying the few I have this year.

Have to love a husband who buys you a raised bed for tomatoes. :-) You're a blessed woman.

Your tomatoes look gorgeous! I actually like those paste tomatoes best for canning tomato sauce since they are so fleshy (and for salsa too)... We get so much rain, our tomatoes haven't done well recently. Yours look tasty :) Thanks for sharing!

Thank you, Jes. I've been using those paste tomatoes to make tomato sauce, like you do.

I always grow a lot of different varieties of tomatoes too. I love Mortgage Lifters, Yellow Mortgage Lifters, Hillybilly/Flame Tomatoes are my 3 favorite regular tomatoes, then I have my 2 oz tomatoes like black vernissage tomato and Bumblebee Tomatoes, then I love the Sunsugar yellow cherries.