People are drawn to heirloom tomatoes for different reasons. For some, it is the ability to save seed. For others, it is flavor, color and variety. They also produce at varying times making tomatoes available more of the year. Heirlooms have a much more diverse genetic background than hybrids. Most hybrids are so similar that you can't even tell the plants or fruit apart. I grow my own heirloom tomato plants. Here's some of my favorites:
Black Krim - dark fruit with green shoulders. Great tasting and early maturing. Does a little better in cooler weather so it is complimentary to Celebrity, producing earlier in the season. Determine-like plant staying compact.
Cherokee Purple - deep pink color, kidney-shaped, and great tasting. Can produce "pounders". Does well in our area. Indeterminate. Matures in 80 days or so.
Watermelon Beefsteak - My favorite big tomato producer so far. One plant produced two giant tomatoes last year, the biggest weighing in at 1 lb. 10 oz.! red, yellow and pink streaked tomato (see pictures on this page).
Mortgage Lifter - According legend, the inventor paid his mortgage selling this tomato. A "typical" red tomato. Several locals swear that this variety can produce equal to Celebrity.
Peach Tomato - A wonderful, unique tomato that acturally looks like a peach - fuzzy creamy yellow with a pink blush. Great taste and a prolific producer many years.
There are many others. I have grown over 30 different varieties of heirlooms with varying success. Some more common varieties include yellow pear, porter, san marzano, and most cherries. The main ingredient to success for heirlooms is organic practices: lot's of organic fertilizer and compost. They were not bred for sterile soil and Miracle Grow!
No comments:
Post a Comment