Every Dollar Matters

Heirloom Tomatoes

"Before the industrialization of agriculture, a much wider variety of plant foods was grown for human consumption. In modern agriculture in the industrialized world, most food crops are now grown in large, monocultural plots."

We have become a world of factory farms. But, it only has to be this type of world if you want it to be.

It is very easy to grow your own tomatoes.

We did it this year (2009). I can tell you now that the season it over it is hard to go back to eating store bought tomatoes. We have enough seed for next years crop and cannot wait. We planted nine plants, four different varieties. Neither Kate or I are green thumbs but we were treated to a bumper crop that started the third week in June and the harvest continued through October. We have a small bag of green ones that are slowly ripening and it is now the second week of November. We do live in the temperate Puget Sound area.

I must admit, even after giving many away to friends I still got sick of tomatoes for awhile. We started the plants indoors in Feb of 2009. For next year we are going to try and start them earlier to get even a longer growing season. Here is a list of the varieties we grew.

• Tiny Tom 
• Silvery Fir
• Manitoba
• Long Keeper

I am even considering growing a few indoors. As you can see in the picture to the right we also grew tomatoes in 5-gallon buckets. In fact, we grew all four varieties in buckets.

While they did not yield nearly as well as the ones we sowed directly in the ground, they all

did grow. I would guess the yield to be about half as those we planted in-ground.

But, it was good to know that all four varieties yielded fruit. The seed vendor only listed two of the varieties as "container worthy." 

Heirloom seeds get a bad rap for bearing fruit that is not as symmetrical as the stuff you get in the store. As you can see in the pictures those tomatoes look just fine. 

I will admit that they did not all obediently grow to be the same size, but so what.

The taste of store bought "all-look-the-same" hybrids cannot compare to the taste of these. They also made a mean salsa!

Almost as good as the taste itself is the knowledge that unlike hybrid varieties we could save the seed and replant a new crop next year. Just make sure you save seeds from the best fruits. 

Growing your own food is actually a very rewarding experience.

We really did time doing this and being able to go out in the backyard and snag a tomato for the salad was pretty cool. I cannot say that we saved any money doing this, but I suspect we may have. 

Actually, we consumed far more tomatoes than we would have bought at the store. I cannot claim that these varieties are healthier than store bought (some claim they are), I can say that they are much more flavorful.

If you are looking to grow heirloom tomatoes I would go to http://www.heirloomseeds.com/ and checkout what they have. Their prices are cheap, and keep in mind that if you save the seeds from your harvest you only need to buy that variety once. Besides selling seeds their site is a veritable wealth of information about heirloom seeds. I did not count, but I am pretty sure they sell over 100 different varieties of Tomato seeds. Here is the description of the ones we planted.

#142 - TINY TIM 50 days - This small, 10 to 16" variety makes it an ideal choice for container growing! A high yielding cherry tomato that is both decorative and delicious. Start inside for the first tomatoes of the season! 

#1060 - SILVERY FIR TREE 58 days - A Russian heirloom with unique carrot-like, silvery leaves. This early maturing variety bears plenty of red, 3-4 inch, tasty fruits. A good choice for container growing due to its petite, 24 inch height. Determinate vines. 

#170 - LONG KEEPER 78 days - One of our customers favorite! As the name implies, this tomato is meant to be grown for storage. Plant later in the growing season, so the fruits start to mature in late fall. Pick the ripe and partially ripe tomatoes before the first fall frost, and store in a well ventilated area with temperatures around 60 to 70 degrees F. Will last from 6 to 12 weeks in storage! Not as good flavored as some other varieties, but much better than any store bought tomatoes! Semi-determinate vines. 

#139 - MANITOBA 60 days - A very popular extra early variety from Canada, for those with short growing seasons! The bright red fruits are smooth and firm, and weigh 6 ounces each. A great variety for container growing. Determinate vines.