I love pear tomatoes and was thrilled to have some in my garden this year. My neighbor bought a plant, as well.

They are gross. They are mealy and really have NO flavor. Are there multiple varieties of pear tomatoes? Did I get a nasty one?

Could it be that there is a bit of a draught here? Could that effect flavor/texture so much?

BTW--This is our first year of gardening. we did a 4x6 raised bed square foot garden and we've learned a LOT.

Thanks!

Jeni

I don't know. Ours aren't nearly as good as they were last year. There have been a few good ones, but many more have been mealy and bland.

We have had plenty of rain.

Weird. I want to check and see if there are different varieties of Pear tomatoes. These seem bigger than the ones from last year. Should I pick them early and let them finish ripening inside?

Jeni

ripening on the vine is almost always better for flavor than indoors. And there are thousands of varieties of tomatoes, some of them MUCH better than others. You can do some googling to find a list of the best tomatoes for your taste and your garden. :)

These are both pretty informative.
Tomato Gardening Tips (http://www.tomatogardeningtips.com/index.htm)
tomatogardening.com - Everything You Need to Know About Growing Tomatoes (http://www.tomatogardening.com/)

Tomatoes are most effected my the content of the soil and the sun. Tomatoes like it HOT. They also like very rich soil. I amend mine every year with a mix of compost and coffee grounds. This year I found a treasure trove of coffee grounds via my local Starbucks and have been adding them to my composting area at the back of the garden. I will top dress the entire garden with the composted soil/weeds/coffee grounds at the end of the year. :) This helps with tomatoes a lot, as they like slightly acidic, very rich soil.

I am guessing though, that since they were more different in texture than in flavor, it was the variety you got. I really enjoy "champion" vine growing tomatoes, and "sweet 100s" for cherrys. The only pears I like are yellow pears and even then there are some mealy ones.

Val

The crazy thing is, I grew 6 different varieties of tomatoes this year. The pear tomatoes are the only ones that are yucky.

just FYI, we grew Napa grape, sweet 100s, amish paste, roma and regular yellow tomatoes as well as the pear tomatoes. Everything else in the garden turned out splendorific, too.

That's why I was wondering if there are different kinds of pear tomatoes? Maybe I got a mealy kind?

Jeni