Tomatoes in 2013

In my hands heirloom tomatoes grow much slower than hybrid ones and produce fewer fruits. This year I planted 6 tomato plants, 2 of them are hybrid tomatoes--"Beef steak" and "Sweet 100". I have planted them in the past and I know they will do well. 

'Beef steak' (hybrid)

'Sweet 100'(hybrid)

The rest are heirloom tomatoes: 
1) 'Pink Brandywine'
2) 'Mr. Stripey'
3) 'Old German'
4) 'German Queen'

'Pink brandywine'(heirloom)

'Mr. Stripey'(heirloom)

'German Queen'(heirloom, the shape of their leaves is interesting)

'Old German'(heirloom)

'Old German'(heirloom)

'Mr. Stripey'(heirloom)

This year I have been diligently trimming off 'suckers' before they become too big. The reason I constantly get rid of the suckers is because they divert the nutrition away from the main stem, and even if the suckers bear fruits, they tend to be small. Trimming also keeps the plant fit. Last year they grew into a small tree and took a lot of space.

There are also 'volunteer' plants coming from the soil. Here are a small tomato plant and a corn plant. I have no idea where the corn plant comes from since I have never planted corn before. It comes out by itself next to the tomatoes. I moved it to a big place, and was guessing what it was and hoping it could be a corn plant. It revealed itself later by shooting three cobs of corn. 

A volunteer tomato plant

A volunteer corn plant

The volunteer corn plant several weeks ago