Vorlon were highly recommended by tomato growing gurus. Now I'm on the Vorlon tomato loving bandwagon.
You should be proud of me. I resisted the urge this weekend to plant any tomatoes. Realistically, I could have because I don't have that many and I have plenty of frost blanket to cover them, but I had plenty of other garden work to keep me busy.
The reason for my hesitation is the overnight low on Friday. A week ago today, when I posted about Lemon Boy tomatoes, the lowest low in my two-week forecast was 44 degrees. Then, middle of last week, the Thursday and Friday lows started bouncing all over the place, dipping down to 34 or 35 degrees. Forecasters quickly change their mind and the projections would change every time I pulled up the weather app.
Over the weekend, the forecast for Thursday has stabilized but Friday is still changing. There's a good chance of rain on Friday too so even if I covered my plants, the frost blankets could be weighed down and crush my young plants.
Oh! And this happened on Thursday!
This is some of the largest hail I've seen in person and that's saying something because my neighborhood was hit with hail at least 7 times last spring. These monsters dented my new gutters. :( I'm waiting for our roofer to examine the roof we just replaced in October following last year's damage. He thinks it should be fine. We upgraded for impact resistance and fresh shingles are more durable. Cross your fingers that he's right!
Like I said, I had plenty of other projects to keep me busy. I dug out a bunch of dirt and grass to expand my pepper growing area which I moved to another area of my yard to serve as a berm. I also began building a border along my pepper bed. Because Bermudagrass is the primary turfgrass in Oklahoma, the border has to be a minimum of 4-6 inches deep to keep roots from tunneling under. I came up with a solution, concrete pavers...
My DH is calling this my penitentiary wall. (eyeroll) I'm calling it mid-century industrial and don't fret... I have lots of containers and misc lawn decor to put in front of it to soften the look.
But you're not here to listen to me ramble about my weekend garden projects. You want to find out about TOMATOES!!!
Yes. I do grow something other than yellow tomatoes. I have a small growing space so I don't have a lot of room for experiments, but so far I've found a couple not yellow varieties... Vorlon tomato and Cherokee Purple tomato.
Last year, Vorlon produced the largest tomato I've ever grow at just over a pound! However, that's a little larger than is typical for this variety. They're usually similar in size to the Cherokee Purple.
Why I love Vorlon tomatoes
Talk about heat tolerance! Friends said these tolerate the heat better than most varieties and in my garden, they lived up to that promise.
Disease and pest resistance too! I grow my tomato varieties on top of each other and still, these didn't suffer as badly when other varieties were being taken out by fungal issues or spider mites.
Even though they produce 10-12 oz fruits I didn't have a lot of trouble with Blossom End Rot - well, once I got my driplines set up properly.
Just like all tomatoes, their antioxidant properties are good for me
The flavor is earthy and smoky and deep. SOOO Good! The acid isn't the overpowering note in these tomatoes.
Vorlon Tomato Facts
Indeterminate growth habit
Slicing variety
Produces fruits about 10-12 oz. Perfect sandwich slice sized.
Open-pollinated (seeds can be saved)
Days to maturity is reasonable for Oklahoma - 80 days - to beat the summer heat
Gorgeous deep purple with a distinct redness.
Seeds can be tough to find. Get to know some avid tomato gardeners in your area if you want to find it.