TS> TA> I missed out on Big Boy/Girls, Rutgers, etc. and had to go
TS> TA> with the JetStars)
TS> I planted jet stars this year...as I was late getting a garden started.
TS> I am very disappointed in their taste.  Very mealy texture.  Fall off
TS> the vine before getting red.  I never had a red one on the vine...always
TS> had to finish them off on my counter.  I have so many big tomatoes tho.
TS> They did yield huge fruit, but the taste just wasn't up to snuff.
  That might be a weather-stress problem, Trudy. It's a tad unfair to
  judge varieties on a single growing season. Especially THIS growing
  season! I haven't talked to a single home gardener who has raised his
  usual bunch of large lovely, insect-free tomatoes this year. Not one!
  This encompasses all types of soil, varieties, and growing methods.
  Something so universal has to be weather related.
  I was dismayed at the amount of slug, mouse and cricket damage to my
  fruits, followed by those little two-tone black beetles that typically
  infest damaged fruit. Especially to Brandywine, that thin-skinned
  excellently flavoured heirloom. I had to pick them green to avoid
  insect damage. The only whole tomatoes I managed to harvest ripe were
  some thick-skinned paste types, like Viva Italia and Crimsonvee. Even
  my longtime favourite Heinz canner, which I have raised for 20 years,
  did more poorly than usual. The funny thing is, they were all mulched,
  which normally gives me decent fruits. Not this year! :-(
  As far as that goes, I find the taste of most very early tomatoes
  unacceptably acid, whereas later ones have much better flavour and
  texture. But even the worst fully ripe homegrown early tomato is
  better than the supermarket green baseballs sold as imported winter
  tomatoes. :-)
                         ...Sandra...
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