2007 Tomato -- Husky Cherry Red

A standard, hybrid cherry tomato on a squat, stiff plant.

We both loved it!

Basically, this plant was “the little engine that could”.

The plant was squat and dense. The stems were inflexible. It reminded me of a small Christmas tree, only you couldn't see inside the outer leaves.

One day, I decided to lie down on the ground and look underneath. Not only did I see ripe tomatoes that I couldn't see standing up, but there were signs of tomatoes that had ripened and withered away. Behind the leaves were hundreds of tomatoes. I had no idea.

I nicknamed this tomato plant “Derek Fisher”. Derek Fisher is a professional basketball player, former Los Angeles Laker playing for the Utah Jazz at the time (later to become a Laker again). Derek Fisher isn't the most gifted by any stretch, nor the most talented...but he gave you everything he had without complaining. A true team player and a professional.

Husky Cherry certainly wasn't all that pretty to look at – it's squat, small and stiff. The cherry tomatoes were nickel to quarter sized, standard red, tomato taste.

But the production! This three foot plant that inched to a bit over four feet cranked out about 1100 tomatoes, perfect sliced in half for salads or just plop in your mouth. A great “supporting role” tomato. Densest tomato plant by far.

This was the last tomato plant pulled for the 2007 batch, getting pulled in January of this year. The plant had long since collapsed. We had propped two “arms” above two round tomato cages lying supine the ground. The sun had finally penetrated the leaves and now the cold was hammering it...but it was still producing. It kept on going. We simply had to start preparing for the 2008 season, so we pulled it.

In short, it looks like the dense foliage protects the tomatoes from the blazing summer sun.